Chinese surveillance unit operating inside Tibetan Buddhist monastery — Radio Free Asia

A Chinese police surveillance unit is running, apparently for the very first time, inside a Buddhist monastery as part of a restored crackdown on Tibetan Buddhist spiritual organizations, a Tibetan with knowledge of the situation said.
Officers were installed this year at the Palyul Thartang Gonchen Monastery in Qinghai provinces Golog (in Chinese, Guoluo) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, stated the source, who lives in exile however understands what is taking place there.
” Though there was already a security authorities unit set up by authorities outside the premises of the Palyul Tharthang Gonchen Monastery in Golog, this year they have added another one inside the facilities of the monastery near its community hall,” the Tibetan informed RFA.
” A surveillance staff member has actually also been published by the Chinese government in this system to inspect monks and their daily activities,” he said.
Authorities set up monitoring cams around the abbey, and officers inside display the monks around-the-clock, the source said. Some pressure young monks to attend schools run by the Chinese federal government, the Tibetan in exile stated.
” Chinese authorities have likewise set up a specific app on their mobile phones to identify and track their conversations, so its not safe for the monks to communicate with Tibetans in exile,” he stated.
After the fatal 2008 uprising in Tibet, Chinese authorities began establishing police headquarters and military barracks outside the Gaden, Drepung and Sera monasteries– highly related to centers for practicing and discovering Tibetan Buddhism– near Tibets capital Lhasa.
The lethal protests over the Chinese federal governments persecution of Tibetans in mid-March 2008 began in Lhasa before spreading out to other areas of the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR). Tibetan protesters clashed with members of Chinas Han ethnic majority and the Hui ethnic minority, causing a harsh Chinese crackdown.
Afterwards, Zhang Qingli, the TARs previous Communist Party chief, started setting up mobile authorities systems throughout the area, which are still running today, monitoring the activities of the monks in the abbeys. The case in Golog is apparently the first time police officers have been stationed inside the monastery itself.
Golok Jigme, a Tibetan and former political prisoner who now resides in Switzerland, stated authorities now need Tibetans to set up tracking app on their phones.
” It is definitely true that Tibetans are under monitoring by the Chinese government, however the recently security of Tibetans has actually heightened, and new security techniques are being introduced which require Tibetans to install an app on their phone devices,” he informed RFA.
The app permits authorities “extraordinary gain access to” to Tibetans phone information and discussions, he said.
” Many Tibetans are interrogated, threatened, imprisoned, punished and their cellular phone are seized at times,” he said.
Equated by Tenzin Dickyi for RFAs Tibetan Service. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin.
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