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During an official outreach program in Cardiff on March 23, Tsering Yangkey, the representative of the Dalai Lama to the United Kingdom, met prominent Welsh leaders to call for action against China's continued repression of Tibet.
According to the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA), the key engagements were organised with the help of longtime Tibet supporter Eilian Williams and the Regional Coordinator of the Tibetan Community in Britain (TCB). According to information provided by CTA, Yangkey sat down with Mark Drakeford, Member of Senedd (Welsh Parliament) from the Labour Party. Yangkey urged Drakeford to use his position within the UK's Labour government to push for the closure of Chinese-run colonial boarding schools in Tibet, which are part of China's broader efforts to forcibly assimilate Tibetan children and erase their cultural identity. She also raised serious concerns about the Chinese government's transnational repression against Tibetans living in the diaspora. Furthermore, Representative Yangkey emphasised the Chinese regime's ongoing efforts to suppress the Tibetan language, urging Drakeford to bring attention to the issue within the Welsh Parliament. As per the report, Mark Drakeford expressed his concern about the alarming repression of Tibetan linguistic rights and confirmed that while foreign policy is largely under Westminster's jurisdiction, he would collaborate with his colleagues in the Welsh Parliament to support motions and statements advocating for the preservation of the Tibetan language in Tibet. During the meetings, Representative Yangkey also presented a briefing paper highlighting the urgency of defending the Tibetan language against Chinese government policies aimed at cultural assimilation. The document called on both leaders to raise the issue in the Welsh Parliament. Last year, Tsering Yangkey, a civil servant from the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA) in Dharamsala, was appointed as the new representative of Dalai Lama to the United Kingdom. This marked a significant milestone, as it was the first time in 15 years that a senior Tibetan civil servant from Dharamsala took the helm of the Office of Tibet in London. (ANI)
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