‘Xi, You’re Not Welcome’: As Trump Hosts China’s Chief, Hundreds Protest in Washington – The Diplomat

On September 24, greater than 3,000 Tibetans gathered in Washington to protest Chinese language President Xi Jinping’s go to to the White Home, in what organizers described because the largest-ever Tibetan rally in North America. The rally was organized by Tibetan Youth Congress (TYC) and supported by different Tibetan activist organizations.

The protesters got here with calls for that they stated needs to be a part of the China-U.S. relationship: that Trump elevate human rights with Xi, that China launch political and non secular prisoners, and that Tibetans be allowed to protect their language and tradition. The group additionally demanded the repeal of China’s new Ethnic Unity and Progress Promotion Regulation, which took impact in July and promotes what Beijing calls a shared sense of identification amongst China’s 56 ethnic teams. Tibetan activists say the regulation additional advances Beijing’s efforts to assimilate Tibetans into Chinese language identification. Chinese language authorities say the regulation protects minority rights whereas selling ethnic unity.

“Human rights shouldn’t be left outdoors of their talks,” stated Tencho Gyatso, president of the Worldwide Marketing campaign for Tibet. “The Tibetans, the Uyghurs, the Hong Kongers, the Taiwanese, we wish to make certain our voices are additionally heard there.”

The demonstration unfolded as Xi made his first state go to to Washington in additional than a decade. U.S. President Donald Trump welcomed him to the White Home for talks that touched on AI, commerce, and different points, whereas the 2 governments have been additionally coping with disputes over Taiwan, Iran and uncommon earths. Trump hosted Xi at a state dinner on the night of September 24.

Exterior, Tibetan protesters marched by way of the capital carrying Tibetan flags and indicators studying “Xi Jinping is responsible of genocide” and “Tibet was by no means part of China.” By the tip of the day, the demonstration had expanded right into a coalition that included Uyghur, Southern Mongolian, Chinese language democracy, Taiwanese, Burmese, Falun Gong, and Chinese language Christian teams, all folks that have suffered below the Chinese language Communist Get together.

The rally started at about 9 a.m. outdoors the Chinese language Embassy, the place protesters gathered earlier than marching towards the U.S. Capitol. Police have been deployed across the demonstration as the group assembled. The protesters then moved by way of Washington, with Connecticut Avenue closed to accommodate the march. The group handed by way of Dupont Circle earlier than arriving on the Capitol, the place a number of audio system addressed the demonstrators.

Former Home Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Rep. Jim McGovern, a Massachusetts Democrat, joined the rally. McGovern referred to as for human rights to be included in Trump’s discussions with Xi.

“No Xi in D.C. with out human rights,” McGovern advised the group.

He additionally criticized Republican lawmakers, who he stated had declined to hitch efforts urging the administration to press China on human rights. “Are they afraid of Donald Trump? Are they afraid he’ll be offended in the event that they ask him to ask Xi to launch prisoners of conscience?” McGovern stated.

Pelosi additionally spoke in assist of the protesters, calling consideration to human rights in Tibet and urging the discharge of prisoners of conscience.

For a lot of Tibetan protesters, Thursday’s demonstration was additionally formed by the demise of Lobga Rangzen, a longtime Tibetan independence activist who died after self-immolating outdoors the United Nations in New York on July 2. Rangzen, 52, had referred to as for Tibetan independence and unity in a remaining message earlier than setting himself on fireplace.

Jigme Ugen, president of the Tibetan Nationwide Congress, stated the dimensions of the demonstration confirmed that the Tibetan independence motion remained lively.

“That is the most important gathering, as such, to not simply protest Xi Jinping, but additionally to inform the world and the U.S. authorities that the Tibetan motion, and the decision for Tibetan independence, continues to be very a lot alive,” Ugen stated. 

Tsering Chomphel, president of the Tibetan Youth Congress, who traveled from India for the protest, stated individuals had come from New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Philadelphia, Boston, Chicago, Vermont, and Toronto. “That is the first-ever mass gathering in North America. Every time Xi Jinping or a Chinese language delegation visits, TYC can be there to verify our voices are heard.”

Seventeen Tibetans had set off on foot from the United Nations headquarters in New York on September 17, strolling by way of Philadelphia earlier than reaching Washington on the night of September 23 – the identical day Xi arrived. Rangzen Dolkar, one of many walkers, stated the journey was meant to boost consciousness about Tibet and Pawo Lobga Rangzen’s demise.

Pawo is an honorary title given to any particular person who has sacrificed their lives by way of self-immolation to carry consideration to Tibet’s state of affairs. 

“I’m a mom of two children, and I left my children residence. All of us took off from work and left on this journey,” she stated. “Individuals cease us on the best way and ask us what we’re doing as a result of they see the flag. It provides us a chance to talk about Tibet and what Pawo Lobga Rangzen sacrificed his life for.”

After the rally on the Capitol, the protestors marched to Franklin Park, half a mile from the White Home, the place audio system from the Uyghur, Taiwanese, Burmese, and Hong Kong communities addressed the group. 

Misran Dolan, president of the Uyghur American Affiliation, framed the gathering as a typical demand for political and non secular freedom. “Free the Uyghurs. Free the Tibetans. Hold Taiwan free. Hold Hong Kong free. Hold China free,” Dolan advised the group.

“All of us right here have moved away from our homelands,” he stated. “And now we’re right here in america … to train these rights – freedom of speech, freedom of expression, freedom of faith.” About 200 members of the Uyghur neighborhood attended, in line with Dolan.

The gathering additionally included Chinese language democracy activists. About 50 members of the Democratic Get together of China traveled from Los Angeles, in line with Zheng Zhou, a member of the group.

“We wish Xi Jinping to cease persecuting individuals. We wish him to free Jimmy Lai, Ding Jiaxi,” stated Zhou. Lai, the billionaire founding father of Apple Day by day, Hong Kong’s most outstanding pro-democracy newspaper, and a vocal critic of the Chinese language Communist Get together was sentenced to twenty years in jail earlier this February after being convicted of conspiracy to commit sedition and collusion with overseas forces. Marco Rubio, the U.S. secretary of state, had urged the CCP to grant him humanitarian parole calling the sentence unjust and tragic, 

Daniel Zhou, a Chinese language Christian affiliated with an underground church – church buildings that function outdoors China’s state-controlled spiritual system and whose members can face detention and different restrictions from authorities – spoke concerning the persecution of Christians in China.

“Our church leaders have to remain in Chinese language jails, leaving their households praying and crying at residence, simply because they needed to apply their faith peacefully in China,” Zhou stated.

Cynthia Solar, a senior researcher on the Falun Dafa Data Middle, stated her buddies from america had relations killed in Chinese language jail by way of pressured organ harvesting. “After they went to see their lifeless dad and mom on the mortuary, their our bodies have been cut up open, there have been stitches, and so they have been lacking a coronary heart or a kidney,” she stated. 

Falun Gong is a non secular apply that emerged in China within the Nineteen Nineties and was banned by Chinese language authorities in 1999. The Chinese language authorities has been accused of forcibly harvesting organs from imprisoned Falun Gong practitioners. In 2019, the China Tribunal, an unbiased individuals’s tribunal, concluded that pressured organ harvesting has occurred in China on a major scale and that Falun Gong practitioners have been probably the primary supply of organs. 

Solar described the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners as one thing that had adopted her all through her life. 

“I used to be born in July 1999, the month and 12 months that the persecution started,” she stated. “After I graduated highschool, I assumed the persecution would finish by the point I received to varsity. However now I’m in grad faculty. I’m engaged, I’m getting married, and the persecution continues to be happening.”

“I don’t need this to be the burden of my youngsters, my grandchildren,” she stated.

For the Tibetan organizers, the rally was not merely a name for one more assertion from Washington.

“Tibetans aren’t searching for an announcement at this level,” Ugen stated. “The U.S. authorities already has sufficient legal guidelines which have been handed by Congress, and all they should do is to really stand on these.” In 2020, Trump signed the Tibetan Coverage and Assist Act of 2020 into regulation, which strengthened U.S. coverage on Tibet.

Later within the night, protesters marched towards the White Home.

Police had erected barricades close to 14th Road and Pennsylvania Avenue, separating the demonstrators from one other group of individuals carrying Chinese language flags and supporting Xi. The 2 teams shouted at one another from reverse sides of the barricades. Tibetan protesters waved Tibetan flags and chanted as the opposite group shouted again throughout the road. The confrontation grew more and more loud, however there was no bodily altercation.

Contained in the White Home, Xi was attending the state dinner hosted by Trump. Exterior, the opposing teams remained separated by police barricades.

For Ugen, the demonstration was in the end about ensuring Tibet was not omitted of the China-U.S. dialog.

“The fundamentals of the dialog is past Taiwan, AI, commerce,” Ugen stated. “We’re telling the world that if there’s justice on this planet, it ought to come by way of Tibet.”