By Hu Yuwei in Kathmandu
Sayambhunath, a remote mountain camp where around 15,000 Tibetans live, is one of the three major Tibetan communities in Kathmandu, capital of Nepal.
An elderly Tibetan woman was sitting idle and taking a video call from someone in Lhasa, as modern cars running on the square-built road in Lhasa appeared on her screen.
In a secluded alley, the “Refugee Reception Center” shut its door and looks a bit like an abandoned factory from the outside. Its appearance is deliberately low-profile.
Nobody can tell what the place is for, except for a small blue board hanging on the side wall telling its attribution only in Tibetan characters.
The young Tibetan who led the way for the Global Times said he hasn’t seen anyone visit the place in a long time. That is why he stops for a moment when he heard about it, because no one had talked about it for a while.
Nepal has been home to at least around 20,000 Tibetans who fled their home country across the Himalayas since 1959.
But now, it turns to be home of those Tibetans-in-exile eager to return to Tibet, with the number of Tibetans entering India through Nepal having significantly dropped in recent years.
No response to separatists
More than two-thirds of those have no identifications or any form of documentations, preventing them from having access to education, legitimate employment or civil welfare.
The Tibetan communities are aging, where the elderly are missing their native land and eager to go back, while the younger ones are concerned more about their livelihood and employment chances.
Some young Tibetans are leaving Nepal to work in other countries and regions for more lucrative payments.
Tibetans in Nepal are seemly out of the sphere of influence of the “Tibetan government-in-exile in India,” especially in recent years.
“Nobody is interested in those pro-separatist activities. The ‘Tibetan government-in-exile in India’ can only incite and plot, but can never give us any substantial help,” said Qiao Zhen (pseudonym), a Tibetan who has lived in the Boudhanath community, the largest Tibetan community in Kathmandu, for over a decade.
“Our survival here is hard as refugees, not to mention the participation in the so-called political gatherings… I haven’t heard of anyone hoping to sneak out of Tibet these years. Instead, most around me feel regretful and want to go back.”
Since 1998, the Nepalese government has stopped issuing “refugee cards” to Tibetans traveling across the Himalayas, as China and Nepal have strengthened border control.
“Most Tibetans came to Nepal not for political reasons, but for a better life, back in the 1960s. We thought it was a good place to make money, but that was not the case. We know that the quality of life in Tibet now is so much better than in Nepal and India,” Qiao said.
“Eager to go back” has become the most common response from almost every Tibetan the Global Times had interviewed in Nepal.
Many of them have applied for a “return permit” at the Chinese Embassy in Nepal more than once.
“In 2014, I went back with a permit. I was absolutely impressed by the sweeping changes in Tibet. The changes are visible in hometown people’s digital life, and their public transport,” said Qiao.
Nepal’s role
The vanishing of pro-separatist forces reflects Nepal’s indispensable role in shielding against Tibetan separatists in the country.
Nepal has fortified security around Chinese missions in Kathmandu, especially around sensitive days, said Balmukunda Regmi, a professor on Nepal-China relations at Nepal’s Tribhuvan University.
Regmi said the influence of the Tibetan separatist movement has declined in Nepal.
The separatist activities have gone underground. Sporadically, they have tried to organize demonstrations, but Nepali police seem well prepared to put these off, as security forces far outnumbering the pro-separatist demonstrators.
Plainclothes police officers patrolled the streets of the largest Tibetan community during Global Times’ visit.
It is claimed that separatists in the village were advised not to hold rallies or organize gatherings in March. Those who try to start such pro-separatist demonstrations will be detained by Nepali police, Regmi told the Global Times.
“Nepal’s current government is truly living up to its commitments to ban anti-China and separatist activities in the public areas,” said Zhang Ming, a professor at the Faculty of Social Development and Western China Development Studies, Sichuan University.
Nepal provides shelter and humanitarian support to Tibetan refugees, handed over true refugees to the UNHCR, and deported the others.
“Tibetans have become less dependent on Western human rights groups. In the past, those who joined a march could secure immigration, but now they don’t count on it. They know the West sees them as only a political card,” noted Zhang.
