Tibetan organisations flay use of 'Xizang' for Tibet by China

Tibetan organisations, including the Students for Free Tibet, flayed the Chinese government’s recent directive mandating the use of ‘Xizang’ instead of Tibet.

In a recent event at Dharamsala, to mark the 112th anniversary of the previous Dalai Lama, Thubten Gyatso, pro-independence group Students for a Free Tibet-India organised a panel discussion emphasising that “Xizang” was not Tibet’s legitimate name and was an attempt to erase Tibetan history and identity.

Earlier, the Tibetan organisations had objected to the use of 'Xizang' instead of Tibet by the Indian Meteorological Department while referring to a recent earthquake in Tibet. The panel discussion was themed "Tibet Must Survive: Tibet in Global Dialogue, Erasure, and Resistance". The discussion brought together key figures from the Tibetan community, including Tsering Dawa, director of the Tibet Policy Institute; Tibetan parliament members Dorjee Tseten and Tenzin Pasang, Sonam Tsering, general secretary of the Tibetan Youth Congress and National Director of Students for a Free Tibet-India.

Tenzin Pasang said that over the past year, China had not only forcibly changed “Tibet” to “Xizang” but had also pressured foreign governments and international media outlets to adopt the term. She pointed to recent examples of the global media using “Xizang” in their coverage of the Dingri earthquake, stressing the need for Tibetans and their allies to resist this linguistic manipulation.

Tsering Dawa said that this strategy aimed at restricting the term “Tibet” solely to the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR), thereby undermining the unity of Tibet’s three traditional provinces of U-Tsang, Kham and Amdo. He added that this move was a deliberate effort to rewrite Tibetan history and weaken Tibetan identity on the global stage.

MP Dorjee Tseten said that China’s 70-year occupation of Tibet and its current push to change Tibet’s name internationally demonstrated its ongoing insecurity and manipulation of historical narratives.

The panel discussion concluded with four key demands directed at governments, media organisations and international institutions. They demanded immediate cessation of terms like “Xizang”, “China’s Tibet,” and “Southern China” while referring to Tibet.

The Tibetan organisations said that “Xizang” was not Tibet’s legitimate name and urged the countries and organisations to continue to use “Tibet” in English as an accurate representation of its distinct identity on the world map to counter China’s territorial claim.