Since 2008, the Chinese government has been increasing its effort to prevent Tibetan refugees from escaping to India. This year, only 100 refugees have made it across a border that once saw thousands of wayfaring Tibetans each year. Yesterday, The Washington Post‘s Annie Gowen reported on the crackdown:
“Declining numbers of refugees are likely to have a profound effect on the Tibetan diaspora — with an estimated 120,000 living in India alone — who have relied on survivors and their first-hand accounts to help raise support for their cause in the West, experts say.
“Now the Chinese have tightened the border further as part of a counterterrorism campaign launched this year in the wake of two violent terrorist attacks by extremist Uighurs, a Muslim minority, advocates say.”
See the whole article at The Washington Post, and look through more of our coverage of Tibetan issues including our recent post on the Dalai Lama’s relationship with China.
