Tibetan Parliament in-exile expresses concern over changes to Tibetan representation in French museums

The Tibetan parliament in-exile has expressed its deep concern and disappointment regarding the recent decision taken by the Musee du quai Branly and the Musee Guimet in France, which have replaced the term “Tibet” with the Chinese name “Xizang Autonomous Region” in their catalogues and exhibitions.

As per reports, the Muse Guimet renamed its Tibetan exhibit spaces as the “Himalayan world.”

The Tibetan parliamentarians alleged the adoption of the Chinese term “Xizang” by the French museums as an attempt to rewrite Tibetan history and accused them of aligning themselves with an ongoing propaganda campaign designed to legitimise China’s claim over Tibet.

They further alleged that this decision was made under the influence of Chinese state pressures, which is “an alarming distortion” of history and a denial of Tibet’s cultural and historical identity.

The matter was raised and discussed in the Tibetan Parliament in-exile in Himachal Pradesh’s Dharamshala on Thursday.

Member of the Tibetan Parliament in-exile, Lha Gyari Namgyal Dolkar, said, “Two very well-known museums in Paris have displayed a Chinese propaganda exhibition. The reason why I raised it personally in the parliament is the increasing number of developing CCP’s propaganda across the world.”

Lha Gyari Namgyal Dolkar called it a “serious threat” that should be countered, adding that China is investing in various kinds of propaganda to make sure their way of rebranding everything spreads across the world, including Xizang.

“They are trying to replace the word Tibet by Xizang and that danger that I want to raise here is it’s not just in Paris, I am looking into some of the Indian press also mentioning Xizang instead of Tibet and I think that is very dangerous. India has to be very careful because India is also facing lots of challenges from the Chinese Communist Party, especially when we look into renaming the Arunachal Pradesh’s areas. It’s the same thing so India has to be careful and has to counter this move that CCP is carrying out right now,” Lha Gyari Namgyal Dolkar added.

Thubten Gyatso, an MP in-exile, representing Tibetans across Europe, also alleged a “Chinese political agenda” that triggered the renaming.

“There is a Chinese political agenda behind such a mood, so as a Tibetan, also as the intellectuals, scholars and Tibetans living in France, we are under shock because French people don’t need to design Tibet, call us through their western term, which is Tibet. Why are they using a Chinese term? Because Chinese political agenda is to sinisize, sinicise Tibet and eradicate Tibetan identity, Tibetan language and Tibetan culture under a systematic framework and political agenda, so that is why there has been a really huge wave of contestation,” Thubten Gyatso said while speaking to ANI.

Thubten Gyatso said that they have written to the concerned French authorities requesting “to respect the Tibetan people’s identity.”

“The mesee Quai Branley expressed their readiness to correct the situation. The Musee Guimet renamed the Tibetan section in their museum to Himalayan World, which sounds nothing. Because it used to call us Tibet section. The Musee Guimet always used to call us Tibet so why they renamed it to the Himalayan world, which doesn’t exist, which is not a reality? The Himalayan range is a range of mountains; there is no such world or culture and the Himalayan language doesn’t exist,” Thubten Gyatso said.

“So there is some compromise. We have called the concerned French authorities and the French government. We have written a letter and asked their appointments to really hear Tibetan voice and to respect the Tibetan people’s identity. We also raised the issue in the parliament session,” Thubten Gyatso added.