Over a thousand Chinese spies suspected in Bodh Gaya/ENG

2012. január 2./Phayul.com/TibetPress

BODH GAYA, January 2: Speaking to the press, the Secretary of the Department of Security of the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA) said that Chinese spies could be flooding the on-going Kalachakra teachings by His Holiness the Dalai Lama in Bodh Gaya.

“In information that we have received, we suspect there might be 1000 to 1500 spies attending the Kalachakra teachings sent by China to study and report on the Tibetan leaders and their activities in the exile community,” Secretary Ngodup Dorjee told reporters.

According to the Secretary, around 7,000 Tibetans from Tibet have come to India to attend the ten-day Kalachakra teachings which began January 1.

“China has sent spies to inform on us but we have nothing to hide – everything is transparent within the CTA,” the Secretary added.

On earlier occasions, the Tibetan spiritual leader His Holiness the Dalai Lama had publicly urged suspected Chinese spies to report correctly on the Tibetan freedom struggle in exile without any fabrication.

Recent reports from Tibet have indicated that the number of Chinese spies in monasteries in Tibet have greatly increased following the 2008 mass uprisings in Tibet.

Tibetan Member of Parliament in exile and China expert Bawa Kalsang Gyaltsen last November said that 20,000 Chinese officials had been deployed in Tibetan villages to “espouse patriotism and love for China” and “re-sculpture the minds of Tibetans”.

"Usually Tibetans in the villages put up photos of Chinese leaders on the altars and walls when Chinese officials visit the villages and pull them down once they leave," the Tibetan MP said. “But now, under constant watch, the villagers would be facing greater repression.”



This move of penetrating Tibetan villages is amongst the many policies being employed by the newly appointed Chinese party boss in Tibet, Chen Quanguo.



Chinese government’s patriotic re-education campaigns in Tibetan monasteries and nunneries have been widely opposed by Tibetans and condemned by international observers.

Human Rights Watch in a release last year said that repressive policies and provocative policing techniques by the Chinese authorities were responsible for greater unrest and escalating tensions in the region.

This report has been re-edited on January 2, 2012 19:45 IST