European Parliament resolution built on sand: China Daily editorial

The firm opposition Beijing has expressed via its mission to the European Union against a Xizang-related resolution the bloc's lawmakers passed last week is fully justified.

The so-called resolution on "the abduction of Tibetan children and forced assimilation practices through Chinese boarding schools in Tibet" the European Parliament adopted on Thursday ignores the facts, brazenly spreads false information, wantonly smears China's image, and seriously interferes in China's internal affairs, as the mission's spokesperson said. The resolution only employs the "boarding school" issue as an excuse. Its true purpose is to discredit the Chinese government.

The resolution can be traced to the "I heard" and "I think" testimonies of some secessionists active in Canada, the United States and the EU, who live on Washington's payroll. The "boarding school" issue is nothing but their latest project to secure fresh funding, which is cloned from the "Xinjiang labor camp" project of their Uygur secessionist counterparts in the West. It is a pity that the European Parliament adopted the resolution purely based on the lines of these paid performers that have been scripted with the intention of smearing China.

Rather than visiting the Xizang autonomous region to see the situation for themselves they have taken the fabrications at face value and given them their endorsement. Like other boarding school systems elsewhere, the one in Xizang has been established to make it easier for students living far from schools to enjoy their right to education. The students have unrestricted communication with their families, and there are many courses teaching the Tibetan language and culture. The government values the country's diverse ethnic cultures as a priceless treasure, as proved by the country's rich and well-protected intangible cultural heritage resources.

The high enrollment rate of the boarding school system in Xizang reflects its popularity among locals as it eases the burden of parents on the sparsely populated and highest plateau in the world who would otherwise have to accompany or worry about their children making long and arduous journeys to school every day. But like the housing that the Chinese government subsidizes for Tibetans and the public services it provides, especially in winter when herding on the plateau becomes difficult, the boarding school system is being smeared as a "tool" to carry out "cultural genocide" in the region.

Some Western politicians willingly believe such lies in their eagerness to sling mud on almost everything the Chinese government does, turning a blind eye to the fact that in doing so they would condemn the Tibetan people to a feudal way of life.

They ignore the doubled life span of Tibetans and the tripling of their population over the past seven decades during which their average personal disposal income has surged about 300 times. Although some Western politicians claim they are defending the rights and interests of the Tibetan people, what they are doing is actually to the opposite.