Chinese dictator Xi Jinping welcomed in Paris by Tibetan protest: ‘Your time has passed, not Chinese totalitarianism’

Approximately 2,000 people, mainly members of the Tibetan community in France, gathered in Paris on Sunday to denounce the visit of the Chinese dictator, Xi Jinping, to France, the “land of human rights”.

“Stop the threat against Taiwan, stop the repression in Hong Kong, stop the support for Putin, stop the interference in France”, wrote the participants on a large banner displayed in the Republic Square, a traditional place of demonstration in the French capital.

“Dictator Xi Jinping, your time has passed”, “no to Chinese totalitarianism”, were the signs carried by Tibetans from France or European countries such as Belgium.

Hundreds of protesters raised the Tibetan flag. On numerous occasions, the crowd chanted: “France, the country of human rights”, “Long live free Tibet” or “Free Tibet”. In total, 2,000 people demonstrated, according to the police headquarters in Paris.

Xi Jinping “is a dictator who wants to destroy Tibetan tradition and culture”, Karma Thinlay, president of the Tibetan community in France, told AFP when the Chinese dictator had just arrived in Paris, Sunday afternoon, for a two day visit.

“In China, there is no freedom of speech, there is no freedom,” he continued. “France is a country of human rights and freedom, this is not compatible with him coming to France,” added Thinlay.

French President Emmanuel Macron plans to back trade “reciprocity” and the search for a solution to the war in Ukraine in the face of Xi Jingpin, who continues to show his support for Russia.

“Emmanuel Macron must know that he cannot do business quietly, with confidence with China, because China is a country where all rights are violated,” Thinlay continued.

“There is more to life than economics”, he stressed, expressing his hope that the French president will take this opportunity to talk about the situation in Tibet with the aim of finding “a peaceful solution”.

Over the centuries, Tibet has alternated periods of independence and control by China. The Beijing regime took over after an intervention by the Chinese Communist Army in October 1950. The exiled Dalai Lama has always refused to recognize that Tibet is historically part of China, as the Beijing regime demands.

Editor: Adrian Dumitru

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