China's rule over Tibet has intensified into what a new report describes as a comprehensive system of tyranny under President Xi Jinping, who has not only maintained the repressive policies of his predecessors but systematically expanded them through technology, legislation, and cultural erasure. The findings, published in the European Times, draw on testimony from Tibetan advocates and international human rights observers.

Surveillance State and Digital Control

According to the report, Chinese authorities have deployed DNA collection, facial recognition, and Artificial Intelligence (AI)-driven tracking systems across Tibet to monitor residents around the clock. People in the region reportedly live under constant suspicion, with their private lives effectively criminalised by the state apparatus.

The scale of digital surveillance in Tibet, critics argue, mirrors and in some respects exceeds what has been documented in Xinjiang — making Tibet, in the assessment of human rights groups, a laboratory for authoritarian governance tools.

Cultural Erasure: Language, Religion, and Identity

The report details a systematic dismantling of Tibetan identity across multiple fronts. Children are reportedly separated from their families and enrolled in state-run boarding schools, where instruction in the Tibetan language is replaced by Mandarin and loyalty to the Communist Party of China is instilled in place of cultural heritage.

Images of the Dalai Lama — Tibet's exiled spiritual leader — remain banned. Monks have been arrested and monasteries shut down. Khedroob Thondup, nephew of the Dalai Lama, wrote in the European Times: 'China's rule in Tibet has always been heavy-handed, but under Xi Jinping it has become tyrannical in the purest sense. Xi is not just another authoritarian leader — he is the worst tyrant Tibet has ever faced, wielding surveillance, assimilation, and law as weapons of cultural annihilation. Tibet today is a frontier of darkness, and Xi its architect.'

Ethnic Unity Law: Legalising Assimilation

A significant development flagged by the report is China's Ethnic Unity and Progress Law, which came into effect on 1 July. The legislation codifies Beijing's forced assimilation policies into domestic law and, notably, criminalises the celebration of Tibetan culture even abroad — extending Beijing's reach to diaspora communities worldwide.

Ryan Fioresi, Executive Director of the International Campaign for Tibet (ICT), said the law provides legal cover to policies aimed at weakening Tibet's distinct identity. 'The Chinese government just implemented on July 1st the Ethnic Unity and Progress Law, which codifies many of Beijing's forced assimilation policies into Chinese law,' he said. Fioresi added that 'many of the stipulations in the Ethnic Unity and Progress Law contravene China's own constitution and its international human rights commitments.'

International Response and Calls for Dialogue

Fioresi described the situation inside Tibet as 'quite grim,' stating that 'the human rights abuses are escalating from the Chinese government.' He urged the United States and other governments to press Beijing to resume negotiations with the Dalai Lama or his representatives — talks that have remained stalled for over a decade.

The International Campaign for Tibet has called on governments, the United Nations, and interfaith leaders to publicly condemn the Ethnic Unity and Progress Law and pressure Beijing to reverse course. Whether those calls translate into diplomatic action remains to be seen, as major powers have historically balanced human rights concerns against economic ties with China.