China Destroys Third Tibetan Buddhist Statue in Two Months

Mandakini Jathavethan

Tibet and Human Rights Researcher,

Global Human Rights Defence.

China has demolished yet another Buddhist statue in the Chanang Monastery at Drago County. The Statue of Padmasambhava known as Guru Rinpoche stood three stories high. Another three-storey high Buddhist statue, that of Maitreya Buddha, had been destroyed in early January. Merely a few weeks before that, the Chinese authorities razed a 99-foot Buddhist statue. 

Satellite imagery taken on 3 October 2019 confirmed the presence of the statue, but another image taken on 25 February 2022 revealed that it had been destroyed. Sources living in exile state that this statue was destroyed late January this year.

All three statues, located in Drago County, had been razed within a few weeks of each other. It appears be an attempt at the systematic elimination of Tibetan identity and culture. The right to freedom of speech and expression and that of religious freedoms are established principles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. China is yet to ratify the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

Sources and further reading:

Kunchok, S. (2022, February 28). Chinese government destroys third Tibetan Buddhist statue in 3 months. https://www.rfa.org/english/news/tibet/statue-02282022155542.html