Ottawa, May 23, 2018 – In response to the May 22 sentencing of Tibetan language advocate, Mr. Tashi Wangchuck, Canada’s Embassy to China tweeted an unequivocal response, calling upon the Chinese Government to release him ‘immediately and unconditionally’. Canada’s Embassy urged the Chinese government to ‘uphold its own Constitution’, and affirmed Canada’s support for the February 2018 United Nations Special Rapporteurs statement, condemning the detention of Tashi Wangchuk as ‘the criminalisation of linguistic and cultural rights advocacy’ [1][2].

“CTC applauds the Canadian government for its principled position, and its advocacy on behalf of Tashi Wangchuk”, said Mati Bernabei, Vice Chair of the Canada Tibet Committee. “It is deeply alarming that Mr. Wangchuk has been branded a criminal for his efforts to assert Tibetan people’s Constitutional rights to language education and cultural practices.”

Tashi Wangchuck was detained in 2016, following an interview with the New York Times in which he emphasized the importance of Tibetan language education and regional autonomy. On May 22, 2018, in Qinghai Province, he was sentenced to five years in prison for ‘inciting separatism’ [3].

[1] The Embassy of Canada to China’s statement - English: https://twitter.com/CanadaChina/status/999149223437393920
[2] The Embassy of Canada to China’s statement - French: https://twitter.com/CanadaChine/status/999151375501156352
[3] New York Times: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/22/world/asia/tibetan-activist-tashi-wangchuk-sentenced.html