Annual cycling event held in Taipei to commemorate Tibetan uprising

Taipei, Feb. 5 (CNA) The "2025 Cycling for a Free Tibet" campaign was launched in Taipei on Wednesday to commemorate the 66th anniversary of the Tibetan uprising and speak out for those suppressed in China, according to the event organizer.

Under the campaign, participants, including Tibetans in exile, will cycle through the streets of Taipei every Wednesday leading up to Tibetan Uprising Day on March 10 to speak out for those oppressed in China, the Human Rights Network for Tibet and Taiwan (HRNTT) said in a statement.

After the first cycle Wednesday, similar rides will be held in Taipei on Feb. 12, Feb. 19, Feb. 26, and March 5, as well as in Kaohsiung on March 1, the HRNTT said.

A march to commemorate the 66th anniversary of the Tibetan Uprising will then be held by the Taiwan Tibetan Welfare Association in the afternoon of March 9 in Taipei, followed by a candlelight vigil on March 10 at Liberty Square.

Among the dozen or so participants chanting slogans such as "Free Tibet" and "Tibet belongs to Tibetans" outside the Legislative Yuan before Wednesday's cycle was Tashi Tsering, HRNTT Secretary-General and a Taiwan-based Tibetan who has never set foot in his homeland.

"Many of my friends say, 'Your slogans have remained the same from the beginning until now,'" Tashi Tsering said, explaining that it was because the Chinese Communist Party's (CCP) suppression of Tibetans "has not changed at all" since 1959, the year of the Tibetan Uprising.

On March 10, 1959, about 10,000 Tibetans gathered in Lhasa to protest China's tightening control, but the uprising was brutally suppressed, leading to the Dalai Lama's exile to India and around 150,000 Tibetans fleeing into exile overseas, according to the HRNTT.

Tashi Tsering said many diaspora groups who are "suffering," including Tibetans, Hongkongers, and Uyghurs, have come to Taiwan believing that Taiwan's commitment to human rights and freedom can offer them a helping hand in achieving their goals, including pursuing Tibet independence, despite the threat from the CCP.

Visiting Taiwan from India to join the cycling event, Tibetan Youth Congress President Gonpo Dhondup said that since 2009, more than 160 Tibetans have self-immolated for the "freedom and independence of Tibet."

Gondo Dhondup, whose group is the largest NGO within the Tibetan exile community with over 35,000 members, said the cycling event is aimed at sending a message to the Chinese government that "the Tibetan people will continue to fight until our rightful independence is restored."