To the extent that governments which are not subject to the PRC’s jurisdiction nevertheless obey its whims, we are already living in the bright shared totalitarian global future that the CCP propaganda keeps talking about. Consider what you might have to deal with if you were a Tibetan living in Switzerland (Tibetan Review, November 23, 2025).
A group of Swiss-Tibetan activists staged their own light show on Nov 22 evening at an event in the Swiss Capital Bern and used Tibetan flags to draw attention to the oppression of Tibet by China, reported bluewin.ch Nov 22. The occasion was the last day of the annual Rendez-vous Bundesplatz sound-and-light show, with this year’s event, the 15th, being held from Oct 18 to Nov 22, attracting around 465,000 visitors.
The event’s organizers had dropped a planned projection on Tibet’s scenic beauty following an intervention from the Swiss Parliamentary Services on the alleged ground that it was “too political”. The latter had claimed that “Tibet is associated with political questions” and there was need to ensure neutrality in state-linked spaces.
The Tibetan show, which lasted 30 minutes, was organized by the Tibetan Youth in Europe association, which criticized its exclusion from the official event as an act of self-censorship that bowed to political pressure from China.
When even symbolic references to Tibet are removed for fear of reactions by China, it shows how fragile freedom of expression and artistic freedom have become in Switzerland, the group said on their facebook.com post.
Despite the invidious prohibition, the Tibetans were able to stage a performance, and so far don’t seem to be getting punished for it. So things could be worse. But the incident is ominous, and part of a trend of transnational repression in Switzerland.
People who belong to groups targeted by the Chinese Communist Party live very dangerously in some non-China countries. In summer 2025, the Thai government submitted to a CCP demand that curators of an art exhibition on the theme of tyranny be pushed to remove artworks pertaining to Hong Kong, Tibet, and Xinjiang. Bad; but, again, not a threat to life and limb; sort of a Swiss level of appeasement.
There was no risk of a slippery slope, though. The government of Thailand had hit bottom already. A few months earlier, it had deported at least 40 long-detained Uyhgurs to the People’s Republic of China “despite warnings from rights groups they could face possible torture and even death.”
Also see:
Uyhur Human Rights Project and the Oxus Society for Central Asian Affairs: No Space Left to Run: China’s Transnational Repression of Uyghurs (June 24, 2021)
“The government of China’s campaign to persecute the Uyghur people… [encompasses] a range of practices, including harassment, surveillance, detention, and rendition. Through these practices, the government of China is able to extend its repression and control over the Uyghur people across sovereign boundaries. China’s transnational repression of Uyghurs has been consistently on the rise since 1997.”
Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy: Chinese Transnational Repression of Tibetan Diaspora Communities 2024
“In accordance with a policy launched by the Chinese government in 2014, state-provided phones are issued to former Tibetan political prisoners, who are required to use them exclusively. The aim is to monitor their movements and conversations following their release—including potential contacts with exiled relatives.”
