Dispersion to Oceania and developed Asia

Abstract

Since most of South Asian Tibetan refugees have not secured formal immigration status in their host countries, their dispersion has expanded to other continents. Compared to those Tibetans living in South Asia, Europe and North America, Tibetans in Australia and New Zealand emigrated there on their own, married citizens, or went to study, work, or engage in religious or cultural activities. Tibetan diasporization in Oceania has proven successful. There are only around 60 Tibetans residing in Japan, some of them hold a Taiwanese (Republic of China) passport, which makes it easier to obtain a Japanese visa, and others are fulltime staff members of the liaison office of the Dalai Lama in Japan. Under Seoul's stringent immigration laws, less than 20 Tibetans reside in South Korea, mostly on work visas. Tibetan exiles and their supporters often protest to the Visiting Chinese Leaders or Embassy of China in Oceania and developed Asian countries.

Keywords:

• Tibetan refugees
• Tibetans in exile
• diasporization
• immigration
• Oceania
• Asia

Notes

¹Researchers have observed that Tibetans have trouble obtaining Indian citizenship because they were designated as foreigners. Without Indian citizenship, they were denied certain rights, including a passport and the right to vote, excluded from holding public office and owning property. Newer refugees were even denied residence permits, which are necessary for international travel. Because existing Tibetan settlements were not allowed to expand, they started becoming overcrowded. See ‘India: Information on Tibetan Refugees and Settlements’, Published by United States Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services, available at: http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/docid/3f51f90821.html [accessed 21 October 2009].

²Seonaigh MacPherson, Anne-Sophie Bentz, Dawa Bhuti Ghoso, ‘Global Nomads: The Emergence of the Tibetan Diaspora (Part I)’, available at: http://www.migrationinformation.org/Feature/display.cfm?id=693[accessed 20 October 2009].

³Australian census data based on ancestry question, 2006; New Zealand census data based on response on ancestry question, 2006, Quoted by Seonaigh MacPherson, Anne-Sophie Bentz, Dawa Bhuti Ghoso, ‘Global Nomads: The Emergence of the Tibetan Diaspora (Part I)’, available at: http://www.migrationinformation.org/Feature/display.cfm?id=693[accessed 20 October 2009].

⁴Seonaigh MacPherson, Anne-Sophie Bentz, Dawa Bhuti Ghoso, 'The Tibetan Diaspora: Adapting to Life outside Tibet(Part II)', available at: http://www.migrationinformation.org/Feature/display.cfm?id=696[accessed 18 October 2009].

⁵Survey by the Tibetan Government in Exile 1998, available at CTA's official website: http://www.tibet.net/en/index.php[accessed 1 July 2009].

⁶Japanese esoteric Buddhism has a close connection with the Tibetan Tantric tradition. the Buddhist connection between Japan and Tibet reaches back to the Meiji Period. Already for some time Narita-san had fostered exchange with Tibetan Buddhism in various ways. This includes research trips, the study of Tibetan Buddhism in its research facilities, and publications dedicated to Indology and Buddhism. See Martin Repp, ‘H.H. The 14th Dalai Lama and the Japanese Buddhists: An Account and Analysis of Complicated Interactions’, available at: http://japanese-religions.jp/publications/assets/JR33_a_Repp.pdf [accessed 9 August 2009].

⁷For example, Tibetan Snowlion Friendship Society (TIBET AID, Japan) is a recognized NGO which has been founded in Kyoto in September 1987 for the purpose of providing educational opportunities for Tibetan refugee children and youths living in India, and to promote Tibetan culture in Japan. see Tibet online website: http://www.tibet.org/Resources/TSG/Groups/snow.html[accessed 28 June 2009].

⁸‘Pro-Tibet Protesters March to Chinese Embassy in Seoul’. The Korean Times, March 18, 2008, available at: http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2008/03/113_20904.html [accessed 21 October 2009].

⁹Seonaigh MacPherson, Anne-Sophie Bentz, Dawa Bhuti Ghoso, ‘The Tibetan Diaspora: Adapting to Life outside Tibet(Part II)’, available at: http://www.migrationinformation.org/Feature/display.cfm?id=696[accessed 18 October 2009].