Speaking at the FCC on 13 April, 2023, Penpa Tsering, Sikyong or the Political Leader of the Tibetan peopl, said that negotiations with China are ongoing. But he would not want to discuss the details. He was also very emphatic in dismissing the latest incident involving the Dalai Lama and a young boy, and pointed out that the Tibetan spiritual leader has always been true to his vows, including celibacy. He added that the clip was tailored and that His Holiness (HH) has always preached that we need to move deeper and away from the sensory issues. “We are hurt by the insinuations”, he said.
Talking about the controversy involving the Dalai Lama, Tsering said: "It's really unfortunate that His Holiness’ actions have been taken in a totally different way. If you watch the whole video, then you will understand the grandfatherly affectionate demeanour of His Holiness the Dalai Lama. His Holiness is 87 years old. Please understand, he is no more a young man to be accused of all the names. We also need to understand where it's coming from. You know that this event happened publicly in the presence of the media on the 28th of February. Now this resurfaced one month and 10 days later, and who were the first instigators of the resurfacing of these viral videos?"
"And everybody knows who benefits from the maligning, destruction of the
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reputation of His Holiness and the legacy of His Holiness: it is the Chinese government. We all know that. But, unfortunately, what was going around in the social media was picked up by the mainstream news," he added.
Instead of sending more Chinese into Tibet, China is now trying to turn every Tibetan into Chinese. They have schools where a facade is being maintained, and they are not allowed to study Tibet but instead to respect the Chinese Communist Party instead, he said. We have a very transparent relationship with India. From the time we came to India,we have received a lot of love from the Indian government. and people. We have the best support from the US Government.
For us India is the land of the Buddha, our Guru, he added. “China needs to win trust of its own people first, especially the Huns. China is the only country that spends more on internal security than external,” he said. He added that there is no resolution of the
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Tibet problem without talking to China and till that time Tibet will reach out to all international community.
“I always remain very positive and HH keeps saying he will live till 130 years. I also jokingly tell our Chinese friends whether HH outlives the Chinese Communist Party or the other way around”, he joked. He pointed out that the Dalai Lama is the key to resolving the conflict. The reason for Tibetans being non-violent inside Tibet is also because of the Dalai Lama. We really hope common sense prevails and this is resolved in the lifetime of the HH. The one China policy has to do more with Taiwan than Tibet, he added. “Do you have another example where they invade another country and then tell the rest of the world that this is part of us?” he asked. Historically, China’s propaganda is so strong and pervasive that when China says that Tibet has been part of China from time immemorial people tend to believe it, he said. Tibet is ten times the size of UK, he said trying to dispel the misconceptions that Tibet is a small country.
--Antje Stiebitz and Simran Sodhi
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