In the city of Tucson, home to the University of Arizona, the Director of The Tibet Policy Institute (TPI), Mr. Thubten Samphel, gave a presentation on Tibet to the Arizona Friends of Tibet (AFOT). During the lively interaction at the Country Club on 26 April 2016, he spoke on the current state of Sino-Tibetan talks and the middle way policy of the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA).
After a brief introduction about the TPI as a research think tank of the CTA, he gave an overview of the dialogue process since its beginning in the 1970s. For being a member
of the Sino-Tibetan dialogue process for around three decades, Mr. Samphel in his authoritative presentation laid down the challenges ahead in taking forward the talks that stalled in 2010. Reiterating continuation of the Tibetan struggle as a non-violent freedom struggle, he laid special emphasis on the environmental issue as a priority for the Tibetan plateau.
Mr. Samphel, a day earlier, made his presentation on “Beyond Myths, Tibet’s Buddhist Culture” during “The Science of Consciousness” conference in Tucson. The Centre of Consciousness Studies at the Universities of Arizona and Michigan and the Dayalbagh Educational Institute in Agra jointly organized the weeklong conference.