Comments & Briefs

A Prayer Service for late former Chief Minister Raja Virbhadra Singh With a Daylong Symposium on Tibet-Kinnaur Relations was Organized by TPI

August 27, 2021editor

On 26 August 2021, the Tibet Policy Institute (TPI) of Central TibetanAdministration organised a prayer service on the 49th demise-day of the late former Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh, Raja Virbhadra Sing, followed by a daylong symposium on Tibet-Kinnaur Relations. Senior monks from Nachung monastery conducted the prayer session in accordance with Tibetan Buddhist tradition by lighting hundred butter lamps…

India-US Tibet Policy Is Evolving, and Blinken’s Meet Is Proof

August 4, 2021Tenzin Tsultrim

Modi’s call to the Dalai Lama on his birthday was also seen by many as a departure from his earlier approach. The recent landmark meeting of the US Secretary of the State, Antony Blinken, with the representative of the Bureau of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, New Delhi, Ngodup Dongchung, and also with Geshe Dorji Damdul, the Director of…

Significance of Xi Jinping’s TAR visit

August 4, 2021Tenzin Tseten

Chinese president Xi Jinping visited the so-called Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) from July 21 to 23 to commemorate the 70th anniversary of its supposed “Peaceful Liberation of Tibet.” Though his visit came as a surprise with no official announcement, but not entirely without indication. Two official notices were issued just ahead of Xi’s visit. Lhasa municipality People’s Government issued…

Why China Wants To Choose The Next Dalai Lama

July 11, 2021Thupten Samphel

On Tuesday, 6th July, 2021, the Dalai Lama turns 86. Tibetans in Tibet and those in exile will celebrate the occasion and wish him continued good health and long life. Tibetans and people along the Buddhist Himalayan belt will be joined by millions across the globe whose lives have been touched and in many cases changed by the Tibetan leader’s message…

History tells us Himalayas hold key to controlling Asia; India must continue to be wary of China

June 21, 2021Tsewang Dorji

In future whatever happens inside Tibet may matter for the Indian security environment and also that of Asia as well. For the past few years, the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) has upgraded its high-tech weapons and conducted a series of live-fire military exercises along the Himalayan borders and in Tibet. For Instance, Global Times reported on 5 January, 2020 that “China’s latest weapons…

CCP and Sinicization of Tibet

March 16, 2021Contributor

By Dhananjay Sahai* Shortly after the annexation of Tibet by the People’s Liberation Army, the Communist Government in Beijing began to tighten its grip over the region. Over the decades, Beijing has used economic development as a plank, and attempted to transfer large number of Han Chinese people into Tibet, and combined this with suppression of elements of Tibetan culture…

India Needs To Adopt Its Version Of Tibet Policy

January 7, 2021Contributor

Unlike the Tibet Policy Act of 2002, the new act is substantially more comprehensive and assertive. Tsewang Rigzin* Outlook, 06 January 2021 After weeks of intense negotiations between Democrats and Republicans and uncertainty over President Donald Trump’s signature on the massive spending bill, the President finally signed into law The Consolidated Appropriations Act 2021 on December 27, 2020. With…

Tibet: Time to Review India’s Tibet Policy

December 25, 2020Contributor

by Prof. Ramu Manivannan* There are several reasons to believe, as to why Tibet is important for India. The most significant reason is that Tibet is India’s neighbour. The Government of India no longer openly acknowledges this simple truth due to Tibet’s present status under China. The historical failure to defend Tibet as an independent nation has left us with…

Why does the CCP operate military-style mass coercive labor programs in Tibet?

November 19, 2020Thupten Samphel

The goal is to fuse Tibetans, Uighurs and other minorities into the majority ‘melting pot,’ like the Manchus before them. For many months, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has been in the news for a number of reasons, from covering up vital information on COVID-19 and supplying millions of damaged masks, to the aggressive wolf-warrior diplomacy spearheaded by Foreign Ministry…

The United Nations and Human Rights: No More “Universal” or “Rights”

October 14, 2020Tenzing Wangdak

“The Human Rights Council is an inter-governmental body within the United Nations system responsible for strengthening the promotion and protection of human rights around the globe and for addressing situations of human rights violations and make recommendations on them.” This is how the United Nation’s Human Rights Council (UNHRC) describes itself on its website. Four hours ago, at the time…

Review: The End of an Era; India Exits Tibet by Claude Arpi

September 14, 2020Thupten Samphel

Claude Arpi’s four volumes on Tibet’s relations with India show how China developed its Tibet playbook that includes encroachment, occupation, and the spinning of a narrative of false claims. The last book in the series focuses on the last five years of India’s diplomatic presence in Tibet By Thubten Samphel, Hindustan Times Sep 11, 2020 20:03 IST What’s happening with…

Territorial politics

July 5, 2020Tenzin Tsultrim

With China facing serious backlash both domestically and internationally, it wants to divert its people’s attention to the India-China border For the last two months, India and China have been involved in a military and diplomatic stand-off along the Line of Actual Control (LAC). The current skirmish is not isolated from the main politics of China. It is but an…

The Chinese Betrayal, Early Warnings Unheeded Lessons from Sardar Patel and Sri Aurobindo

July 5, 2020Contributor

*Prof. Sachidananda Mohanty [An Article in 2 Parts] Prologue On 28 March 1963, Sudhir Ghosh, the eminent Indian emissary of Gandhiji, and later of Jawaharlal Nehru, met with the President of the United States, John F Kennedy in the White House and shared the last testament of Sri Aurobindo [about the Chinese invasion of Tibet] that had appeared in Mother…

Free Tibet would mean richer, safer India

June 26, 2020Contributor

While the recent Galwan Valley incident is highly distressing, unfortunately, as long and Tibet remains under the total control of China, it is almost certain that such incidents will continue to happen. By Tsewang Rinzin Apart from the Tibetans, the greatest beneficiary of a Free Tibet will be India. The recent Chinese incursion and brutal murder of twenty Indian soldiers…

India’s Tibet Policy: Time to turn back the clock?

June 13, 2020Contributor

by Apa Lhamo* When power dynamics in India (1947) and China (1949) changed, the Tibet Question loomed large in the two Asian states’ bilateral arena. India’s Tibet Policy in the first five-six years of Nehruvian Government had a trace of British footprints, meaning Independent India accepted Chinese Suzerainty but not sovereignty over Tibet and Tibet had the power to conclude…