The Central Tibetan Administration (CTA) will focus on seeking a peaceful resolution to the “Sino-Tibet conflict”, looking after the welfare of the Tibetan diaspora in India and other countries, and adopting technology to improve governance, Penpa Tsering, the Sikyong or head of the administration, has said as he begins his second term.
Tsering, who was sworn in on May 27 after being re-elected as Sikyong, told HT in an exclusive interview that the Tibetan leadership still has back-channel contacts with China and these will continue, though the communications are “inconsequential right now”. He also spoke about engaging the world community to focus on the “middle way” of greater autonomy for Tibet.
“We have three main tasks for the next five years. One, try to seek a resolution to the Sino-Tibet conflict. If you look at the policies of the communist dispensation in Beijing, it doesn’t look like there is much space. We do have some back channels which we always mention but nothing consequential. Till a sensible leadership comes to Beijing and resolves the Sino-Tibet conflict in a non-violent way that will be lasting, we have to reach out to the international community,”
Tsering said.
“We’ve been speaking about the middle way, trying to find genuine autonomy between the historical status of Tibet as an independent state and today’s occupied Tibet under the repressive communist government. A genuine autonomy, because Tibet is already called Tibet Autonomous Region. We have to seek recognition for the historical status of Tibet as an independent state, so that China may be forced to negotiate with us, to gain value and leverage for the middle way,”
he added.
Tsering also spoke about the welfare of Tibetan communities in India and Nepal, and the need to increase the efficiency of the Central Tibetan Administration in Dharamsala and their offices wherever there are Tibetan communities in the diaspora.
“We have moved towards e-governance suitable for our conditions. Now we will move towards AI-aided governance. We have never lagged behind in using technology, we will be moving towards those tools to achieve these ends,”
he said.
