Tashi Delek America.com

Strong Earthquake Hits Remote Tibet in Western China, Killing Dozens

2025-01-07T10:03:00.003-05:00

Strong Earthquake Hits Remote Tibet in Western China, Killing Dozens

Source Credit: New York Times 1/7/25

Chinese state media said at least 95 people had died in the 7.1-magnitude quake near an area of religious significance in Tibet. It was felt in neighboring Nepal. Using their hands and shovels in frigid conditions, rescue workers dug through the rubble in the search for survivors after a deadly 7.1-magnitude earthquake toppled houses and jolted people awake in a remote part of Tibet on Tuesday near the northern foothills of Mount Everest.

At least 95 people have died and 130 were injured in the quake, which struck shortly after 9 a.m. at a depth of 6.2 miles in Dingri County, near one of Tibet’s most historic cities, in western China, state media reported. The quake was the country’s deadliest since December 2023, when 151 people were killed in a 6.2-magnitude temblor in the northwestern provinces of Gansu and Qinghai.

China’s state broadcaster reported that more than 1,000 houses had experienced some form of damage in Dingri County, where the average altitude is around 15,000 feet, along the Himalayan border with Nepal. Frantic rescue efforts were being conducted without heavy equipment, underscoring the challenge in delivering resources to the largely isolated communities damaged by the quake. With temperatures in the region dipping as low as 5 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 15 degrees Celsius), rescue workers have a short window in which to locate survivors. It was not immediately clear how many residents had been left homeless.

Several aftershocks were felt in the area, including in Nepal. The quake had a magnitude of 7.1, according to the United States Geological Survey, though it was measured as 6.8 by the China Earthquake Networks Center.

The nearest city to the earthquake’s epicenter was Shigatse, the second-largest city in Tibet, with a population of 640,000. Shigatse is home to the vast, centuries-old Tashilhunpo Monastery, the traditional seat of the Panchen Lama, one of the most senior figures in Tibetan Buddhism. State media said that no damage to the monastery had been reported so far.

Tibet is one of the most inaccessible and underdeveloped parts of China. Security has been heightened for decades because of tensions between Beijing and Tibetans, many of whom have long struggled to maintain their religious freedom and cultural identity in a country dominated by Han Chinese. International journalists are forbidden from traveling independently in the region. Scenes of destruction were broadcast on state media and shared on social media. A tourist not far from Shigatse who spoke to The New York Times said she was in her hotel room when the earthquake started shaking her building. She said that the electricity went out and that she and a friend had squatted between the beds. When the shaking stopped, they ran out of the building.

The tourist, who only gave her surname, Xu, shared a video showing several single-story brick buildings with collapsed walls. Video posted on Chinese social media showed streets strewed with rubble, cars crushed by fallen bricks, and roads split open by the shifted ground. Ms. Xu said that she grabbed her down jacket before she ran out. China’s top leader, Xi Jinping, ordered officials to minimize casualties and resettle survivors. The Chinese authorities deployed 3,400 rescuers and more than 340 medical workers for the search effort, and dispatched tents, folding beds, winter coats and quilts, state media reported.

Rescue efforts could be affected by bottlenecks caused by damaged roads, said Robert Barnett, a professor from SOAS University of London, who has visited the region and described it as looking like “vast moonscape.”

“This is harsh, high altitude land,” Mr. Barnett said. “The roads are quite few and susceptible to landslides.”

That said, Mr. Barnett added that there could be new roads connecting some of Dingri County’s most remote border villagesbuilt in recent years to assert China’s sovereignty along its periphery.

The Himalayan region is prone to powerful earthquakes. In 2015, a quake in Nepal with a magnitude of 7.8 killed nearly 9,000 people. In Kathmandu, Nepal’s capital, residents streamed out of their homes in the morning as the earthquake rattled buildings. At least two people, one in Kathmandu and another one in Sindhupalchowk, a district north of Kathmandu, sustained minor injuries from the quake, according to the Nepalese police.

Nepal sent more than 2,500 police officers to assess damage and look for victims.

“Based on the magnitude of the earthquake, there could be some damage in mountains of eastern Nepal,” said Lok Bijaya Adhikari, a senior seismologist at Nepal’s National Earthquake Monitoring and Research Center.

Most residents from Nepal’s high mountain regions such as Everest, Makalu, Rolwaling and Kanchenjunga have migrated to lowland areas to avoid the extreme cold of winter.

“Although most people migrate to lower land during winter season, some are still there,” said Ang Tshering Sherpa, the former chief of the Nepal Mountaineering Association. “There’s always risk of avalanche and glacial lake outburst floods after earthquakes.”

When U.S. Diplomats Visit China, Meal Choices Are About More Than Taste Buds

2024-04-26T10:27:00.000-04:00

Visits to China by American officials like Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken can bring fame to local restaurants, as well as scrutiny to the dignitaries.

Beijing beer made with American hops, to highlight the trade relationship between the two countries. Tibetan food, to send a human rights message. Mushrooms with possible hallucinogenic properties, just because they taste good.

Where, what and how American dignitaries eat when they visit China is a serious matter. Choices of restaurants and dishes are rife with opportunities for geopolitical symbolism, as well as controversy and mockery. Chopstick skills — or a lack thereof — can be a sign of cultural competence or illiteracy.

An exorbitantly expensive meal can make an official look out of touch. Too cheap or informal, and you risk appearing undignified. Authenticity, history, cooking technique and taste can all affect the perception of a meal choice.

When Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken started a trip through China on Wednesday, part of the Biden administration’s efforts to stabilize the relationship between the two countries, some on Chinese social media wondered whether he would have time on his visit to stop and try some of the city’s famous xiaolongbao (soup dumplings).

One recommendation that he do so came with something of a political warning: “Eating xiaolongbao is just like handling international relations,” a commentator wrote on Weibo. “If your attention slips even a little, you’ll burn your mouth.”

Mr. Blinken did in fact visit a renowned soup dumpling restaurant that night. It’s unclear how much he considered the symbolism of his dumplings, but by indulging in a traditional popular snack, and by attending a basketball game, the optics suggested there was a more cordial spirit than on the trip he made last year, soon after a Chinese spy balloon drifting across the United States had heightened tensions.

But Mr. Blinken’s eating habits have drawn far less interest than that of Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen. Over two trips, this month and last year, her meals in China attracted so much attention that the state-run Global Times deemed it a form of “food diplomacy.”

Last year, Ms. Yellen made headlines when, at a restaurant in Beijing serving cuisine from Yunnan Province, she ate mushrooms that were revealed to be mildly toxic and could cause hallucinations if not cooked properly.

Ms. Yellen later said that she was not aware of the mushrooms’ potential hallucinogenic properties when she ate them and felt no abnormal effects. Still, the story sparked a brief craze for the mushrooms in China.

This month, during a four-day trip to China, Ms. Yellen visited a famed Cantonese restaurant in Guangzhou, and a Sichuan restaurant in Beijing. The dishes she ordered were quickly posted online, drawing broad approval from commenters for the variety and affordability of the dishes ordered, her chopstick skills and the fact that she and her team sat among other diners instead of in a private room.

The dishes Ms. Yellen and her team ordered were classic meals from their respective regions and were not modified to foreign tastes, according to Fuchsia Dunlop, a London-based cook and food writer who specializes in Chinese cuisine.

“They haven’t chosen really expensive, show-off dishes and ingredients,” Ms. Dunlop said, speaking about the Sichuan meal. “This is very much what everyday people in Sichuan like to eat. This menu was chosen for flavor, not prestige.”

According to a Treasury Department spokeswoman, the department generally solicits suggestions from staff at the local embassy for restaurant recommendations when Ms. Yellen travels. Then, Ms. Yellen will research the restaurants herself and make the final decision.

On occasion, specific establishments will be chosen to convey a diplomatic message, the spokeswoman added. She cited Ms. Yellen’s visit this month to a brewery in Beijing that uses American hops, aimed to highlight the significance of American agricultural exports to China.

Some restaurants where Ms. Yellen has dined at have capitalized on her fame, like the Yunnan restaurant where she ate the mushrooms, which released a set menu based on what she ordered, called the “God of Money” menu, a nod to her position as Treasury Secretary. Ms. Yellen isn’t the first American dignitary to turn Chinese restaurants into overnight sensations. In 2011, a visit by then-Vice President Joe Biden to a Beijing noodle restaurant sent its business skyrocketing, according to Chinese state media, and led the restaurant to create a “Biden set” noodle menu. In 2014, after Michelle Obama visited a hot pot restaurant in the city of Chengdu, the restaurant said it would create an “American First Lady” set menu. Articles in Chinese media noted approvingly that Mrs. Obama was able to handle the spicy soup, which was not toned down for a foreign palate.

Her visit to a Tibetan restaurant in the same city, however, attracted controversy, and her staff at the time readily acknowledged that the venue had been chosen deliberately to show support for the rights and religious liberties of Tibetans in China.

But for Mrs. Obama’s husband and other U.S. presidents, Chinese cuisine served at official state banquets is often Americanized or customized to better suit a foreign palette.

In 2009, President Barack Obama was served a Chinese-style beef steak and baked fish, according to Chinese state media, and in 2017, President Trump ate dishes including kung pao chicken and stewed boneless beef in tomato sauce. Both meals finished with fruit ice cream, which is highly atypical of traditional Chinese meals.

But even those meals may hint at an international trend, Ms. Dunlop said. Mr. Obama’s menu contained “very safe, conservative choices that would be appealing to foreigners,” she said, while Mr. Trump’s menu was slightly more contemporary and showed off more Chinese cooking techniques.That shift, Ms. Dunlop said, “may reflect China feeling a bit more confident with Westerners’ familiarity with real Chinese food” in 2017 versus 2009.

Source Credit: NYT

Image

War in Ukraine Has China Cashing In

2023-12-21T11:51:00.000-05:00

On China’s snowy border with Russia, a dealership that sells trucks has seen its sales double in the past year thanks to Russian customers. China’s exports to its neighbor are so strong that Chinese construction workers built warehouses and 20-story office towers at the border this summer.

The border town Heihe is a microcosm of China’s ever closer economic relationship with Russia. China is profiting from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which has led Russia to switch from the West to China for purchases of everything from cars to computer chips.

Russia, in turn, has sold oil and natural gas to China at deep discounts. Russian chocolates, sausages and other consumer goods have become plentiful in Chinese supermarkets. Trade between Russia and China surpassed $200 billion in the first 11 months of this year, a level the countries had not expected to reach until 2024. Russia’s war in Ukraine has also gotten an image boost from China. State media disseminates a steady diet of Russian propaganda in China and around the world. Russia is so popular in China that social media influencers flock to Harbin, the capital of China’s northernmost province in the east, Heilongjiang, to pose in Russian garb in front of a former Russian cathedral there. Xi Jinping, China’s top leader, and Russia’s president, Vladimir V. Putin, have made numerous public demonstrations of the nations’ close ties. Mr. Xi visited Harbin in early September and declared Heilongjiang to be China’s “gateway to the north.” China’s exports to Russia soared 69 percent in the first 11 months of this year compared with the same period in 2021, before the invasion of Ukraine.

“Maintaining and developing China-Russian relations well is a strategic choice made by both sides on the basis of the fundamental interests of the two peoples,” Mr. Xi said as he met in Beijing on Wednesday with the Russian prime minister, Mikhail Mishustin. China has filled a critical import need for Russia, which many European and American companies shunned after Mr. Putin started his war in February 2022. China has pursued its role as a substitute supplier of goods despite risking its close economic ties with many European nations.

Before the Ukraine invasion, leaders of Germany, France and other European countries mostly set aside differences with China over issues like human rights to emphasize commerce. Chinese officials, for their part, insist that they should not be forced to choose between Europe and Russia, and that China should be free to do business with both.

The biggest winners for China from the surge in trade with Russia have been its vehicle manufacturers. On a recent afternoon in Heihe, lines of diesel freight trucks with decals of snarling bears, a symbol of Russia, on their drivers’ doors waited to be driven across an Amur River bridge to Russia. The bridge is new, and so are the trucks, which wore Genlyon badges, a brand that belongs to the state-owned Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation. The company, known as SAIC, also makes car brands like MG, acquired from Britain.

The sales helped China overtake Japan this year as the world’s largest car exporter. German manufacturers like Mercedes-Benz and BMW used to be strong sellers in Russia, but they have pulled out in response to sanctions on the country by Europe, the United States and their allies.

Sales of luxury cars in Russia have plunged, contributing to a decline in the overall size of the country’s car market, which is now less than half the size of Germany’s. But lower-middle-class and poor Russian families, whose members make up the bulk of the soldiers fighting the war, have stepped up purchases of affordable Chinese cars, according to Alexander Gabuev, the director of the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center. One reason, Mr. Gabuev said, are the death and disability payments that the Russian government and insurers are making to families of Russian soldiers — as much as $90,000 in the case of a death.

Russia has not released the number of its killed and wounded, but the United States estimates the total at 315,000.

Russians buy almost exclusively internal combustion cars. China has a surplus of them because its consumers have shifted swiftly to electric cars. And the land border means China can transport cars to Russia by rail, an important factor because China lacks its own fleet of transoceanic carrier ships for vehicle exports.

The result? Chinese carmakers have grabbed 55 percent of the Russian market, according to GlobalData Automotive. They had 8 percent in 2021.

“Never before have we seen automakers from a single country gobble up so much market share so quickly — the Chinese came into a windfall,” said Michael Dunne, an Asia automotive consultant in San Diego.

The United States has strongly warned China against sending armaments to Russia, and has not yet uncovered evidence that it is doing so. But some civilian equipment that China is selling to Russia, like drones and trucks, also has military uses.

Beijing’s embrace of Russia has also provided a modest but timely boon to China’s construction industry. The economy has struggled to heal from the scars left by almost three years of stringent “zero Covid” measures.

The real estate market is in crisis across China. Tens of millions of apartments are empty or unfinished, and new projects have stalled — depriving the construction sector of work that has long powered jobs.

“Many buildings have been built, but without anyone living inside,” said Zhang Yan, a wooden door vendor in Heihe. But some laborers are finding work on the 2,600-mile Russian border, which until this year had a dearth of truck stops, customs processing centers, rail yards, pipelines and other infrastructure. Construction moved ahead briskly over the summer in cities like Heihe, although it has paused for the frigid winter.

Pipelines are needed for one of the most crucial commodities traded between the two countries: energy.

Cheap Russian energy, bypassing sanctions imposed by the West, has helped Chinese factories compete in global markets even as their manufacturing rivals elsewhere, notably in Germany, have faced sharply higher energy costs for much of the past two years.

Russia has been ramping up natural gas shipments through its Power of Siberia pipeline to China, and has been negotiating to build a second one that would carry gas from fields that served Europe before the Ukraine war. China and Russia also agreed less than three weeks before the Ukraine war to build a third, smaller pipeline that would carry gas from easternmost Russia to northeastern China, and construction on that project has raced ahead.

The newest pipeline will cross land that Russia seized from China in the late 1850s and never returned. As recently as the 1960s, China and the Soviet Union were quarreling over the placement of their border and their troops skirmished. In a village near Heihe, a larger-than-life-size statue of an imperial Chinese general still glares across the Amur River.

Today Russia and China are building bridges and pipelines that cross it.

Source Credit: New York Times

Tibet avalanche kills 28 as search called off

2023-02-04T20:10:00.000-05:00

A rescue operation to find people trapped in an avalanche on a Tibetan highway has now ended, with Chinese state media reporting the death toll to be at least 28.

People were left trapped in their vehicles as falling snow engulfed the exit of a tunnel in the south-eastern city of Nyingchi on Tuesday evening.

Local rescuers said the avalanche was "triggered by powerful winds".

It is not known how many people are still missing.

However, 53 survivors were found, five of whom were seriously injured, according to Global Times, citing a local government official.

State-run Xinhua news agency reported that local authorities sent 1,348 rescue workers and 236 pieces of equipment to help excavate a passage of 7.5km (4.66 miles)

The avalanche covered a highway that connects the town of Pai in Mainling county and Medog county in Tibet, a remote and mainly Buddhist region in western China.

The mountain has an altitude of nearly 4,500 metres (14,764 ft), as well as steep slopes and part of the road that runs along it is rugged.

Rising temperatures also played a part in the disaster, experts from the local emergency rescue headquarters told Xinhua.

The Himalayas are often hit by avalanches, as it is home to the world's highest mountains.

At least 26 people died back in October after a mountaineering expedition was caught in an avalanche on Mount Draupadi ka Danda-II, in India's northern state of Uttarakhand.

Credit: BBC News

BEIJING DIARY: A taste of Tibet with Chinese characteristics

2022-03-14T14:12:00.000-04:00

People attending the Beijing Winter Olympics can't visit Tibet because they're in China's “closed loop" system for foreign visitors

By KELVIN CHAN Associated Press

February 11, 2022, 9:15 PM ET

The main entrance of the Tibet Hotel is seen behind a police vehicle parked outside the hotel at the 2022 Winter Olympics, Friday, Feb. 11, 2022, in Beijing. People attending the Beijing Winter Olympics can't visit Tibet because they're in China's "closed loop" system for foreign visitors. But some visitors, including part of the Associated Press' Olympics team, are getting a taste of the region because they've been assigned to the Tibet Hotel. The hotel has been built and outfitted to evoke the remote region on China's western edge. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

The Associated Press

BEIJING -- I can't visit Tibet while I'm in China working at the Beijing Winter Olympics. But China can show me its own version of the remote region.

China's “closed loop” system for the Games means it's almost impossible for any of the thousands of athletes, sports officials, journalists, and media workers who have arrived from overseas to get out and see the country.

Games attendees are staying at dozens of hotels, all fenced off from the rest of Beijing and accessible only by bus or taxi to the press center, competition venues, or the airport.

By chance, part of The Associated Press' Olympics team has been assigned to the Beijing Tibet Hotel, which has been built and outfitted to evoke the distant region on China's western edge.

I've traveled widely in China but have never been to Tibet, a long-isolated place that's always been hard for foreigners, especially journalists, to reach, well before pandemic travel restrictions. Foreign correspondents can only visit on government-organized tours. So I was curious to see what the hotel would be like.

For foreigners, Tibet brings to mind snowcapped peaks, crimson-robed monks and prayer flags snapping in the Himalayan wind.

China's Communist Party took full control of the vast Himalayan region in 1951, when troops overran Tibet's feeble defenses. An uprising eight years later led to increasingly harsh Chinese rule over the region. Rights groups accuse China of political repression and tightening control over traditional Buddhist culture in the region, home to Tibetans and other ethnic minorities.

China denies the allegations. The government says its modernization efforts have brought Tibet out of isolation, but critics say Tibetans have less say on building their future than Han Chinese migrants.

At the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, Tibet was a flashpoint. Protesters disrupted the flame lighting ceremony and parts of the relay route.

I wondered what connection the hotel had to Tibet. A waitress at the hotel restaurant told me it was owned by the Tibet regional government. The hotel website revealed it was linked to a Tibetan government-owned company that also sells Tibetan medicine, food, and handicrafts.

It's not unusual for Chinese regional or provincial governments to operate hotels in the capital. Other Olympic visitors are being put up at the Guizhou and Fujian hotels — provinces in the southwest and on the coast across from Taiwan.

The hotel's exterior walls gently slant inwards as they rise to the roof, an architectural feature reminiscent of the Potala Palace in the capital, Lhasa, the home of Tibet’s traditional Buddhist leaders. Elevator video screens play scenes of Tibetan landscapes on an endless loop.

Some of the Chinese writing, like the gold lettering for the coffee shop and banquet rooms, mimics the distinct angular style of Tibetan script.

Were these designs touches a tasteful appreciation of Tibetan culture? Or Chinese-style cultural appropriation? It probably depends on whom you ask.

One of the hotel's two restaurants, Shambhala — a reference from Tibetan Buddhism to a mythical kingdom hidden in the Himalayas — is decorated with prayers wheels along one wall. It's closed during the Olympics because there aren't enough diners. The other restaurant features dishes with yak meat, a staple food on the Tibetan plateau, where yaks are native. At dinner one evening, I chose the yak stew. Tasted a lot like beef.

Missing from the menu were yak butter tea or tsampa (cereal made from barley flour), also Tibetan signature delicacies.

So far, it mostly seemed like a standard and fairly innocuous showcase of local culture. But there were signs of the Chinese Communist Party's grip on history.

In the unused conference room, I came across a portrait of Chinese leader Xi Jinping, with his name and party secretary title underneath in both Chinese and Tibetan.

And down one hallway, there's an extensive exhibition of Tibetan life under Chinese rule, explaining how Xi's strategy for Tibet will help the region “enter a New Era of socialism with Chinese characteristics.”

Pictures of Tibet's stunning scenery and people and displays of traditional garb are mixed with commentary on the Communist Party's role in modernization.

“The old Tibet was the purgatory for millions of serfs, who lived a miserable life," one section read. “The new Tibet is a happy paradise for the people."Conspicuously absent are photos of the Dalai Lama, the exiled spiritual figure that many Tibetans claim allegiance to, but who is a target of scorn by Beijing. Neither are their images of the Panchen Lama, Tibetan Buddhism's second-highest figure. He went missing 25 years ago at the age of 6 after being picked by the Dalai Lama, after which China named another boy to the position.

Instead, there are photos of Xi and historical shots of Communist Party bosses signing an agreement with Tibetan leaders in 1951. The unspoken message: It's Beijing who calls the shots.

Xi's visit to Tibet last year, the first by a Chinese leader in 30 years, reinforced that message.

But what did real Tibetans have to say? Were any actually working here? In previous Olympics, the lack of restrictions at least gave visitors more opportunities to meet and talk to local people.

I started asking around. A cleaning attendant was from the neighboring Hebei province. The restaurant manager was a Beijinger. The lobby convenience shop attendant was from Gansu, a province next to Tibet.

Eventually, I found some Tibetans working in the hotel restaurant. One said they had been sent from their school in Tibet to work at the hotel for several months as they studied hospitality.

I asked another what Lhasa was like.

“Nice," she said, giving me a thumbs up.

Then the restaurant manager appeared with a message: If I had any questions, I should ask him.

———

Kelvin Chan covered Hong Kong for 7 1/2 years and is now an AP business writer in London. Follow him at http://twitter.com/chanman.

Credit: ABC News

WELCOME TO THE TIBETAN-TRUMPIAN WORLD

2021-01-09T12:45:00.000-05:00

Kalden Dingtsa, Colarado, USA

Welcome to the Tibetan-Trumpian world of lies, conspiracies, fake news, misinformation. If the falsehoods that are being pushed and fed into the ears of the unsuspecting innocent Tibetans especially the elderly are not checked, challenged, & confronted in time, Tibetan democracy as we know it today may be doomed. We may very soon end up with a situation similar to what is unfolding in the US Capital with open insurrections incited and inspired by conspiracies. Falsehoods such as ‘Taking down the portrait of His Holiness and putting in its place a portrait of Sikyong’, embezzlement of $1.5 million dollars, creating & pushing a false wedge between His Holiness & the Sikyong, pushing a narrative of self-purity of faith & loyalty to His Holiness The Dalai Lama & in the Middle Way Policy; are some of the falsehoods and half-truths being spread around.

It is very sad that His Holiness’ name is being misused over and over again for one’s own personal gain and as well as to demean other candidates & paint them as less patriotic or have lesser dedication or faith in His Holiness The Dalai Lama. The false story of, taking down His Holiness’s portrait and putting in its place a portrait of Sikyong is just one case in point to demean & destroy another candidate. This is very sad, petty, and deplorable. We must all condemn such falsehoods. Truth must be told & lies exposed.

Whether you believe in the Middle Way Path or Rangzen, our common goal is to restore freedom for Tibetans and return to an independent Tibet. Instead of demonizing one another, let us pull all our energies. together to strengthen CTA & our Tibetan Movement. Let us all unite one as Gangchenpas under One Leader, One Government, One Nation, One People & One Struggle.

Now that the Preliminary Election is behind us and as we enter the main phase of the election, it is important that we elevate the debate on each candidate’s vision, policy, and plans for our nation & its movement. Tibetan public can evaluate each candidate based on their past history as well as on their future plans, visions & policies, and make informed decisions. We must have at least 3 Live Town Hall debates broadcasted live on Tibet TV, Voice of America, Radio Free Asia.

Needless to mention, this election is very important. It will decide the future shape & direction of our country & our movement. Do we settle for a status quo returning to the Pre-2011 CTA Era? or Do we want to move forward with the changing times & make CTA into a 21st Century entity, tab the energy & power of youth & get them involved in Nation Building, a new focus & direction to our Tibetan Movement, a Sikyong that will represent us all on the world stage with dignity & pride. The choice is ours.

Results of Preliminary North/South Americas Sikyong/Chitues Votes

2021-01-07T17:19:00.002-05:00

New York, NY

Following are the results of the votes count of the Preliminary election (Phase1) of North/South America Sikyong and Chitues for 2021

SIKYONG CANDIDATES

1. Penpa Tsering 4406

2. Kaydor Aukatsang 2968

3. Doma Gyari 2397

4. Dongchung Ngodup 1772

5. Lobsang Nyandrak 174

CHITUES CANDIDATES

1. Kalsang Phuntsok Godrukpa 2921

2. Tseten Phuntsok 2368

3. Tenzin Jigme 2235

4. Thondup Tsering 1966

The final(Phase2) election will take place on April 11, 2021.

North America Tibetans are voting to select Sikyong and two representatives from North/South America

2021-01-02T12:44:00.000-05:00

New York, NY

The preliminary voting to select a New Political leader ( Sikyong) and two candidates to represent North/South Americas in the Tibetan Parliament has started. Ever since the devolution of political power to elected leadership by His Holiness The Dalai Lama in 2011, Tibetans in the diaspora had directly elected Sikyong.

Pic: Lines outside Tibetan Community Center, Queens, NYC

This election is the third such electoral process. The current Sikyong, Dr. Lobsang Sangay's term will end in May 2021. Unlike previous elections, this year's election is held amid global Pandemic Covid 19, and hence normal all-out campaigning by prospective candidates vying for the coveted Post was restricted. However, the enthusiasm of the electorates was encouraging as was abundantly visible by their participation in Social Media outlets such as Zoom, BlueJean and Facebook live, etc.

Considering the age of His Holiness the Dalai Lama and the recent signing of Tibetan Policy and Support Act 2020 by the US President Donald J Trump with overwhelming Bi-partisan support from both political parties, Tibetans are taking a special interest in this year's election.

President signed Omnibus Bill that includes Tibetan Policy and Support Act 2020 into law

2020-12-28T12:37:00.003-05:00

Mara-Lago, Florida, USA

US President Donald J Trump signed Omnibus Spending and Covid Relief Fund into law. The signing of this bill also made into law the TIBETAN POLICY AND SUPPORT ACT 2020. The US formally recognized the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA) based in Dharamsala, India. It is a historic day for Tibetan inside and outside of Tibet, Jubilant Sikyong, announced inside the airplane en route to India.

For details;

Click the link https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/4331/text?format=txt&r=3&s=1

US Congress Passes HR4331 Tibetan Policy And Support Act of 2020

2020-12-22T13:44:00.007-05:00

Washington, DC.

US Congress passes the HR 4331 Tibetan Policy and Support Act of 2019.

The Highlight of the Act are as follows:

1.    The PR of China shall not interfere in the selection of future Dalai Lama.
2.    The US shall seek to establish a Consulate Office in Lhasa, Tibet. No additional PR of China consulate offices shall be established in the US unless the US Consulate Office is established in Lhasa, Tibet.
3.    The US shall seek to promote substantive dialogue between PR China and the Dalai Lama or his representatives or democratically elected leader of the Tibetan Community.
4.    The US shall urge the Government of Nepal to provide legal documentation to long-staying Tibetan residents in Nepal who fled a credible threat of persecution in Tibet.
5.    The US through the TIBETAN SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM shall appropriate $ 675000 for each of the fiscal years 2021 through 2025 to provide Scholarships to Tibetan students to pursue higher education in the US.
6.    The US through the NGAWANG CHOEPHEL EXCHANGE PROGRAMS shall appropriate $ 575000 for each of the fiscal years 2021 through 2025 to carry out educational and cultural exchanges between the US and the people of Tibet.
7.    The US shall appropriate $ 8 Million for each fiscal year 2021 through 2025 to support activities that promote and preserve the culture, environment, education in Tibetan Communities in Tibet Autonomous Region and in other Tibetan regions in China.
8.    The US shall appropriate $6 Million for each fiscal years 2021 through 2025 to support programs to promote and preserve Tibetan culture, language development, and resilience of Tibetan communities in India and Nepal.
9.    The US shall appropriate $ 3 million each fiscal year 2021 through 2025 to strengthen the capacities of Tibetan Institutions and strengthen the democracy, governance, information, and International outreach, and research.

To get a copy of the Act, click here.

(URL: https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/4331/text?format=txt&r=3&s=1)

Kaydor Aukatsang for Change and New Direction of Tibetan Movement

2020-12-20T19:37:00.000-05:00

by Kalden Dingtsa, Colorado USA

It is baffling to fathom the glittery lists of Who’s Who in Tibetan politics so-called ex-Kalon Tripa, Kalons, Chitues, Tsok-surs, POWs, directors & presidents of NGOs endorsing Kunyo Dongchung Nyodup for Sikyong candidacy. The guy has clearly stated that he does not intend to run but is reluctantly staying in contention out of respect for all the endorsees. This reminds me of a recent assertion by Prof. Samdhong Rinpoche in one of his interviews or TV appearance where he said that those running for public office or for that matter Sikyong does not necessarily mean he or she is doing so in total devotion for selfless service but could be doing so for personal ambitions such as fame, glory or other self-interest. Rinpoche uses the analogy of a Tibetan story of ‘Ro Ngyodrup Dorjee’ where the real Ro Nyodrup shies away and the fake ones come forward claiming to be the real one, a subtle swipe at current Sikyong. This analogy perfectly fits with the current candidacy of Kunyo Dongchung Nyodup for Sikyong.

The myth, thinking, rationale behind support for Kunyo Dongshung is perhaps based on the belief that CTA is in safe hands with him at the helm. They tend to believe and also many have openly advocated that as long as His Holiness The Dalai Lama is living we have nothing to worry about; foreign Govt support for Tibet issues as well as foreign aids all will continue to flow. These very same folks are the ones who indulge in the most egregious politics of misusing the name of His Holiness by trying to set a contest of sorts for a competing loyalty. Of course, His Holiness as the embodiment of Chenresig and world icon for peace will continue to grace and bless all Tibetans and all sentient beings for eternity.

Tibetans, by far & large are fully aware & appreciative of the revolutionary changes & developments that have taken place under the current Sikyong Lobsang Senge and his Kashag. They have not only rescued CTA finances from the near brink of bankruptcy but instead increased it by manyfold. Invested heavily in improving our education, sustainability of Tibetan Settlements, initiated and launched landmark Tibet Corps & 5/50 Tibet Forum, Tibet TV, a full-fledged media house reaching out to Tibetans in the diaspora as well as others interested in Tibet issues. These initiatives have brought Tibetans in the diaspora closer to CTA Administration particularly the youth. Sikyong has also represented Tibet & the Tibetans on the world stage with such grace & dignity making us all so proud.

The need of the hour is for new leadership that will not only give continuity to policies initiated under current Sikyong but who will go further and give our movement a new direction & impetus. Clearly, Kaydor Aukatsang is the best and the right candidate for Sikyong who has a meticulously thought-out vision and plan & a strategy to implement them. Kaydor la is calling for fundamental changes & direction to our movement such as ‘Less administration & more movement’, empowering & harnessing youth energy and power, transforming CTA into a 21st-century entity.

I am a pure U-Tsang as it can get and a proud Toepa. It gives me immense pride to see some of our own sons rising high up in the echelons of power such as Kunyo Dongchung Nyodup la & will be proud to see him as our Sikyong. However, this election is so much larger than my affiliation to a community, Cholkha, a religious group. We cannot settle for a status quo going back to the pre-2011 CTA era.

I may not be able to persuade anyone to vote for Kaydorla but at least I do not have to live with the regrets of not trying. Bod Gyalo.

Tibet: Time to Review India's Tibet Policy

2020-12-18T19:43:00.001-05:00

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 a failed conscience and swelling loss of national memory. Jawaharlal Nehru’s charisma and overwhelming influence helped him to prevail over other colleagues including Sardar Patel especially on matters of foreign policy. We have lost our historical opportunity in defining Tibet policy right after becoming an independent nation and before independence, British India’s policy was mainly to secure British Empire’s geo-strategic interests without any consideration of Tibet’s history and interests. Since the 1950s, we have continued to conduct our China policy within the framework set by China through aggressive means and coercive tactics. We need to trace our steps back and restore the geostrategic, political, physical-geographical, and cultural understanding of Tibet with the historical developments instead of surrendering our conscience to the Chinese dictum.

Mao trying a Tibetan cap

In the contemporary analysis of history since Indian independence, China demonstrated enormous interest and urgency about Tibet, while India failed to perceive the implications of Chinese military moves inside Tibet since 1949. The Chinese invasion of Tibet had begun even before the signing of the Panchsheel Agreement between India and China on 29th April 1954. Chinese knew what they wanted from the Panchesheel Agreement while the Indian government led by Nehru considered peace and friendship with China vital for India’s pursuit of independent foreign policy at the time when the bipolar competition was reining the international politics.

There are no flaws with the lofty ideals of Panchsheel, or the Five Principles of Peaceful Co-existence but the challenge lies in the genius of its applications to steer our foreign policy. The essence of Panchsheel includes that we reserve the right to defend our national interests. There is a fundamental difference in the objectives of the Panchsheel agreement as demonstrated by the Indian government and the People’s Republic of China (PRC). Tibet had already emerged as the core interest of China at the time of the signing of the Panchsheel Agreement in April 1954. Nehru viewed Panchsheel as the principled core of the Non-Aligned Movement and as the basis of alternative world order. China, on the other hand, considered the third principle of mutual non-interference as the condition for the fifth principle of peaceful co-existence and consistently evoked this principle as an instrument to seek India’s silence over Tibet whenever India raised its legitimate concerns over Tibet. Panchsheel agreement took away India’s voice over Tibet and forced an unbelievable silence upon the conduct of India’s foreign policy vis-à-vis the Chinese occupation of Tibet.

The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), Government of India observed during the 50th anniversary of the Panchsheel Agreement in 2004 that “fifty years later, on the golden anniversary of Panchsheel, the chord that was struck in 1954 still rings pure and true in a world yet seeking the lodestar that will guide it into the harbor of peaceful co-existence.” In retrospect over these fifty years since the signing of Panchsheel, the Chinese military has taken complete control over the entire Tibetan nation and its people. China has fully occupied Tibet and made territorial - administrative changes that would force transform the identity and culture of Tibetans forever by removing Amdo and Kham from the traditional Tibetan physical and political geography of Tibet. Tibet has been divided and traditional Tibetan territories in the east such as Amdo and Kham have been tucked into Chinese provinces of Qinghai and Sichuan.

Chinese dangle the western and central Tibet as Tibetan Autonomous Region (TAR) with Lhasa as its Shangri-la before the world after clamping complete control over the land and its people including the everyday conduct of spiritual-religious life inside the Buddhist monasteries. The Potala Palace is itself under siege with layers of the military, political, and intelligence surveillance. In brief, it is not that Tibet has been lost to China but India has lost Tibet as its neighbor. India’s border issues, at large, with China, rest in the tragedy of Tibet caused by the military and political occupation of Tibet by the People’s Republic of China (PRC). This is one of the most significant shifts in and around India’s political geography after the tribal invasion of Kashmir by Pakistan in 1948. This argument is further strengthened by the Sino-Pakistan Agreement in 1963 due to its enormous legal, political, and geo-strategic implications for India with the Chinese claiming sovereignty over hundreds of square kilometers of land in Northern Kashmir and Ladakh.

China’s 1962 aggression against India was more due to anger and frustrations over the fact that India gave asylum to His Holiness Dalai Lama and eighty thousand Tibetans who came along and after him since the tragic circumstances of 1959. China simply employed a custom made cartographer’s ploy to launch an attack and expand the border dispute to other areas as well. Chinese are masters in manufacturing maps according to their political moods like their skill in duplicating technology from other countries to meet the market needs. Chinese maps and technology lack credibility while their intellectual properties cannot be traced. On the other hand, Chinese propaganda and claims over other’s legitimate territories lie in the making of Han dominant China and as part of the intrinsic strategic culture of the middle kingdom.

China has border issues and territorial disputes with all its immediate neighbours and the far away ones. It took a giant step to stamp over Tibet and in the process took control of the entire Tibetan plateau and the Greater Tibet by humiliating India and stunning the world in 1962. Chinese strategy in 1962 was to catch India unaware and engage the country in a border dispute with an unending process of negotiation indicating the Chinese strategy of exhausting the enemy through endless negotiations with historical evidence from the mouth of the Great Wall against the Mongols to their access to Greater Tibet through dialogue. Mao Zedong to Xi Jinping has been following this rule book of Chinese diplomacy regarding the negotiations with other countries. Deng Xiaoping observed that it is necessary to keep talking until we find a solution to a problem. This is the benchmark of the Chinese art of engagement and wearing out the enemy.

Wars may bring successes and losses but cannot force a condition of self-deprivation of memory. Memories cannot be negotiated even as indemnity. Tibet is our neighbor. Why has India chosen to set aside the historical truth? Tibet has a long history of nation and nation-state for over centuries. It may be recalled that during World War II, Tibet chose to maintain neutrality, like Switzerland, even though China was at war against the Axis powers. There were pressures from the United Kingdom and the United States of America asking Tibet to join the Allies. Tibet attended the Asian Relations Conference hosted by the Interim Government of India led by the caretaker Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru in March 1947, New Delhi with its flag and status as an independent country. China had also attended this conference and had not objected to the presence of Tibet. How did Tibet disappear as a nation within a few years after this conference?

Tibet, in simple terms, is vital for both military and human security (water, natural resources, and environment) of India and South and Southeast Asia. Chinese will neither admit nor acknowledge Arunachal Pradesh and Ladakh as parts of India. China is not even prepared to respect the Line of Actual Control (LAC) besides their claims of control over Indian territories. China’s military relationship with Pakistan is acquiring strategic depth beyond Kashmir with implications to other Himalayan regions combined with its deep penetration inside Nepal. Bhutan is faced with routine military pressures from China and if it can force Bhutan to adopt a line of equal distance between India and China, the Chinese would have completed their mission against India in the Himalayas.

Tibet is more than a moral dilemma for India. India should gradually enhance the Tibet factor in Sino-Indian relations to the level of political instrument before applying the same as military deterrence. To pursue this path, India should at least acknowledge the truth that Tibet was an independent nation with memories as recent as the Asian Relations Conference hosted by the Interim Indian Government in March 1947. In the meantime, let our children learn the truth that Tibet was our neighbor until 1949 and allow them to ask their teachers how China became our neighbor. India did not have a border with China. There is clear evidence to demonstrate that from Jammu and Kashmir to Assam, India’s border was with Nepal, Bhutan, and Tibet. This requires that our school political geography and history textbooks should be written by the historians not dictated by the ill-advised politicians and the influential China lobby inside the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) who cannot differentiate between fact and truth for the sake of diplomatic etiquette. It is time to review India’s Tibet policy or at least, to begin with, acknowledge the historical legacy of Tibet rightfully as our neighbour.

Ramu Manivannan is a Professor & Head of the Department of Politics & Public Administration, School of Politics & International Studies, University of Madras.

Source Credit: Sri Lankan Guardian

Former Tibetan Monk Stages Fatal Self-Immolation Protest in Ngaba

2019-11-28T10:07:00.000-05:00

A young Tibetan man set himself on fire in Ngaba (in Chinese, Aba) county, a Tibetan region in the western Chinese province of Sichuan, this week in a protest against Chinese rule in Tibet, exile sources familiar with the case said on Thursday.

“Twenty-four-year-old Youten self-immolated on November 26, around 4 p.m. local time, in a village in Meruma township, Ngaba. He died on the spot,” said Kanyag Tsering, a Dharamsala, India-based Tibetan.

“After the self-immolation occurred, it was not known if the family could take possession of his remains. Due to clampdown on communication channels, details in the aftermath of the self-immolation are hard to ascertain,” he said.

Ngaba’s main town and nearby Kirti monastery have been the scene of repeated self-immolations and other protests in recent years by monks, former monks, and other Tibetans calling for Tibetan freedom and the Dalai Lama’s return to Tibet.

“In Ngaba Meruma township, nearby monasteries and the markets in public places remained closely monitored and under surveillance, and this has affected people’s normal life,” said Tsering.

Tsering identified Youten as the son of father Sodhon and mother Tsekho Kyi, who are residents of Meruma.

“Youten was a monk in his childhood at Ngaba's Kirti monastery, and later disrobed and spent his time in nomadic areas,” he said.

Youten’s protest follows the December 2018 self-immolation of DrukKho, also in Ngaba, and brings to 156 the number of self-immolations by Tibetans since the wave of fiery protests against Chinese rule of their homeland began in 2009.

Source Credit: RFA

U.S. Ambassador Urges China to Meet With Dalai Lama in Rare Visit to Tibet

2019-05-25T14:27:00.001-04:00

Source Credit: TIME

(BEIJING) — The U.S. ambassador to China urged Beijing to engage in substantive dialogue with exiled Tibetan Buddhist leader the Dalai Lama during a visit to the Himalayan region over the past week, the U.S. Embassy said Saturday.

Terry Branstad also “expressed concerns regarding the Chinese government’s interference in Tibetan Buddhists’ freedom to organize and practice their religion,” an embassy statement said.

“He encouraged the Chinese government to engage in substantive dialogue with the Dalai Lama or his representatives, without preconditions, to seek a settlement that resolves differences,” it said.

Branstad also raised long-standing concerns about the lack of consistent access to the Tibetan Autonomous Region. The rare visit to the TAR and neighboring Qinghai province ran from Sunday through Saturday.

Hosted by the Tibet Autonomous Region government, Branstad was given access to important religious and cultural sites, including the Potala Palace, Jokhang Temple, Norbulingka, and Sera Monastery in the Tibetan capital, Lhasa. He also met with senior Tibetan religious and cultural leaders, the embassy said.

China tightly restricts access to Tibet by foreigners, especially journalists and diplomats. In response to those restrictions, the U.S. Congress last year passed an act that would deny entry to the United States for those involved in formulating or enforcing such policies.

There was no immediate response from Beijing, although Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang last week said China welcomed Branstad to witness the “earth-shaking changes in the people’s production and life since Tibet’s peaceful liberation more than 60 years ago.”

“I hope that this visit to Tibet can help Ambassador Branstad make a conclusion without prejudice in the spirit of respecting the facts … instead of being confused and disturbed by some long-standing hearsay and defamatory speeches,” Lu said at a regularly scheduled briefing.

China says Tibet has been part of its territory for centuries, but many Tibetans say they were effectively an independent nation for most of that time. Beijing’s control was most recently asserted when the Communist Party’s military wing, the People’s Liberation Army, invaded the region in 1950.

In recent years there has been a significant tightening of control over Tibetan Buddhism, use of the Tibetan language and traditional cultural expression. Following anti-government protests in 2008, Beijing imposed a policy of “grid policing” that substantially reduces travel and social life for Tibetans, even while China ramps up domestic tourism in the region.

Those methods have been subsequently imposed in the neighboring region of Xinjiang, where an estimated 1 million members of its native Muslim ethnic groups have been confined to detention centers.

China's premier says Tibet inseparable part of country's 'sacred' territory

2018-07-31T12:45:00.001-04:00

BEIJING (Reuters) - Tibet is an inseparable part of China’s “sacred” territory, and religious figures should promote national unity and ethnic harmony, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang said during a rare visit to a region that is a focus for international rights concerns.

Chinese troops marched into Tibet in 1950 in what China officially terms a peaceful liberation, and has ruled it with an iron fist ever since.

It is one of Beijing’s most sensitive territorial issues and has been hit by repeated anti-Chinese protests, although the region has fairly been quiet since the last large-scale demonstrations in 2008.

China routinely denies charges from rights groups and exiles of repression and says its rule ended serfdom and brought prosperity to what was a backward region, and that it fully respects the rights of the Tibetan people.

Li, who visited Tibet from July 25 to July 27, went to two major sites connected to Tibetan Buddhism, state news agency Xinhua said late on Saturday.

Trump administration makes 'tough choices,' proposes zero aid to Tibetans; wants other countries to follow suit

2017-06-18T21:51:00.000-04:00

Washington: President Donald Trump has proposed zero aid in 2018 to the Tibetans, reversing the decades-old American policy of providing financial assistance to the community for safeguarding their distinct identity.

The Trump administration now wants other countries to jump in. The State Department, which sent the detailed proposal to the Congress as part of Trump's maiden annual budget, described it as one of the "tough choices" that it had to make as its budget itself has been slashed by more than 28 percent.

Leaders of the Tibetan community in the US refrained from commenting on the proposal, saying they are still reading the budget papers.

At the same time, they observed that majority of the assistance to the Tibetan people, including for Tibet, so far have been Congressionally driven.

Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi has expressed concern over the move. "Leader Pelosi is very concerned about the zeroing out of aid to the Tibetan community in the Trump budget proposal," Drew Hammill, spokesman for Pelosi, told PTI.

In its budgetary proposal for the fiscal year 2018 beginning 1 October, the State Department has removed the decades-old Tibet Fund and has proposed zero dollars against Ngwang Choephel Fellows. In 2017 and 2016, both -- Tibet Fund and Ngwang Choephel Fellows -- categories had accounted for more than a million dollars.

However, the State Department in its footnote of the budget, said that Special Academic Exchanges, whose budgetary allocation has been reduced from more than $14.7 million in 2017 to just $7 million for 2018, would include funding for programmes such as the Benjamin A Gilman International Scholarship Program, Mobility (Disability) Exchanges, and the Tibet Fund.

"As we work to streamline efforts to ensure efficiency and effectiveness of US taxpayers' dollars, we acknowledge that we have to prioritise and make some tough choices," a State Department official told PTI.

"Focusing our efforts will allow us to advance our most important policy goals and national security interests, while ensuring that other donor countries contribute their fair share toward meeting global challenges," the official said requesting anonymity.

However, the official did not identify the countries that it would like to help continue funding for the Tibetan cause.

"We will continue to engage diplomatically with allies and partners to advance our US national interests and shared policy priorities," the official said.

Pelosi, who early this month led a high-powered Congressional delegation to Dharamshala to meet the Dalai Lama, has expressed concern over the development. "As she has said many times, including during her visit this month to His Holiness The Dalai Lama in Dharamshala, if the US does not speak out for human rights in China, we lose all moral authority to talk about it elsewhere in the world," Hammill told PTI.

"That includes critical funding through the State Department for important efforts, like those in support of a genuinely autonomous Tibet, that advance and protect America's interests in the world," Hammill said in response to a question.

The move to abolish Tibet Fund is expected to be widely opposed in the Congress. The US policy towards Tibet is currently driven by the Tibetan Policy Act of 2002 which was signed by the last Republican President George W Bush.

Enacted into law on 30 September 2002, as part of the Foreign Relations Authorisation Act, FY2003, it lists its "purpose" as being "to support the aspirations of the Tibetan people to safeguard their distinct identity."

The act establishes in statute the State Department position of United States Special Coordinator for Tibetan Issues and states that the Special Coordinator's "central objective" is "to promote substantive dialogue between the Government of the People's Republic of China and the Dalai Lama or his representatives."

The Act, among other things, includes US government assistance for nongovernmental organizations to work in Tibetan communities in China; an educational and cultural exchange program with "the people of Tibet"; Voice of America and Radio Free Asia Tibetan-language broadcasting into Tibet; and assistance for Tibetan refugees in South Asia.

It also calls for a scholarship program for Tibetans living outside Tibet; and the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) human rights and democracy programs relating to Tibet.

The Special Coordinator is also required to "vigorously promote the policy of seeking to protect the distinct religious, cultural, linguistic, and national identity of Tibet" and press for "improved respect for human rights," according to a 2015 report on Tibet by the Congressional Research Service (CRS).

It was in 2002 that the Congress began earmarking Economic Support Fund assistance to Tibetan communities in China. In addition to this, the US Agency for International Development (USAID) manages the provision of this support out of its India office.

According to the CRS, retaining this earmark has become a major priority for the Central Tibetan Administration in India.

With a major drop in the budget of USAID, it is not clear what impact it would have on funding for the Tibetan Government in exile.

Congress required the establishment of "programs of educational and cultural exchange between the US and the people of Tibet," including opportunities for training, in the Foreign Relations Authorisation Act, Fiscal Years 1994 and 1995 and again in the Human Rights, Refugee, and Other Foreign Relations Provisions Act of 1996.

In the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2000, Congress renamed the program the ANgawang Choephel Exchange Program, in honor of an India-based Tibetan ethnomusicologist and former Middlebury College Fulbright Scholar who in 1996 was sentenced to an 18-year prison term in China on espionage charges.

According to a 2015 CRS report, in 2014, the total financial assistance to the Tibetan cause was more than $24 million. This included $1 million for the Office of the Special Coordinator for Tibetan Issues, $10 million for the support to ethnic Tibetans in China through Economic Support Fund, $575,000 for the Ngawang Choephel Exchange Program, $3.8 million for Radio Free Asia Tibetan Service, $3.2 million for the Voice of America Tibetan Service, $2.8 million for NGO Programmes Benefiting Tibetan Refugees in South Asia (Migration and Refugee Assistance), $710,000 towards Tibetan Scholarship Program for Tibetans outside Tibet and $621,000 to the NED's Tibetan programmes.

Since 2014, there has been a gradual decline in Tibetan funding. Slashing down of the Tibetan funding has come as a surprise to the supporters of the Tibetan cause in the US.

During his confirmation hearing, the Secretary of State Rex Tillerson had assured lawmakers about the Administration's support for Tibetans: "Should I be confirmed, while recognising Tibet as part of the People's Republic of China, I will continue to encourage dialogue between Beijing and representatives of Tibet's "government in exile" and/or the Dalai Lama. I will also encourage Beijing and the governments of all nations to respect and preserve the distinct religious, linguistic, and cultural identity of the Tibetan people worldwide," Tillerson said during his confirmation hearing in February.

Powerful lawmakers in the House of Representatives and the Senate have introduced identical legislations, which if passed, would deny access to the United States by Chinese officials who are responsible for creating or administering policies on travel to Tibetan areas until China eliminates discriminatory restrictions on access by Americans to Tibet.

Ahead of the US-China Summit, held on 6-7 April, a group of influential lawmakers had urged Trump to raise the issue of Tibet with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Credit Source:FirstPost

U.S. lawmakers visit Dalai Lama, highlight situation in Tibet

2017-05-09T21:20:00.003-04:00

By Douglas Busvine | DHARAMSALA, INDIA

A U.S. Congressional delegation visited the Dalai Lama at his headquarters in India on Tuesday, seeking to draw world attention to human rights in Tibet as President Donald Trump eyes warmer ties with China.

House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi flew with a bipartisan delegation to the Himalayan hill town where the 81-year-old Buddhist leader is based. The meeting is likely to upset China, which regards the Dalai Lama as a separatist.

"As we visit His Holiness the Dalai Lama, our bipartisan delegation comes in his spirit of faith and peace. We come on this visit to be inspired by His Holiness and demonstrate our commitment to the Tibetan people, to their faith, their culture and their language," Pelosi said.

Source Credit: The Reuters

Communist Party members in Tibet funding Dalai Lama: Chinese official

2017-05-03T19:59:00.001-04:00

The Communist Party of China has accused its own party officials in the Tibet Autonomous Region of donating funds to the India-based Dalai Lama, described by Beijing as a separatist conspiring to carve out an independent Tibetan state.

The unnamed officials were accused of donating funds to the Tibetan spiritual leader, joining underground pro-independence organizations and leaking secrets to overseas groups.

Their activity “severely undermines the Party’s fight against separatism”, a Communist Party magazine quoted an official as having written.

The report did not say whether the Communist Party officials were of Tibetan ethnicity.

Such accusations are rare but not unprecedented. In January 2015, Chinese anti-corruption authorities had found 15 senior Communist Party officials in Tibet guilty of corruption and punished them.

On Tuesday, the magazine quoted a top anti-corruption official leveling similar charges.

“Some Party officials have neglected important political issues and the country's anti-separatist struggle,” Wang Yongjun, head of the discipline watchdog in the Tibet Autonomous Region was quoted as saying.

“Some have even donated to the 14th Dalai Lama clique, joined illegal underground organizations and provided intelligence to overseas organizations,” Wang wrote in an article published on Monday in the magazine run by the Communist Party’s Central Commission for Discipline Inspection.

Commenting that such “behavior affected the CPC’s coherence and ability to fight separatism”, Wang wrote that a few officials were failing to “uphold their political integrity" and were “completely ignoring political discipline”.

China considers the Dalai Lama as a political exile in India who continues with “attempts to split Tibet from China under the guise of religion”.

A report by the China News Service two years ago had said: “the separatism situation is still complex and grim, a small number of party officials are not firm in their political stances, and the work of maintaining stability must be continuously strengthened”.

It too did not share details about the suspects but only said they provided intelligence to Tibetan factions under the Dalai Lama and their activities endangered national security.

The Dalai Lama’s visit last month to Arunachal Pradesh, which is claimed by Beijing, angered the Chinese government, which said India was “playing” the Dalai Lama card against its interests.

Source Credit: Hindustan Times

JFK airport customs agents seize yak meat, dung pods, seeds seized

2017-04-27T20:45:00.004-04:00

New York:

More than 290 pounds of prohibited yak meat, dung pods and seeds were seized by U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents at Kennedy Airport, the agency said this week.

The contraband items -- imported from Nepal -- were hidden inside clothing, including sweaters, shawls, and pants.

Importing yak meat from countries, like Nepal, that are affected by the foot-and-mouth disease, is banned, according to the agency.

The shipment was captured by the Commercial Targeting and Analysis Center, based on a tip from the public.

Source Credit: AM New York

Dalai Lama Says China Cannot Decide His Successor

2017-04-22T15:21:00.000-04:00

NEW DELHI —

Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama has said it is up to the Tibetan people to decide whether the institution of the Dalai Lama will continue and that China cannot decide on his successor.

He said he will organize a conference to discuss the issue of the next Dalai Lama before the end of this year.

The Buddhist monk spoke Saturday at a news conference during a visit to the northeast Indian town of Tawang in Arunachal Pradesh state, which borders China. His weeklong visit has sparked anger in Beijing, which claims a chunk of the remote Himalayan state.

Question of successor

The question of who will replace the 81-year-old spiritual leader has gained prominence with Beijing having asserted that its communist leaders have the right to approve the next Dalai Lama as a legacy inherited from China’s emperors.

But the Dalai Lama said Chinese officials have no role in identifying his successor because they are atheists and do not believe in the concept of religion.

“That’s frankly speaking quite nonsense,” he said. “In order to (for the) Chinese government taking responsibility for reincarnation in general, particularly me, first Chinese communists should accept theory of rebirth.”

The Tibetan religious leader said nobody knows where the next Dalai Lama will be born or come from.

“I think at the time of my death, maybe some indication come, (but) as of this moment no indication,” he added.

Tibetan Buddhists believe the soul of a senior lama or Buddhist monk is reincarnated in the body of a child on his death.

Fate of the institution

Saying that a final decision on the fate of the institution would be taken when he reaches his late 80s or 90, the Dalai Lama said he wanted to convene a meeting of senior monks this year to start a preliminary discussion on his succession. He said the continuation of the tradition depends on the people.

“If concerned people feel now this institution (is) no longer relevant, then this institution [will] cease,” he said.

He did not rule out the possibility of the next Dalai Lama being a woman.

Importance of Tawang

The Dalai Lama’s visit to the sensitive border town of Tawang, home to a famous Buddhist monastery, is not his first. But Chinese objections have been far more strident this time with Beijing accusing New Delhi of arranging a platform for the Tibetan leader to “hold anti-China and separatist activities” and lodging an official protest. It has warned that the visit would hurt ties with India.

The Dalai Lama and Indian officials call his weeklong Tawang stop purely religious. The Tibetan monk said he wished a Chinese official had accompanied him to know the reality.

Jayadeva Ranade at New Delhi’s Center for China Analysis and Strategy believes the strong Chinese reaction stems from the fact that Tawang was the birthplace of the sixth Dalai Lama.

“The Chinese seem to be linking that with the next reincarnation and the location where the next reincarnation may be found. These are the reasons why they are getting more concerned,” he said.

The Dalai Lama, who fled Tibet in 1959 after a failed Chinese uprising, resides in the northern Indian town of Dharamsala. China denounces him as a dangerous separatist.

He gave a spiritual discourse to tens of thousands of devotees and is scheduled to give more in the coming days in Tawang.

Source Credit: The VOA

Dalai Lama’s Journey Provokes China, and Hints at His Heir

2017-04-20T11:45:00.000-04:00

NEW DELHI — It has been a hard journey for the 81-year-old Dalai Lama, perhaps his last over the mountain passes at the edge of China, to a town that has played a fateful role in his life, and in the history of Tibetan Buddhism.

Violent rains buffeted the small plane he flew into the valley. His party was forced to continue overland, traveling seven or eight hours a day over steep serpentine roads, lined with villagers hoping to glimpse him.

Each day, as he came closer to the holy site of Tawang, China pressed India more forcefully to stop his progress, its warnings growing increasingly ominous.

By Thursday, a day before the Dalai Lama was expected to reach Tawang, the official China Daily wrote that Beijing “would not hesitate to answer blows with blows” if the Indian authorities allowed the Dalai Lama to continue.

At stake on this journey, scholars said, is the monumental question of who will emerge as the Dalai Lama’s successor — and whether that successor, typically a baby identified as the next reincarnation of the Dalai Lama, will live inside or outside China’s zone of influence.

By visiting Tawang, a Tibetan Buddhist stronghold that was the birthplace of a previous Dalai Lama, he is expertly needling Beijing, which maintains that this area should be part of China. He is also consolidating his sect’s deep roots among the population, potentially laying the groundwork for a reincarnation there.

“He is a wise Lama, and he is thinking far ahead, as he always has,” said Brahma Chellaney, an analyst at New Delhi’s Center for Policy Research. “He is not given to sentimental reasoning. There is nothing about his trip to Arunachal Pradesh that is sentimental in its nature.”

Tawang is home to the Monpa people, who practice Tibetan Buddhism and once paid tribute to rulers in Lhasa, 316 miles to the north. Though the town’s population is about 11,000, officials said they were expecting as many as 60,000 to gather for the Dalai Lama’s appearances at Tawang’s monastery this weekend.

“We have been preparing for the last two months,” said Lobsang Khum, secretary of the monastery. “Everybody wants to see him, get his blessings, touch his feet. For us, the Dalai Lama is more important than our lives.”

The most treasured lore among the Monpa surrounds Tsangyang Gyatso, who in 1682 became the sixth Dalai Lama. People here make pilgrimages to his childhood home, where a stone is displayed with a faint footprint said to be his, and speak longingly of the possibility that it could happen again.

“That is the dream of many people here, that the next Dalai Lama should be born in Tawang,” said Sang Phuntsok, Tawang’s deputy commissioner. Tsering Tashi, a local legislator, said that, as a layman, he had no business commenting, but in the end he could not restrain himself. “I wish that the reincarnation of the next Dalai Lama happens in Tawang,” he said. “That’s all I can say.”

The Dalai Lama has been enigmatic about how his successor will be chosen.

In the past, monks have turned to visions and oracles to lead them to a child conceived just as the previous Dalai Lama died. Having identified a child, they administer tests seeking to confirm that he is the reincarnated lama, such as asking him to pick out objects belonging to his predecessor.

But that method would leave Tibetan Buddhism without a leader for at least a year, allowing China to identify and promote its own candidate. The Dalai Lama has hinted that he may instead opt for a nontraditional selection process, selecting a child or an adult to succeed him while he is still alive.

Aging Tibetan Buddhist lamas have, in some cases, visited places where they would later be reincarnated as babies, and the Dalai Lama’s visits to Tawang and Mongolia seemed to fall into that pattern, said Robert J. Barnett, a historian of modern Tibet at Columbia University.

“This is a way of getting under the skin of the Chinese, of probing them, and reminding them that they have no control over where the next reincarnation occurs,” he said.

As the Dalai Lama’s arrival in Tawang grew closer this week, Chinese statements grew increasingly bellicose, a tactic that has succeeded in pressuring officials of many countries to snub the Tibetan leader.

On Wednesday, a foreign ministry spokeswoman said India had “obstinately arranged” the Dalai Lama’s visit, causing “serious damage” to bilateral ties. On Thursday, The Global Times, a state-run tabloid, suggested that China could retaliate by supporting the anti-Indian militancy in Kashmir.

“Can India afford the consequence?” it asked sarcastically. “With a G.D.P. several times higher than that of India, military capabilities that can reach the Indian Ocean and having good relations with India’s peripheral nations, coupled with the fact that India’s turbulent northern state borders China, will Beijing lose to New Delhi?”

Though India is typically wary of provoking China, several officials have been unusually pugnacious in their responses. Pema Khandu, the chief minister of Arunachal Pradesh, took the unusual step this week of stating that an independent Tibet, not China, is India’s true northern neighbor.

“Let me get this straight,” Mr. Khandu told journalists. “China has no business telling us what to do and what not to do because it is not our next-door neighbor.”

The Dalai Lama, for his part, has been characteristically jovial to the crowd of journalists trailing after him, expounding cheerily on subjects from quantum physics to global warming. He hardly needs to do more, Mr. Barnett said.

“He doesn’t have to do anything except exist and be his usual beaming self to embarrass the Chinese,” he said. “He will be right on the border, he will be a complete free person, he will be only meters away from Chinese territory, but they cannot do anything about it.”

The Dalai Lama also revisited his escape from Tibet in 1959, when he fled a Chinese military crackdown in Lhasa. Disguised, and with a small group of aides, he crossed the mountain passes to safety in Tawang.

He was reunited this week with Naren Chandra Das, 76, an Indian soldier who escorted him on the last three days. The two embraced before the cameras: the former soldier painfully thin, his eyes clouded by cataracts; the monk apple-cheeked and jovial.

“I became old, but he stays the same,” Mr. Das said. “He is a big man, the king of Tibet.”

Source Credit: The NYT

KFC prepares to open first outlet in Tibet

2015-12-10T17:13:00.001-05:00

KFC is expected to open its first restaurant in Tibet next year, as part of a regional push that will see it expand in China and shake off food scares and marketing blunders that have severely dented sales in that country.

The move comes as Yum – which owns the KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell brands –prepares to spin off its business in China. The China unit aims to roughly triple its restaurant count to 20,000 and bring in more franchise partners.A franchisee will open the KFC restaurant in the Tibetan capital, Lhasa, offering its American-style fried chicken in the first half of 2016, parent company Yum Brands Inc said in a statement.

Yum has been trying to win back customers after negative publicity stemming from food supply controversies. In 2014, a supplier to both Yum and McDonald’s apologised for selling expired meat to the chains. It was one of a series of food scandals that appear to have affected sales.

KFC pulled its plans to set up shop in Tibet more than a decade ago, saying in 2004 it was not “economically feasible” to enter the region. The Dalai Lama, Tibet’s exiled spiritual leader and a staunch vegetarian, opposed Yum’s plans at the time.

As China’s economy stutters, Yum’s 6,900 China restaurants face the challenge of luring diners who increasingly are looking for healthier, local options and going online to hunt for deals.

Yum executives are hosting an investor meeting in Dallas on Thursday, where they are expected to unveil more details about the China spinoff planned for late 2016.

Reuters and Associated Press contributed to this report

Source Credit: The Guardian

Chinese paper claims Pelosi ‘praised’ progress in Tibet on rare visit. That seems unlikely.

2015-11-13T09:58:00.000-05:00

U.S. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and delegation of congressional Democrats made a rare visit to Tibet this week. We know this because a senior Chinese official, Zhang Dejiang, the head of China's legislature, askedher about it at a meeting in Beijing on Thursday, just before reporters were ushered away.

Both the Chinese foreign ministry and a representative for Pelosi (D-Calif.) later confirmed the visit, but provided scant details about the delegation's travels in a part of China mostly closed to foreign journalists.

"The only thing we have been confirming is that they were in Lhasa from Monday through Wednesday. We have not offered any characterization of the trip whatsoever," Pelosi spokesman Drew Hammil told Reuters in a piece published Thursday.

source Credit: The Washington Post

Tibetan Diaspora in Exile Election

2015-08-23T10:37:00.002-04:00

EDITORIAL: Eversince the voluntary devolution of political authority by His Holiness the Dalai Lama, the democratic process of electing " Sikyong" or the Chief Executive of the Kashag, the Tibetan Administration based in Dharamsala, India had been vibrant and more participatory in the process.
Last election five years ago have witnessed the robust and energetic participation of the candidates seeking the prize position and people's involvement in the electoral process through social medias.
The ball was set rolling for the next election of the Sikyong and the "Chitues" members of Assembly{legislative branch) recently. The preliminary election will be held in October, this year and the final election will be held on March 2016.

The prospective candidates will campaign hard through various means available including personal appearances and through various social medias.

To maintain the clean and controversy free dispensation of campaign and electoral process, both electors and the candidates for election have responsibilty to meet. They can ensure the process to be clean and fair, if they follow the following ethics:

1. Electors or the Voters: The voters must have open mind in exercising their choice. They must refrain from making choice based on partiality, nepotism and favoritism. They must make their choices based on the candidates' ability, capability, honesty and integrity. In other words, use your own conscience and acumen.

2.The Candidates: Lay out your case and your plan of action. Tell electorates "why you are best amongst the rest?"

Make an effort to connect with the electorates through your agendas.

Refrain from making personal attack and baseless allegation. Criticise the opponents work not the opponent.

Do not invoke His Holiness the Dalai Lama in your campaign . Dalai lama is very personal to Tibetan. Invoking Dalai lama in the process is neither fair nor necesary. Doing so will limit the people from making educated decision. It is given that all candidates will mention that His Holiness the Dalai Lama wishes and aspiration will be of paramount importance.

Keep the democratic process vibrant, free and fair. Use your head and not your heart.

China refuses to hand over Tibetan lama's body

2015-07-19T14:41:00.005-04:00

BEIJING -- Chinese authorities have refused to release the body of a Tibetan lama who died in a Chinese prison, prompting a sit-in outside the prison by more than 100 Tibetans, a pro-Tibet rights group said Wednesday.

The family was informed Sunday that Tenzin Delek Rinpoche, 65, died 13 years into a life sentence on charges of financing and supporting a series of terrorist bombings and secession activities. His supporters say the charges were trumped up to persecute the man.

The prison has not produced the lama's body after two days of negotiations between the police and the monk's immediate family, the New York-based Students for a Free Tibet said Wednesday in a statement. The family wants to perform Tibetan Buddhist funeral rites on the body.

"Our only request is to have his body," said Dolkar, the monk's sister, who was in Dazhu county in southwestern Sichuan province, which borders the Tibetan region. Like many Tibetans, she goes by one name.

She said the family also was denied access to see the lama's remains, his death certificate and medical records.

Calls to the prison were unanswered Wednesday.

Tenzin Delek was arrested in 2002 in connection with a blast in Chengdu city that wounded three people.

Human rights groups have long said the lama was persecuted by the Chinese and arrested on false charges because he advocated for Tibetan rights. His suspended death sentence was later commuted to life in prison. He continued to maintain his innocence.

Students for a Free Tibet expressed concern that the group outside the prison could themselves face danger.

Last year, the monk's family had applied for medical parole for him on the grounds that he suffered from a heart condition, high blood pressure, dizzy spells and problems with his legs that had caused him to fall down frequently.

Authorities never responded to the request.

In Washington, members of the House of Representatives also demanded Chinese authorities return the lama's body to his family members for a funeral.

At a hearing on Tibet by the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission on Tuesday, movie actor Richard Gere, a longstanding advocate for Tibetan freedom, called the monk "one of the good men of the community" who found commonality between Tibetans and Chinese.

source credit: the CBS News