Should Tibetans Stop Using WeChat?
By Tenzin Samten / June 23, 2020
China’s multifaceted mobile app WeChat has started blocking the contacts of influential Tibetans who live in exile and are in contact with their families and friends in Tibet. This comes amid the Wuhan-originated Coronavirus pandemic, reports United Kingdom based nongovernment organisation Free Tibet’s research partner, Tibet Watch. Tibetans across the read more →
China and the EU: Strategic Partners?
By Ben Byrne / June 22, 2020
Various Tibetan media outlets are reporting that Josep Borrell, the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy since December 1,2019, recently raised the issue of Tibet and human rights with Chinese Foreign Affairs Minister Wang Yi during a “Strategic Dialogue” between the two powers held read more →
New US Bill to Recognise Tibet as Independent Country
By Ray Sorensen / June 18, 2020
A member of the United States House of Representatives, Scott Perry, has introduced a bill that would authorise the President of the United States to recognise the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) as an independent country. Representative Perry, a Republican from Pennsylvania, introduced the legislation as tensions between the US and read more →
“A tragic situation reveals the deeper human values of compassion”
By Kritika M Narula / June 18, 2020
Ahead of his 85th birthday, His Holiness the Dalai Lama talked to the world through interviews with NDTV and the BBC, where he invoked people’s sense of compassion and oneness to deal with the coronavirus pandemic. He shared that he has been living in Dharamshala, at the foothills of the read more →
India-Tibet Border Issues Spark Diplomatic Row
By Ben Byrne / June 6, 2020
Former Indian diplomat Phunchok Stobdan courted controversy this week by raising questions about His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s silence on China’s recent border transgressions – this comes amid ongoing Sino-Indian tension relating to border disputes in Ladakh. Speaking during a chaotic TV news panel discussion conducted via video conference, Stobdan read more →
Australian Student Leader Faces Suspension for Anti-China Activism
By Kritika M Narula / June 5, 2020
Drew Pavlou, a 20-year old philosophy student at the University of Queensland (UQ) in Australia has been suspended from the university for two years for his on-campus anti-China activism supporting Hong Kong, Tibet, and East Turkistan. The ban on completing his degree came after a “kangaroo court” disciplinary hearing on read more →
UN Call to Lift Charges Against Tibetan Activist
By Tenzin Samten / June 1, 2020
A group of four United Nations (UN) Human Rights experts, together with the UN’s Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, issued a statement on May 19 calling for the release of Tibetan community leader Anya Sengdra. Expressing “deep concern” about the criminalisation of Sengdra’s legitimate work, the group have urged “[Chinese] read more →
Tibetans In Chamdo Made Homeless
By Choeyang Wangmo / May 27, 2020
Around 4,000 Tibetans in Chamdo and Gonjo counties in Tibet are reported to have been made homeless as a result of the Chinese government resettlement policy. The Chinese authorities and the state media have proclaimed that such relocations are to help the residents reduce poverty. However, local sources have confirmed read more →
China responds to International Call for the Release of the Panchen Lama
By Kritika Narula / May 24, 2020
The 25th anniversary this month of the abduction of the Panchen Lama, the second-highest spiritual leader in Tibet after His Holiness the Dalai Lama, by the Chinese authorities, saw leaders from countries around the world calling on China for information on his whereabouts and wellbeing. The Panchen Lama is 31 read more →
Eight Year Travel Ban
By Tenzin Samten / May 22, 2020
Jampa Sonam, 59, a resident of Lhachu village in Chamdo prefecture’s Dzogang county has been living under a travel ban for the last eight years for keeping a photo of His Holiness the Dalai Lama on his phone. He was accused of having contact with “separatists” and was put under read more →