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Nyima Lhamo in red Tibetan traditional attire speaking to the Mr President
Photo: RFA

Nyima Lhamo, who is the late Tulku Tenzin Delek Rinpoche’s niece, met United States President Donald Trump in the White House on July 12. She was representing Tibet among a delegation of survivors of religious persecution and appealed to President Trump for continued support for Tibet and for the United States to support call for the return of His Holiness the Dalai Lama to Tibet. President Trump asked Nyima to convey his “Hello” to His Holiness.

27 people from 17 countries made up the delegation, all were survivors of religious persecution from countries which included Christians from Myanmar, Vietnam, North Korea, Iran, Turkey, Cuba, Eritrea, Nigeria, and Sudan; Muslims from Afghanistan, Sudan, Pakistan and New Zealand; Rohingya from Myanmar; Jews from Yemen and Germany; a practitioner of Cao Dai from Vietnam and a Yezidi from Iraq. Jewher Ilham, an Uighur Muslim; Yuhua Zhang, a Falun Gong practitioner; Nyima Lhamo, a Tibetan Buddhist and Manping Ouyang, a Christian are all recognised by the White House as survivors from China.

Every delegate was given an opportunity to meet US President and share their stories.

Nyima Lhamo is the first Tibetan to meet the current US President. Nyima was part of the Tibet delegation who was attending the Ministerial to Advance Religious Freedom – a three day gathering in Washington of religious leaders, government officials and victims of religious persecution around the world.

Nyima’s uncle was Tulku Geleke Rinpoche – a highly respected and revered Tibetan spiritual figure and one of the most prominent Tibetan political prisoners who died in Chinese prison on July 12, 2015 under suspicious circumstances, after 13 years of detention, torture and brutality. Nyima escaped from Tibet in 2016 so she could tell the world what is happening in Tibet, despite the risk to her family – the families of Tibetans who protest against Chinese rule are often persecuted or imprisoned because of the actions of their activist relatives.

President Trump was joined by White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney and Sam Brownback, the administration’s ambassador at large for international religious freedom. Trump told the group that his administration plans to announce new measures aimed at protecting religious minority groups, though no details were mentioned. He said that Vice President Pence and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will make statements on this issue.