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, Tsering said.

– By Rezaul H Laskar for Hindustan Times, 11 June 2026 

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.

What are your priorities and focus areas for your second term as Sikyong?

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. 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.

Two, unlike other exiled communities, we have to look after the welfare of Tibetan communities in India and Nepal, and make sure the unity of Tibetans spread across more than 28 countries remains intact. We have to finish a lot of infrastructural work, mainly public infrastructure, schools, hospitals and governance offices. That will be one more step towards greater sustainability of the Tibetan movement. We will take care of the poor, destitute and old – this is the [Dalai Lama’s] advice – and build leadership within the younger generations of Tibetans. We will continue to try to bring vibrancy into the compact communities, the “small Tibets”, in different states in India. That will add to the sustainability of the movement in the long term.

Three, to do all this we have to increase the efficiency of the Central Tibetan Administration in Dharamsala and our 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.

What is the status of back channel contacts with China?

It continues and everybody claims this is an important channel and that when the right time comes, it will be useful. They [Chinese] don’t want us even to say the back channels are going on, that’s the Chinese way of doing things. But we can’t lie about it. If we are asked questions, I cannot lie about it.

[The back channel] is active unless they want to stop. We have no intention to stop. But as I keep saying, it’s inconsequential right now because of the atmosphere…in China. At present, unless the top leadership decides something, the mid-level and bottom level hesitate to do anything. Because at this point of time, nobody knows whether they are going to get praised or get whipped for what they do. There is some level of inertia in the bureaucracy, which will harm the Chinese administration also.

Your second term starts at a time when the US administration is looking to rebalance ties with China, and India and China are trying to reset their ties after the problems in Galwan Valley. Have these developments affected the issue of Tibet?

As we approach global politics, we have not seen much visible change. I think any side that’s engaging with other side primarily as an adversary, always looks for leverage and issues that can be of benefit in the process of putting their interest first. So we may be one too in the process. Both India and the US are democratic, free countries, unlike China, which is autocratic. That is the basic difference. If there has to be genuine progress, then there has to be trust, either between leaders or nations. Without trust, it’s very difficult to carry forward in the longer term. Because of the evolving global political and economic situations, countries may have to resort to strategic approaches that meet their interests in the immediate term. Continue reading…