Representative Kelsang Gyaltsen Bawa and Philosophy teacher Tenzin Namdrol from the Office of Tibet with Tashi Tsering and participants at 2022 Regional Religious Freedom Forum – An Indo-Pacific Civil Society Dialogue on Religious Freedom in Challenging Times.

Taipei: Representative Kelsang Gyaltsen Bawa and Philosophy teacher Tenzin Namdrol from the Office of Tibet, Taiwan, participated in the 2022 Regional Religious Freedom Forum – An Indo-Pacific Civil Society Dialogue on Religious Freedom in Challenging Times on 30 August 2022, where the two apprised Beijing’s sinicisation of Tibetan Buddhism in Tibet to the assemblage. 

Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen, President of the Legislative Yuan You Si-Kun, Minister of Foreign Affairs Joseph Wu, President of Taiwan Foundation for Democracy (TFD), and Chair Nury Turkel of the US Commission on International Religious Freedom were among the prominent dignitaries attending the forum jointly organised by TFD with assistance from Taiwanese Foreign Ministry and American Institute in Taiwan (AIT).

Representative Bawa and Philosophy teacher of the Office of Tibet were also amongst the foreign delegates invited to the closed-door forum during which the bilingual six-thousand-worded report on China’s systematic destruction of Tibet’s religion, language and ethnicity was distributed to the attendees. In addition, the Philosophy teacher read the report in English while the Representative answered questions and informed the gathering on CTA’s Middle Way Approach policy. Furthermore, Representative Bawa interacted and made contact with other delegates during recess and presented souvenirs. 

Apart from that, the standing committee member of the Human Rights Network for Tibet and Taiwan, Tashi Tsering, and the International Tibet Network liaison also attended the forum. 

The 2022 Regional Religious Freedom Forum – An Indo-Pacific Civil Society Dialogue on Religious Freedom in Challenging Times was intended to devise strategies for defying increased restrictions on religious freedom in authoritarian countries of the Indo-Pacific region.  

-Report filed by OoT Taiwan

Representative Kelsang Gyaltsen Bawa and Philosophy teacher Tenzin Namdrol from the Office of Tibet at 2022 Regional Religious Freedom Forum – An Indo-Pacific Civil Society Dialogue on Religious Freedom in Challenging Times.