Dharamshala: On September 20, 2024, a delegation led by the Friedrich Naumann Foundation met with Sikyong Penpa Tsering of the Central Tibetan Administration at the Kashag (Cabinet) meeting hall. The visiting delegation included Frank Muller-Rosentritt, Member of the German Bundestag (FDP Germany), and Fayyaz Ismail, Member of Parliament from the Maldives, Dr. Carsten Klein, Regional Head of FNF South Asia,  along with Frank Hoffmann, Regional Project Manager, and Nupur Hasija, Senior Program Manager from FNF. The group also included  Needrup Zangpo, Executive Director of the Bhutan Media Foundation, Sanjay Tambe, President of the Indien-Institut, and Reinhard Wolf, President of German Bhutan Himalaya Society as well as scholars and journalists.

During the meeting, Sikyong Penpa Tsering briefed the visitors on the political situation in Tibet, particularly the critical issues inside Tibet, and the advocacy efforts for Tibet in the international community. The Sikyong referenced George Orwell’s novel “1984”, drawing parallels between the totalitarian surveillance and oppression depicted in the book and the Chinese government’s current practices in Tibet. He explained how the Chinese authorities monitor every aspect of Tibetan people’s lives, especially in monasteries and among intellectuals, through surveillance of phone calls and emails, leading to immediate detention of suspects. He also mentioned the forced collection of Tibetan DNA samples for surveillance purposes.

The Sikyong discussed the Chinese government’s efforts to eradicate Tibetan identity, culture, and language. He explained how privately-run Tibetan schools have been shut down and Tibetan children are forced to attend government-run colonial boarding schools where they are primarily taught in Chinese, with a highly-politicized curriculum aimed at assimilating young Tibetans into Chinese culture. He also highlighted how the atheist Chinese communist government interferes with Tibetan Buddhist monasteries by curtailing religious practices, changing curriculum in monastic schools, regulating admission to monasteries, and limiting the number of monks.

Sikyong Penpa Tsering also addressed the Chinese Communist Party’s interference in the traditional Tibetan Buddhist system of recognizing reincarnate lamas. He mentioned the 2007 Order No. 5, which requires government approval for the recognition of reincarnate lamas and mandates the use of the golden urn method. He pointed out that the Chinese government is preparing to interfere with the future reincarnation of His Holiness the Dalai Lama. Additionally, the Sikyong briefed the visitors on the environmental and geopolitical importance of the Tibetan plateau, as well as the unique value of Tibetan religion and culture. The meeting concluded with Sikyong addressing questions from the members of the visiting delegation.