His Holiness the Dalai Lama is the best face for Tibetan cause said the President of Central Tibetan Administration, Dr. Lobsang Sangay in his recent interview with the BBC world. The Tibetan political leader responded to the question that the Dalai Lama would not be traveling so often as before to campaign for Tibet and the responsibility lies on him. The interview appeared on the Impact Program of the BBC World with host Yalda Hakim on Thursday, November 23
“Now that’s a big shoes to fill. His Holiness the Dalai Lama recently told a group of youth who had come from all over that I will be travelling more on his behalf, but I’ll do so. But His Holiness is very healthy, he will be travelling to various countries around the world and he is the best spokesperson and the best face for the Tibetan cause. I won’t be able to fill in his shoes but he is definitely sharing or giving me more responsibilities and I will do the best I can.” Dr. Sangay responded to “The Dalai Lama, we are hearing report is saying that he probably won’t travel as much or will probably not travel at all abroad. So much of the hope of the campaigning the cause is now on you.”
The interview dealt with ranges of topics such as Tibet, Tibetan cause, dialogue between Chinese government representatives and envoys of His Holiness etc., in addition to a discussion about His Holiness the Dalai Lama.
While asked about whether there was any dialogue going on with China, he said unfortunately no. There has been no dialogue between the envoys of His Holiness the Dalai Lama and the representatives of Chinese government since 2010. He said that he hopes President Xi Jinping in his second term will look at Tibet as low hanging fruit because in second term normally they do deal with complicated issues like Barack Obama dealing with Iran and Cuba. He also told that Xi’s father was very familiar with the Tibet issue and very close to the Panchen Lama and hopes that Xi will continue his father’s legacy.
He also told in the interview that in his recent visits to various countries across the world, he has found that many countries are imposing a self censorship for talking human rights, Tibet and democracy in order not to hurt the sentiments of Chinese government. He told that it is scary to notice the influence.
Besides there is the need for a free trade engaging with China, but they should not give a free-pass and hold on to a principle. The choice is whether to transform China and make them look more like us, liberal democracy, or should we transform to look more like China.