Dharamshala, 20th May: Penpa Tsering, the newly elected president of CTA, called for exile unity and pledged work to resume CTA representatives’ talks with China. Tsering said that he will fulfill the aspirations of the electorate in all matters, including resolving the Sino-Tibet issue. He said he would resume talks between his administration and China to settle the Sino-Tibet issue, but cautioned that China would have to learn Buddhism to take over the Dalai Lama’s succession.
China has stepped up efforts in recent years to eradicate the Dalai Lama from Tibetan religious lives to crush their identity. The Dalai Lama, who is currently 85-year-old, had earlier announced that upon turning 90 he will decide whether he should be reincarnated. Mao Zedong said during a meeting “religion is poison” to the 14th Dalai Lama.
In response to China’s argument on the succession of the Dalai Lama, he said that the Chinese leadership would need to learn Buddhism in order to determine who should succeed the Dalai Lama and that they should respect the Dalai Lama’s decision and the Tibetan people because it is a strictly religious matter.
Tsering received 34,324 votes in the final round of voting for Sikyong of the Central Tibetan Administration on April 11. Kalsang Dorjee Aukatsang, on the other hand, received 28,907 votes in the recent elections. Tsering will take over for Lobsang Sangay, who was a vocal critic of Beijing during his 10-year term. Penpa Tsering was congratulated by the USA for his election as the next Sikyong.
It is worth noting that Taiwanese Foreign Minister Jaushieh Joseph Wu sent a congratulatory letter to Penpa Tsering in which he emphasized the “Tibetan people’s strive for self-determination and pledged to work together to safeguard their ideals of democracy, independence, and human rights.”
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