The Special Coordinator for Tibet matters for Tibetans and China

first three special coordinators for Tibet issues

The first three special coordinators for Tibet issues, Greg Craig, Julia Taft and Paula Dobriansky with His Holiness the Dalai Lama and his Special Envoy Lodi Gyari, on May, 21, 2001. (Photo: ICT Sonam Zoksang)

February 3, 2025    By: Bhuchung K. Tsering

Every four years, the United States experiences an upheaval of sort, depending on the outcome of the presidential elections. Like earthquakes, sometimes changes are minor while sometimes they are major ones, including with subsequent tremors. This year we are going through another such upheaval with President Donald Trump having won and bringing in a new set of officials.

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Students of the Tibetan Sunday School

New York’s recognition of Losar would be a significant acknowledgment of Tibetan community

I was born and raised in New York City by Tibetan refugees. My parents were born in Tibet, escaped to India in 1959, and ultimately immigrated to New York in the early 1990s. It’s a point of pride for me to share that I am a Tibetan, an American, and a New Yorker. Growing up, the Tibetan community in New York was small. In the early 2000s, our Sunday Tibetan school was made up of a couple dozen students when my brothers and I first joined, and our apartment often served as a temporary home for newly arrived Tibetan friends navigating their first steps in this city.

Tibetan singers

Earthquake in Tibet and Tibetan anguish

A blessing in disguise of a tragedy, if I can even dare say, is that it brings out the positive side of people all over. That was the experience of the Tibetan refugees in the immediate period following their escape from Tibet in and after 1959, when there was an outpouring of material and moral support from the international community.

Dargye Monastery

‘A History of Kham’ and China’s colonial rule over Tibet

Yudru Tsomu’s meticulously researched new book, Chieftains, Lamas, and Warriors: A History of Kham, 1904-1961, provides a welcome addition to narratives on Tibetan history by framing Tibet’s eastern province not as a remote periphery but instead as a crucial zone of contestation between Central Tibet and China.

United Nations

My take on the Joint Statement on Tibet at the UN in New York

As we come to the end of 2024, one interesting political development on Tibet was that on October 22, 2024 a “Joint statement on the human rights situation in Xinjiang and Tibet” by 15 countries was made at United Nations Third Committee session in New York evokes interest in quite a few ways. Here, I will only touch on the Tibet part of the statement as I am sure our Uyghur friends are themselves studying the more substantive East Turkestan (as Xinjiang is known to them) reference. The Third Committee is one of the committees of the UN General Assembly, the Social, Humanitarian & Cultural...

Bhuchung K. Tsering

How can we best celebrate the anniversary of H.H. the Dalai Lama’s Congressional Gold Medal?

In August this year, I had the intensely emotional experience of attending the event in New York organized by the Tibetan and Himalayan communities to make a Tenshug (long-live prayer) offering to His Holiness the Dalai Lama who was on a visit to the United States. It was emotional for few reasons. First, the most recent visit of His Holiness to this part of the world took place way back in 2016, before the dreaded Covid19 pandemic.

A "knowledge contest"

New Cultural Revolution in Tibet: Xi’s “cultural ideology” aims to erase Tibet’s identity

A look at Tibet reveals that a new cultural revolution is taking place there. Beijing's campaign affects all areas of Tibetan life and penetrates deep into even the most private areas of people. The "Four Old Evils" that the Red Guards fought against at the time are now defined much more comprehensively, however, and those in power are no longer just targeting the traditional social elites.

Potala Palace

Beijing advances a perplexing new argument in Dalai Lama succession fight

With the Dalai Lama’s 90th birthday less than a year away, China is struggling to control the narrative regarding his succession. The facts are quite clear: Tibetan Buddhists have their own centuries-old methods for identifying reincarnate lamas, and international standards on human rights state that freedom of religious belief includes the right to "train, appoint, elect or designate by succession appropriate leaders.”

My take on the Congressional delegation and US support for Tibet

In the weeks leading to Congress passing the Promoting a Resolution to the Tibet-China Dispute Act (S.138) in June and the bill's signature into law by President Biden on July 12, 2024, there was an unusually strong media interest in Tibet, particularly in India. This was further heightened by the visit of a high-level congressional delegation to Dharamsala in June to meet His Holiness the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan leadership.

The Dalai Lama 89th birthday: A Celebration of Teaching

From July 1st through the 6th, I had the privilege of participating in the second International Tibet Youth Forum and attending His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s 89th birthday in Dharamshala. I witnessed firsthand dignitaries, monastics, and citizens gather to recognize the Dalai Lama’s decades of dedication to compassion, preservation of the Tibetan people’s ancient civilization, and democratic freedom.