Mar 13, 2013

Tibet: Conference On China’s New Leadership


During the conference in Geneva on China’s new Leadership, a senior Tibetan leader calls for common ground for Tibet, East Turkestan and Southern Mongolia. 

Below is an article published by Phayul:

A senior Tibetan leader today called for a common ground where people from East Turkestan, Tibet, and Southern Mongolia could cooperate and learn from each other’s experiences. 

Speaker Penpa Tsering of the Dharamshala based Tibetan Parliament-in-Exile was addressing a conference on “China’s New Leadership: Challenges for Human Rights, Democracy and Freedom in East Turkestan, Tibet and Southern Mongolia” in Geneva.

Deliberating on the topic ‘Democratic China in the 21st century,’ Speaker Tsering explained the Tibetan democratic polity and stressed on the need to practice democratic practices in exile in order to ensure a future democratic China.

He spoke on the attempts being made by the exile Tibetan community to reach out to all Chinese group to reach a better understanding of the Tibetan issue and called for unity among the various Chinese pro-democracy groups.

Speaker Tsering further noted that the devolution of His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s political authority to the directly elected Tibetan leadership “will ensure the continuation of the Tibetan struggle.”

Other Tibetan speakers at the conference included Kelsang Gyaltsen, Special Representative of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Lobsang Nyima, Chinese Liaison Officer, Gyaljong Tsetrin, Tsewang Norbu, and Khedroob Thondup, former Tibetan MP.

The conference in Geneva is organised by the World Uyghur Congress in collaboration with the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization and the Society for Threatened Peoples.

Photo by @colincookman