Tibetan Sikyong Exclusive
“China cannot handle unpredictability. So they don’t know when His Holiness the Dalai Lama will talk about emanation, which means choosing somebody before one’s own demise. Or reincarnation. That’s finding a new body in the next life”. Tibet’s Sikyong or political head, Penpa Tsering says in an exclusive ‘The Gist’ interview with StratNews Global‘s Amitabh P. Revi. “Sometimes when he’s asked whether it could be a woman, he says, why not? So all options are very open. And one thing, the Chinese cannot handle is unpredictability. So I think His Holiness is also being very strategic about his approach. But we can be very, very sure that he and he alone will be responsible for his succession. But he will definitely leave signs and indications,” the leader elected by Tibetans outside their country says.
India’s Tibet Policy
“Everybody would love to hear something from the Indian government. But I think it is taken for granted from our side too, that India is concerned, India has a stake in this. Suppose the next Dalai Lama is born in India. That makes it more relevant for India. So, I’m sure the Indian authorities are really thinking about and working on all this. And when and what they say is something for them to decide,” Penpa Tsering adds in this Tibet Sikyong Exclusive.
The Sikyong Also Discusses:
- The ‘Resolve Tibet’ Act that U.S. President Joe Biden has signed into law.
- Its overall ramifications and the next steps planned.
- Whether India’s Tibet policy needs to be re-calibrated.
- Calls for renaming the Line of Actual Control (LAC) the Tibet border.
- Ways to counter the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) changing names of places in Tibet and India.
- The Tibetan government-in-exile’s plans for a detailed historical map.
- How to bring the CCP “to its knees”.
- The Central Tibetan Administration’s position on Ladakh and Arunachal Pradesh.
- Tibetans under Indian military command in the Special Frontier Force (SFF) and Vikas battalions.
- The Dalai Lama’s middle way and dual polarity.
- Non-violence and the possibility of armed struggle.
- Back-channel talks in a third country.
- When the Dalai Lama will be back in India after recovering from knee surgery.
- And the succession issue and why Xi Jinping can’t handle the unpredictability.