By Khedroob Thondup
When the earthquake struck eastern Tibet, the first tremor was geological. The second was political. As homes collapsed and families dug through rubble with bare hands, Tibetans across the plateau did what they have always done in moments of crisis: they mobilised. Villagers organised rescue teams, monasteries gathered supplies, and diaspora networks tried to send aid.
By Khedroob Thondup
For decades, Beijing has pursued the project of Sinicisation in Tibet—an attempt to erase Tibetan identity and replace it with a homogenised Chinese one. Schools are stripped of the Tibetan language, monasteries are surveilled and hollowed out, and Tibetan children are sent to boarding institutions where Mandarin dominates. Yet despite the intensity of these campaigns, Sinicisation in Tibet is destined to fail.
By Khedroob Thondup
In the high grasslands of Golog, where nomadic families have long relied on community schools to preserve their language and culture, three doors have been slammed shut. The Golok Tadrak Orphan School, the Ra‑Gya Jigme Gyaltsen Grassland Girls’ School and a small village school in Jasag have all been forcibly closed by Chinese authorities. These closures are not isolated administrative decisions; they are part of a deliberate campaign to erode Tibetan identity by dismantling the very institutions that nurture it.
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By Khedroob Thondup
For sixty-seven years, Tibet has endured the heavy hand of Communist China’s occupation. If Tibetans were ever given a genuine choice, the majority would not choose to remain under Beijing’s rule. The lived experience of generations—marked by broken promises, cultural suppression, and political disenfranchisement—has forged a collective conviction: independence is not optional; it is essential. For me personally, the idea of accepting Chinese rule is unthinkable.
By Khedroob Thondup
The petrol bomb attack on the Central Tibetan Administration’s office in Pretoria is not random violence—it bears the unmistakable fingerprints of Beijing’s transnational repression strategy, aimed at silencing Tibetan voices even beyond Asia. The timing, method, and target align with China’s broader campaign to intimidate diaspora communities and undermine institutions linked to the Dalai Lama.
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By Khedroob Thondup
The question of whether Tibetan lamas living in exile should return to Tibet on invitations orchestrated by Beijing’s United Front Work Department (UFWD) is not a matter of mere travel. It is a test of political integrity, spiritual responsibility, and communal survival. The stakes are profound: a visit risks transforming revered spiritual leaders into instruments of propaganda, undermining both the exile community and Tibetans inside Tibet.
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By Khedroob Thondup
Tibet today is one of the most monitored societies on earth. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has transformed the plateau into a laboratory of surveillance, combining military presence, digital monitoring, and intrusive policing. What Beijing calls “stability maintenance” is, in reality, a system designed to erase dissent, control identity, and suffocate freedom.
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By Khedroob Thondup
China’s ruling Communist Party does not believe in universal human rights or the rule of law as understood internationally. Instead, it substitutes “development rights” and Party supremacy for individual freedoms, while systematically repressing dissent, minorities, and civil society.
By Khedroob Thondup
Exile is sustained not only by resilience but also by the compassion of nations willing to shoulder the burdens of the displaced. For Tibetans, that nation has been India. In 1959, as tens of thousands of Tibetans fled across the Himalayas after the uprising in Lhasa, the Tibetan cabinet turned to Gyalo Thondup, the brother of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, with a desperate request: to approach Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru for help. What followed was the beginning of one of the most extraordinary acts of solidarity in modern history—a commitment that began with a modest budget of US$100,000 and today stands at US$11,100,000
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By Khedroob Thondup
History often turns on moments when warnings are dismissed. In 1952, Gyalo Thondup—brother of His Holiness the Dalai Lama—visited Tibet and returned with a stark message: China’s intentions were not benign. He warned the Tibetan Government that Beijing was preparing to consolidate its control and strip Tibet of its autonomy. Instead of heeding his words, officials laughed. Within a few years, Tibet’s independence was extinguished, its culture suppressed, and its people subjected to the iron grip of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
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