Opinions

By Khedroob Thondup

China’s governance of Tibet has always been marked by a deep mistrust of Tibetans themselves. The appointment of Hu Changsheng as Party Secretary in Tibet is yet another reminder of this reality. Hu does not speak Tibetan, nor does he understand the customs, traditions, or spiritual life of the people he is meant to govern. His authority rests not on legitimacy or cultural understanding, but on the coercive machinery of the state. This is not accidental—it is the very design of Beijing’s rule in Tibet.

By Khedroob Thondup

The Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) United Front Work Department (UFWD) has been actively engaging with the 17th Karmapa, Ogyen Trinley Dorje, in a bid to influence Tibetan Buddhism and assert control over its spiritual leadership. This outreach includes arranging meetings between the Karmapa and his parents in Hong Kong and providing regular advice on his future. Understanding the motivations and methods behind this outreach reveals the broader strategic objectives of the CCP.

An extraordinary display of political amnesia- that was my immediate thought while watching the house stretch, pull and twist Article 56 of the Charter of the Tibetans in exile on 18th September. The episode followed the Sikyong (President) of the Central Tibetan Administration’s (CTA) point of order against a private member’s bill calling for the continuation of the Tibetan independence struggle. The bill was introduced by Parliamentarian Sangay Dorjee and supported by Parliamentarian Gagya Gyaltsen Choekyi, while the Speaker, Dolma Tsering Teykhang, duly accepted the point of order.

By Khedroob Thondup

China’s expulsion of General Zhang Youxia on September 21, 2026, marks one of the most dramatic purges in Xi Jinping’s decade-long campaign to consolidate control over the military. Officially framed as punishment for “serious violations of discipline and law,” the move underscores how corruption charges are often intertwined with accusations of disloyalty to Xi and the Party.

By Khedroob Thondup There are moments in life when history itself leans close, whispers in your ear, and then retreats,

By Khedroob Thondup When Beijing marched into Tibet in 1950, it declared the move a “liberation.” Yet more than seven

By Khedroob Thondup
When Tibet was engulfed by Chinese occupation in the 1950s, despair spread across the plateau. Villages were uprooted, monasteries destroyed, and a centuries-old way of life threatened with extinction. Out of this crisis rose the Chushi Gangdruk, the “Four Rivers, Six Ranges” resistance force, a grassroots army of Khampa fighters who refused to surrender their homeland. For 18 years, they became the backbone of Tibetan armed resistance — and their struggle was sustained by a powerful, if complex, ally: the Central Intelligence Agency.

By Khedroob Thondup
When the Republic of China (ROC) government fled to Taiwan in 1949, it carried with it the constitutional claim to rule all of China—including Tibet and Mongolia. For decades, this claim was not only symbolic but institutionalised through agencies like the Mongolian and Tibetan Affairs Commission, which managed policies toward regions the ROC no longer controlled. Yet in 2017, Taipei dissolved that commission, a move that signalled the practical abandonment of its historic claims.

By Khedroob Thondup
For decades, Tibetans in exile have lived with the knowledge that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) seeks not only to control our homeland but also to police our voices abroad. I have experienced this firsthand. In one of the more cynical manoeuvres, the Chinese government attempted to enlist His Holiness the Dalai Lama to rein in my public advocacy for Tibetan independence. Their request was not only misguided—it revealed the CCP’s fundamental misunderstanding of democracy and freedom of thought.

By Khedroob Thondup
Sixty-seven years of Chinese Communist Party (CCP) rule in Tibet has produced not trust, but alienation. The CCP’s occupation has been marked by broken promises, suppression of culture, and systematic efforts to erase Tibetan identity. For Tibetans, the experience of living under Beijing’s control has been one of coercion rather than consent.