CTA President: Despite Challenges, Back-Channel Negotiations with China Persist, with No Expectations

By Tsering Choephel

DHARAMSALA, 18 July: The most recent round of back-channel negotiations between the Tibetan government-in-exile and Beijing happened “at the beginning of this month”, said Penpa Tsering, the President of the Tibetan government-in-exile now known as Central Tibetan Administration (CTA).

“We have been having back-channel negotiations with the Chinese side,” CTA President Penpa Tsering while speaking to a group of journalists on Wednesday before his departure to visit the US, reports The Hindu.

 “We do not have any expectations from these talks, but we have to keep the engagement going as these are part of our long-term plans,” he added and disclosed that the last meeting was held in “the first week of this month and that the talks are being held with the help of a third country. According to the report, Tsering disclosed that the back-channel talks started at Beijing’s initiation.

Nine rounds of official talks were held between the envoys of His Holiness the Dalai Lama and representatives of China’s United Front Work Department between 2002 and 2012. Following the last negotiations in 2012, the envoys of His Holiness the Dalai Lama resigned from their positions, citing the overall deteriorating situation inside Tibet and “lack of willingness and sincerity” from the Chinese side.

Despite the lack of expectations for positive outcomes from the ongoing back-channel negotiations, Tsering said, “We just cannot think of the short term. We cannot only think about Xi Jinping. He will be there for some time and then he will be gone. But we have to keep our communications going.”

US President Biden’s signing of the Resolve Tibet Act into law on the 12th of July calls on “the People’s Republic of China to resume direct dialogue, without preconditions, with the Dalai Lama, or his representatives, to seek a settlement that resolves differences and leads to a negotiated agreement on Tibet.” The law’s provisions, contesting China’s claim of Tibet as an inalienable part of it, recognising the traditional three provinces of Tibet as proper Tibet against China’s demarcated Tibet Autonomous Region, and pledging to counter Beijing’s propaganda and misinformation campaign, among others, mark a milestone victory for Tibet’s freedom struggle.

The use of terms like “Tibetan issue” or “dispute” in speaking of the Tibetan struggle is limited, says Tsering. “Tibetan conflict is the term to give it a proper status as the real issue is the Chinese occupation of Tibet,” he said.

In countering China’s efforts to solidify the Chinese name Xizang as Tibet, Tsering said, “Beijing has recently started calling Tibet as Xizang. Now we are researching all place names in Tibet to create a map of Tibet that will show all the original Tibetan names of all the places in Tibet.” Speaking of China’s claim to rights to select the reincarnation of the Dalai Lama, he said, “It is the reincarnation of His Holiness Dalai Lama and not reincarnation of Xi Jinping.”