By Tenzin Dharpo
DHARAMSHALA, May 19: United States and Taiwan have officially congratulated the President-elect of the Central Tibetan Administration Penpa Tsering following his victory in the election for the highest office of the exile Tibetan polity.
United State’s State Department spokesperson Ned Price in his congratulatory tweet wrote, “The United States congratulates Penpa Tsering on his election as the Central Tibetan Administration’s (CTA) next Sikyong. We look forward to working with him and the CTA to support the global Tibetan diaspora.”
The Biden administration has been vocal in their support for the Tibetans in condemning China for human rights violations in Tibet, and in espousing backing for exile Tibetans.
Taiwan’s Foreign minister Jaushieh Joseph Wu also congratulated Sikyong-elect Penpa Tsering. In a letter on 17 May, he wrote, “Please accept my heartfelt congratulations on your success in the recent Sikyong election. The result once again has shown the world the Tibetans’ unwavering commitment to building a free and democratic Tibet.”
“Under your leadership, I look forward to working with you and your Administration to advance the close and friendly ties between Taiwan and Tibet,” he added.
In contrast, Chinese government mouth piece Global Times in a report published on May 16 reiterated the party line in deriding the new leadership of the CTA by labeling it as a front for independence despite long standing official stance for autonomy under China. It quoted Zhu Weiqun, former head of the Ethnic and Religious Affairs Committee of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, “The so-called ‘middle way approach’ is to realize a Tibetan ‘high degree of autonomy’, and then independence. This is impossible, and the essence of the approach has been seen through”.
“In the past decade, the Lobsang [Sangay] has seen one failure after another, and this situation will be the same ahead of Penpa Tsering,” Zhu said.
Penpa Tsering, 53, the former speaker of the Tibetan parliament in exile was declared the winner last week with 34, 324 votes against contender Kelsang Dorjee Aukatsang who bagged 28,907 votes. 63,991 Tibetans around the world took part in the final round of the two-phase Tibetan general election of 2021.
I always knew sun for Tibet will shine from the East. It did with the election victory of Lobsang Sangay who took the helm for ten years. This time, it shone from the South. It’s about time. Congrats, Penpa Tsering la.