Photo: Sajjad Hussein Agence France-Presse In 2021, Penpa Tsering, born in India in 1967, was elected sikyong or head of the government in exile, the second in Tibet's history. He gave an interview to AFP in his office in Dharamsala, India.
Peter Martell – Agence France-Presse to Dharamsala
08:36
- Asia
A few weeks before the 65th anniversary of the failed uprising in Tibet against Chinese rule, Penpa Tsering, the elected leader of the diaspora, says that Beijing “oppresses” its people “like a python”, in an interview to AFP.
On March 10, Tibetans will commemorate the failed 1959 uprising that led the Dalai Lama and thousands of his followers to cross the snow-covered Himalayan passes to neighboring India and establish a government in exile.
This anniversary also recalls the sensitive issue of the succession of the 88-year-old Nobel Peace Prize winner, which could trigger a geopolitical battle.
The charismatic spiritual leader already stepped down from political leadership of the Tibetan people in 2011, passing the torch to a government democratically chosen by some 130,000 Tibetans around the world.
In 2021, Penpa Tsering, born in India in 1967, was elected sikyong or head of the government in exile, the second in the history of Tibet.
China regained control of Tibet, after an intervention by the People's Liberation Army in 1950.
“If you look at the policies of the Chinese government today, they are oppressing us — like a python that is slowly asphyxiating us,” Penpa Tsering told AFP, received in her exiled Tibetan government office in Dharamsala, India, China's great regional rival. “So we die slowly.”
Empires fall
While the sikyong readily admits that his task of “seeking to resolve the Sino-Tibetan conflict” may seem overwhelming, this Buddhist has a long-term vision.
“Nothing is permanent,” he said, sitting serenely in his office. Opposite, a Tibetan flag flies in the hills overlooking Dharamsala, in northern India, where the Dalai Lama also lives.
“This world has seen many empires, and all the empires have fallen,” he reminds.
As the campaign for a free Tibet drags on, many are worried about the succession of the Dalai Lama. Although he shows no signs of declining health, the man who embodies Tibet to the whole world has considerably reduced his travel abroad.
“He is well aware of his mortality […] One day he will die, […] it’s a fact,” adds Penpa Tsering. “But, of course, we like to hope that the cause of Tibet will be resolved during this Dalai Lama's lifetime.”
According to him, the Tibetan spiritual leader still has decades to live.
“Just this morning, His Holiness said: “I have not lost a single one of my teeth. I will live a long time,” he says.
“Her Holiness keeps repeating that she will live to be 113 years old. So I reprimand my Chinese friends saying: […] you are more concerned about the coming 15th — because you know that if you can control the Dalai Lama, you can control the Tibetan people,” he emphasizes. .
Tibetan devotees believe the Dalai Lama is the 14th reincarnation of the head of a six-century-old institution, determined by monks according to ancient Buddhist traditions.
“Middle Path”
But many fear that Beijing will take responsibility for appointing his successor.
In stepping down in favor of an elected government, the Dalai Lama declared that “no recognition or acceptance should be given to a candidate chosen for political purposes”, alluding to the possible design of China.
Penpa Tsering says he sometimes goes to the mountainous border of India to contemplate the native land that he has never been able to visit.
He does not aim to obtain total independence for Tibet, but follows the policy of the “middle way”, led for a long time by the Dalai Lama who believes that it would be suicidal to demand more than autonomy.
On the other hand, the Dalai Lama has always refused to recognize that Tibet was historically part of China, as requested by Beijing, which has used it to refuse dialogue with its representatives since 2010.
According to Penpa Tsering, who campaigns for the rights of the approximately seven million Tibetans he says are under Chinese control, “indirect” contacts with Beijing will continue. For “if there is no hope, the cause itself is lost. »