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South The Indian Eye

AMERICANNewsline

34 OCTOBER 27, 2023
E XC LUSI V E

INTERVIEW WITH PENPA TSERING

“Latin American countries have to be

very smart about investments from China

and value freedom they have”

enpa Tsering is Sikyong, (pres-
ident) of the Central Tibetan
PAdministration based in Dha-
ramshala, India. Tsering visited São
Paulo on October 1st and 2nd, 2023,
as part of his trip to Latin America,
during which he also travelled to Co-
lombia and Mexico. Tsering, who was
invited to Brazil by Tibet House Bra-
sil, gave lectures on Tibetan philoso-
phy, met with public authorities and
people from civil society during his
trip to Brazil. An experienced Tibet-
an politician who has held important
positions in the Central Tibetan Ad-
ministration over the years, Tsering
has worked closely with His Holiness
the Dalai Lama in various official po-
sitions besides serving as the Speaker
of Tibetan Parliament based at Dha-
ramshala in Himachal Pradesh.
During his trip to Brazil, Tsering
spoke to The Indian Eye about his
visit to Latin America, China’s Tibet
policy and the future of the institu-
tion of Dalai Lama.

Excerpts of the interview:
You are on your first visit to Sao
Paulo and Brazil. What is the objective
of your visit to Latin America?
His Holiness Dalai Lama has vis- Tibetan Sikyong Penpa Tsering addressing a gathering during his Latin American Tour
ited Latin America four times since
his first visit in 1992. My predecessor of the political situation in the re- financial. So, we have to see where kind of conversation you will have with
Dr Lobsang Sangay had gone to Mex- gion. But we also know that there are we spend our money on. It should be them?
ico once but he had not gone to other many followers of His Holiness in the effective and impactful. So, this time This time we are visiting only
Latin American countries. When we region. So, religion and culture play my visit is mostly to make an assess- Sao Paulo in Brazil and not going to
had the last World Parliamentarians an important role here but less so in ment of the situation here and to see Brasilia which is the political capital.
Convention in Washington, DC last political area because of the many if there will be space here – political Our office is located here since 2016.
June, there was quite a good repre- countries’ relationship with the Chi- space – for Tibet other than in the We also have to evaluate our future
sentation from Latin America. One nese government. So, this time we spheres of culture and religion. This course of action in the region. There
of our jobs is to reach out to interna- decided to visit to see if there is any is our main objective this time. are very few Tibetans in Buddhist
tional community but Latin America possibility or future of our advocacy There are various Tibet support centers here. Mostly it is the locals
is one area where we have not been in the region. We always have very groups in many countries here. Are you who are in the board and who run
able to reach out too much because limited resources – both human and going to meet such groups and what

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