Tibetans may have lost their country but we will regain our freedom one day: CTA President in Norway/ENF

2017. november 13./CTA/TibetPress

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Oslo, Norway: The President of Central Tibetan Administration Dr Lobsang Sangay arrived in Oslo, Norway for second leg of his Scandinavia visit.

Speaking to an audience of Tibetans and Norwegian supporters on a wide range of topics related to the Tibetan cause, President Dr Sangay informed his audience of the importance of having continued activities in Norway for the Tibetan cause and that Tibetans and supporters engaged in the Tibetan struggle and said that they should consider themselves as ‘connectors.’

“Tibetans may have lost their country but we will regain our freedom one day. This may take time but as long as we connect from the beginning to the end, you reach the end where you we succeed. However, if there is no ‘connector’ the bridge collapses in the middle and you don’t reach the end,” said Dr Sangay.

He also mentioned that with the help of nearly 30,000 monks and nuns educated in India who sneaked back to Tibet to revive their religion and culture, Tibetans have foiled China’s attempts to “destroy” Buddhism in Tibet and across the remote Himalayan region.

President Dr Sangay further elucidated on the case and said that the very objective of the invasion, occupation of Tibet in some ways has been diluted because (the Chinese) thought that they would destroy the Tibetan Buddhist civilization and thereby assimilate Tibet into China and Tibetans into Chinese, but it did not work.

“Since 1980s, we have rebuilt the monasteries destroyed during the Cultural Revolution and revived Buddhism. Our sense of culture, civilisation and identity has also been revived in Tibet. Buddhism has revived. Tibetans in Tibet are not just embracing Buddhism but even the second and third generation of Tibetans are very much conscious of their identity,” he said.

Referring to the ongoing demolition of the Larung Gar monastery – the largest Buddhist institute in Tibet, which has over 10,000 monks and nuns, President Dr Sangay said “unfortunately what is happening is that the Chines government is reviving something akin to cultural revolution in Tibet.”

Dr Sangay condemned China’s policies: mass migration of the Chinese to the Tibetan plateau, rapid urbanization and industrialization in Tibet that has led to an environmental crisis in Tibet thus exacerbating the rapid melting of glaciers in Tibet. This he said adversely impacted the lives of over 1.4 billion people in Asia that depend on Tibet’s water resources.

President Dr Sangay thanked the board members of the Norwegian Tibet support group for their efforts and dedication in keeping the flame of the Tibetan cause alive in Norway.

On the final day of his Copenhagen visit, Dr Sangay gave an interview to ‘Orientering’, an in-depth and analytical foreign affairs programme on the Danish national public service radio station DR. The interview was conducted by Mette Holm, a well-respected senior freelance journalist who witnessed the Tiananmen demonstrations and has covered China and Tibet ever since.

President Dr Sangay has a number of engagements in Oslo on Monday 13 November before heading to Stockholm, Sweden for the final leg of the Scandanavia visit.