Tenzin Nyidon
DHARAMSHALA, April 10: The 16th Cabinet of the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA), also known as the exile Tibetan government convened its 7th Permanent Strategy Committee meeting on Wednesday at the Administrative Training Centre in Dharamshala. This three-day bi-annual meeting, scheduled from April 9 to 11, is set to evaluate the implementation of resolutions from the past six meetings while deliberating on the advancement of key strategic initiatives and outlining future advocacy roadmaps with the committee’s mandate.
The meeting was presided over by CTA President Penpa Tsering and was attended by all designated members of the committee. These included Minister Dolma Gyari of the Department of Security, Minister Norzin Dolma of the Department of Information and International Relations (DIIR), former Minister Tempa Tsering, former special envoy of His Holiness the Dalai Lama Kelsang Gyaltsen, and Ngaba Tsegyam, Secretary of the Gaden Phodrang Office. Also in attendance were key secretaries: Political Secretary Tashi Gyatso of the Cabinet Secretariat, Secretary Karma Rinchen of the Department of Security, Secretary Karma Choeying of the DIIR, and Secretary Dawa Tsering of the Tibet Policy Institute (TPI).
Speaking to the media, DIIR Secretary Karma Choeying noted that while the committee customarily meets twice a year, only one session was held last year due to scheduling constraints. He emphasized that this session will, as in the past, focus on crafting responses to the evolving political climate in Tibet and China, and assess the broader international landscape with a view to enhancing strategic policy direction.
The Permanent Strategy Committee was established in August 2021 following the dissolution of the Task Force on Sino-Tibetan Negotiations. Since its inception, the committee has convened six times — the inaugural meeting in November 2021, followed by meetings in July and November 2022, April and November 2023, and most recently in May 2024.
The now-defunct Task Force, established in 1999, served as the principal mechanism for formulating negotiation strategies aimed at engaging Beijing in meaningful dialogue to resolve the Tibetan issue. Over its two-decade existence, it convened 32 meetings, the final one occurring in December 2019 during the administration of then-President Dr. Lobsang Sangay.
Despite nine rounds of dialogue held between Tibetan envoys and Chinese representatives from 2002 to 2010, Beijing has consistently dismissed the CTA’s official policy — the Middle Way Approach — which advocates for genuine autonomy within the framework of the Chinese constitution.
In an interview with BBC Hardtalk aired on May 5, 2023, President Penpa Tsering disclosed for the first time the existence of a backchannel communication between the Tibetan and Chinese sides. However, in a subsequent interaction with a delegation of Indian journalists from New Delhi, he tempered expectations, stating that hopes for tangible outcomes remain subdued under the current political climate. He acknowledged that anticipating significant progress would be unrealistic given Chinese President Xi Jinping’s increasingly hard-line stance on Tibet.
