Having skipped classes in elementary school to prepare for a trip to Taiwan before he even knew where Taiwan was, Tibetan representative to Taiwan Tsegyam said it was destiny that eventually brought him here.
"I was only 12 or 13 years old at the time; I had no idea where Taiwan was, but I'd heard that Taiwan was a good place," Tsegyam said, recounting his first Taiwan experience in an interview with the Taipei Times.
"So one day, two classmates and I just decided to go to Taiwan, and we began to plan the trip right away," he said.
PHOTO: LOA IOK-SIN, TAIPEI TIMES
At the time, Tsegyam was a third grade student in his native village in China's Sichuan Province.
Although the village administratively belongs to Sichuan Province, Tibetans are the majority as the area was part of Tibet before China's invasion and occupation in 1949.
Soon, the three children assigned themselves tasks -- one was to prepare money for the trip, while Tsegyam and another friend prepared food.
They skipped classes for three days to prepare for the trip, but their plan came to nought after it was uncovered by adults.
After that, Tsegyam said he didn't think about Taiwan again for 30 years.
He grew up to become a history teacher in a Tibetan community in Sichuan.
He later became a political prisoner because of his role in the Tibetan independence movement.
Tsegyam began by teaching his students "real Tibetan history" he learned from Tibetan books published in India, instead of the Chinese Communist Party's (CCP) version.
"I knew [the CCP] was keeping an eye on me, but they didn't take action until some students and I began to post `free Tibet' flyers around town," he said.
He was jailed for more than a year for that. When released, he found himself out of a job and blacklisted by the government.
"I was nearly 30 at the time and knew I had no future in China, so I crossed the Himalayas to join the Tibetans in exile in India," he said.
After spending seven years in India, Tsegyam was appointed representative to Taiwan.
"I was surprised nine years ago when I learned that I was to be assigned to Taiwan. It was like a dream come true," Tsegyam said with a smile on his face. "Destiny eventually brought me here."
Taiwan doesn't recognize the Tibetan government in exile because Taiwan's "Constitution of the Republic of China (ROC)" says that Tibet is part of the ROC.
The Tibetan representative office is formally called the "Tibet Religious Foundation of His Holiness the Dalai Lama," with Tsegyam as its chairman.
"But the entire staff is directly associated with the Tibetan government's Ministry of Foreign Affairs," Tsegyam said, adding that the situation is similar in the other 11 Tibetan representative offices around the world.
The "foundation" was established in 1998 after a historic visit by the Dalai Lama to Taiwan in 1997. Tsegyam arrived as the assistant representative in 1999 and took over as the representative, or chairman, in 2003.
Over the past nine years, he has seen ties between Taiwan and Tibet grow closer.
"The Dalai Lama's visit was actually the beginning of high level government-to-government exchanges between Taiwan and Tibet," Tsegyam said.
"Although the Chinese Nationalist Party [KMT] was in power at the time [the office opened], former President Lee Teng-hui [
After the DPP came to power, "a lot of administrative issues concerning Tibetans that used to be handled by the Mongolian and Tibetan Affairs Commission were handled through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs," Tsegyam said, adding that while in the past, Tibetans in exile were regarded as "mainland residents," they are now considered "stateless."
Other than improvements in Taiwan-Tibetan relationships on the government level, Tsegyam has observed closer ties between the Taiwanese and Tibetan people.
"A lot of non-governmental organizations from Taiwan are helping Tibetans in exile -- that's become more obvious during the past five to six years," he said. "Besides, I've also observed that more Taiwanese are now interested in the Tibetan culture and Tibetan Buddhism."
"I can't predict how the relationship between the Taiwanese and the Tibetan governments will develop in the future, because it will depend on [the presidential] election result," Tsegyam said. "But I'm sure the good relationship between the two peoples will continue for a long time."
When asked about the Tibetan government's reaction to calls to boycott the Beijing Olympics, Tsegyam said the Tibetan government neither objects, nor encourages such calls.
"We know that a lot of Tibetan groups are calling for a boycott, and as a democratic government, we respect their opinions, and would not object to the calls," he said. "We only ask them not to take violent measures."
"The Dalai Lama believes that, through the Olympics, China can be more accepted by the international community, and will be more open," he said.
Tsegyam said the Tibetan government is fully aware that "China hasn't made any improvements in human rights in Tibet, and that there's no religious freedom in China-controlled Tibet. The Olympics is an opportunity for the world to pay closer attention to China and, hopefully, they will discover more about current conditions in Tibet too."
The same idea is behind the Dalai Lama's support for full autonomy in Tibet, rather than for independence.
"The Dalai Lama never said that he would give up independence [for Tibet]," he said. "In fact, [independence] would be most Tibetans' choice if there was one."
However, the Dalai Lama realizes that independence is impossible at the moment and has compromised for the time being, Tsegyam said.
"Tibetan culture, religion and civilization are now at a critical point. They may soon become extinct if we don't take measures to protect them. Hence, as independence can't be reached for now, Tibetan culture may well be dead before Tibet gains independence," he said.
Next month, Tsegyam will leave Taiwan to take the position of secretary-general of the Dalai Lama's office in Dharamshala, India.
"I've lived in India for seven years, and Taiwan for nine years -- so Taiwan is really my second home," he said. "I've really enjoyed living here -- there are friendly people, a relaxed dining culture, and a truly free and democratic society -- I will certainly miss it here."
A group of Taiwanese-American and Tibetan-American students at Harvard University on Saturday disrupted Chinese Ambassador to the US Xie Feng’s (謝鋒) speech at the school, accusing him of being responsible for numerous human rights violations. Four students — two Taiwanese Americans and two from Tibet — held up banners inside a conference hall where Xie was delivering a speech at the opening ceremony of the Harvard Kennedy School China Conference 2024. In a video clip provided by the Coalition of Students Resisting the CCP (Chinese Communist Party), Taiwanese-American Cosette Wu (吳亭樺) and Tibetan-American Tsering Yangchen are seen holding banners that together read:
UNAWARE: Many people sit for long hours every day and eat unhealthy foods, putting them at greater risk of developing one of the ‘three highs,’ an expert said More than 30 percent of adults aged 40 or older who underwent a government-funded health exam were unaware they had at least one of the “three highs” — high blood pressure, high blood lipids or high blood sugar, the Health Promotion Administration (HPA) said yesterday. Among adults aged 40 or older who said they did not have any of the “three highs” before taking the health exam, more than 30 percent were found to have at least one of them, Adult Preventive Health Examination Service data from 2022 showed. People with long-term medical conditions such as hypertension or diabetes usually do not
POLICE INVESTIGATING: A man said he quit his job as a nurse at Taipei Tzu Chi Hospital as he had been ‘disgusted’ by the behavior of his colleagues A man yesterday morning wrote online that he had witnessed nurses taking photographs and touching anesthetized patients inappropriately in Taipei Tzu Chi Hospital’s operating theaters. The man surnamed Huang (黃) wrote on the Professional Technology Temple bulletin board that during his six-month stint as a nurse at the hospital, he had seen nurses taking pictures of patients, including of their private parts, after they were anesthetized. Some nurses had also touched patients inappropriately and children were among those photographed, he said. Huang said this “disgusted” him “so much” that “he felt the need to reveal these unethical acts in the operating theater
Heat advisories were in effect for nine administrative regions yesterday afternoon as warm southwesterly winds pushed temperatures above 38°C in parts of southern Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 3:30pm yesterday, Tainan’s Yujing District (玉井) had recorded the day’s highest temperature of 39.7°C, though the measurement will not be included in Taiwan’s official heat records since Yujing is an automatic rather than manually operated weather station, the CWA said. Highs recorded in other areas were 38.7°C in Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門), 38.2°C in Chiayi City and 38.1°C in Pingtung’s Sandimen Township (三地門), CWA data showed. The spell of scorching