The Dalai Lama saying that neither Beijing nor any other outsider has the authority to identify his successor was a powerful statement against Chinese Communist Party (CCP) hostilities and baseless claims, Human Rights Network for Tibet and Taiwan (HRNTT) secretary-general Tashi Tsering said yesterday.
The Dalai Lama marked his 90th birthday on Sunday.
He said last week that the institution of the Dalai Lama would continue and that his successor, the 15th Dalai Lama, would be born outside China.
Photo: I-Hwa Cheng, AFP
“In accordance with past tradition, the search for my reincarnation and the naming of a 15th Dalai Lama will be carried out,” he said, adding that his office has the sole authority to identify his reincarnation.
The HRNTT — a coalition of Taiwan-based non-governmental organizations — yesterday expressed support for the spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhists’ “firm and clear” message.
Tashi Tsering denounced the CCP’s hostile remarks about the Dalai Lama’s incarnation and the world’s support for Tibet, as well as its claim that it has the authority to name the next Dalai Lama.
The Dalai Lama’s speech was a powerful statement striking back at the CCP, he said, adding that only the Dalai Lama and the personal office of His Holiness have the authority to decide the future of the institution.
Tashi Tsering also called on Tibetans of all generations in Tibet or in exile to stand together.
“We should share the responsibility shouldered by His Holiness,” he said.
The coalition, the Hong Kong Outlanders (HKO) and the Students for a Free Tibet’s Taiwan chapter attended the celebration in Dharamsala to celebrate the Dalai Lama’s birthday. They also visited the local community of Tibetans in exile to deepen the bond between Tibet and Taiwan.
Non-governmental representatives from Taiwan also attended the Dalai Lama’s birthday celebration to convey their congratulations alongside Tibet’s supporters from around the world.
Hollywood actor Richard Gere, who has long supported Tibet, said in his address that the Dalai Lama belongs not only to Tibet, but also to the whole world.
The Year of Compassion would run from the Dalai Lama’s birthday through July 5 next year.
During the period, the HRNTT and civic groups in Taiwan would take an exhibition on Tibetan history and the Dalai Lama’s advocacy, titled “From the Snowy Ridges to the Ocean of Wisdom,” on tour in more cities.
They would also work with the Taiwan Parliament Group for Tibet to facilitate the establishment of the Taiwan city council group for Tibet, with the goal of bringing initiatives about Tibetan issues closer to the public.
Representatives visiting Dha-ramsala this year included Tashi Tsering, HRNTT board member Lin Hsin-yi (林欣怡), Human Rights Conventions and Covenants Watch CEO Huang Yi-bee (黃怡碧), HKO secretary-general Sky Fung (馮紹天) and HKO president Lee Peng-hsuan.
A small number of Taiwanese this year lost their citizenship rights after traveling in China and obtaining a one-time Chinese passport to cross the border into Russia, a source said today. The people signed up through Chinese travel agencies for tours of neighboring Russia with companies claiming they could obtain Russian visas and fast-track border clearance, the source said on condition of anonymity. The travelers were actually issued one-time-use Chinese passports, they said. Taiwanese are prohibited from holding a Chinese passport or household registration. If found to have a Chinese ID, they may lose their resident status under Article 9-1
Taiwanese were praised for their composure after a video filmed by Taiwanese tourists capturing the moment a magnitude 7.5 earthquake struck Japan’s Aomori Prefecture went viral on social media. The video shows a hotel room shaking violently amid Monday’s quake, with objects falling to the ground. Two Taiwanese began filming with their mobile phones, while two others held the sides of a TV to prevent it from falling. When the shaking stopped, the pair calmly took down the TV and laid it flat on a tatami mat, the video shows. The video also captured the group talking about the safety of their companions bathing
PROBLEMATIC APP: Citing more than 1,000 fraud cases, the government is taking the app down for a year, but opposition voices are calling it censorship Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) yesterday decried a government plan to suspend access to Chinese social media platform Xiaohongshu (小紅書) for one year as censorship, while the Presidential Office backed the plan. The Ministry of the Interior on Thursday cited security risks and accusations that the Instagram-like app, known as Rednote in English, had figured in more than 1,700 fraud cases since last year. The company, which has about 3 million users in Taiwan, has not yet responded to requests for comment. “Many people online are already asking ‘How to climb over the firewall to access Xiaohongshu,’” Cheng posted on
A classified Pentagon-produced, multiyear assessment — the Overmatch brief — highlighted unreported Chinese capabilities to destroy US military assets and identified US supply chain choke points, painting a disturbing picture of waning US military might, a New York Times editorial published on Monday said. US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s comments in November last year that “we lose every time” in Pentagon-conducted war games pitting the US against China further highlighted the uncertainty about the US’ capability to intervene in the event of a Chinese invasion of Taiwan. “It shows the Pentagon’s overreliance on expensive, vulnerable weapons as adversaries field cheap, technologically
RSS