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BRICS Summit: Tibetans in-exile urge Beijing to engage in peaceful dialogue to address Tibet concerns
Spokesperson for the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA), Tenzin Lekshay, urged the Chinese leadership to use the BRICS platform to promote cooperation rather than confrontation
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Ahead of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to India for the 18th BRICS Summit, Tibetan representatives have urged Beijing to engage in peaceful dialogue with Tibetan representatives even as the Tibetan Youth Congress (TYC) has strongly condemned Jinping’s participation.
Spokesperson for the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA), Tenzin Lekshay, urged the Chinese leadership to use the BRICS platform to promote cooperation rather than confrontation. He said Beijing should address the aspirations of Tibetans and other communities before seeking to build wider international cooperation.
Seeking peaceful dialogue with the Chinese government, vice president of the Tibetan Women’s Association, Kelsang Dolma, hopes the BRICS Summit will provide an opportunity to highlight the Tibet issue.
“Our main demand is that we need a peaceful dialogue with the Tibetan delegation as well as with the CTA. So we are hoping for the best from the BRICS Summit,” Dolma said.
“Recently, the Chinese government has implemented the ethnic unity and progress law and we are totally against that law and we reject the unity law,” she said.
Dolma said the Tibet issue should be discussed during the upcoming BRICS meeting adding, “I think that during the upcoming big meeting, the Tibet cause and Tibet issue should be raised and discussed in the BRICS Summit.”
TYC condemned China’s participation
The TYC has condemned Chinese President Xi Jinping’s participation in the BRICS Summit 2026 hosted by India.
In a statement, the TYC opposed Xi’s participation, alleging that Chinese policies had systematically eroded Tibetan culture, language, religion and identity over the past seven decades.
The organisation urged India and other BRICS member states to raise the issue of Tibet with the Chinese leadership during the summit, saying international cooperation could not ignore human rights concerns.
The TYC also criticised China’s recently introduced “Ethnic Unity and Progress Law”. The organisation accused Beijing of interfering in Tibetan Buddhism and said the recognition of the 15th Dalai Lama should remain a religious matter, free from political interference. It said the Gaden Phodrang Trust has the authority to oversee the recognition of the Dalai Lama’s reincarnation and alleged that China has no legitimate religious authority to intervene in the process.
The TYC also demanded the immediate and unconditional release of Tibetan political prisoners, human rights defenders, environmental activists and religious figures, specifically 11th Panchen Lama Gedhun Choekyi Nyima.
Linking the Tibet issue with India-China relations, the organisation raised concerns over environmental degradation on the Tibetan Plateau. It alleged that large-scale mining, dam construction, river diversion and infrastructure projects were damaging the region’s fragile ecosystem.
