Lhadon Tethong Interviewed on BBC World Service’s Newshour
Tibet Action’s Institute Director Lhadon Tethong was interviewed on the BBC World Service’s programme Newshour on September 1, 2025 about the 60th Anniversary of the founding of the “Tibet Autonomous Region” and Xi Jinping’s recent visit to Lhasa.
Listen to the show on the BBC website here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/w172zss7tbck5cv (Starting at minute 40:28 in the US/Canada and at minute 45 in the UK)
Transcript of the interview below:
BBC: You’re listening to NewsHour with me, Gary O’ Donoghue. Now, it’s 60 years since China made Tibet an autonomous region after annexing the territory in the early 1950s. However, indigenous Tibetans say China is trying to, undermine their rights and specifically their Buddhist faith, which is a central part of their identity. In a rare recent visit, China’s President Xi Jinping said Beijing’s aim was to govern, stabilize and develop Tibet, adding that the first thing was to maintain political stability, social stability, and ethnic unity. But tensions have risen since the Dalai Lama, Tibet’s spiritual leader, announced and declared, two months ago that his office, not China, would choose his successor. Chinese leaders, however, claim that they can only do that.
We’re joined now by Lhadon Tethong, who is Director of Tibet Action Institute, which is campaigning for Tibetan independence. Lhadon, Tethong, what do you make of this anniversary?
Lhadon Tethong: For Tibetans, this is just a painful moment, marking 60 years of Chinese occupation. And that comes with repression, brutal, violent repression, and the, destruction of our ancient Buddhist culture, our language. But Tibetans are still fighting, and I think that’s why Xi Jinping was there, because Tibetan resistance has remained strong even after all the Chinese government has thrown at Tibetans in order to crush the resistance and essentially eliminate all support for the Dalai Lama.
BBC: The Chinese, of course, say that they have, developed, healthcare systems, education systems, modernized. What do you make of those claims?
Lhadon Tethong: So, fundamentally, I think it’s important to remember, even if they had done all those things, which they haven’t, it’s the Tibetan people’s land and nation that, you know, just an invasion and occupation and doing those things, even if they had, wouldn’t justify taking away people’s freedom, and we know that. But they also haven’t done that in any meaningful way. For the majority of Tibetans, who still actually live in quite extreme poverty after all this time. And, you know, the Tibetans who have in any way prospered, it’s sort of been in spite of China’s occupation. Mostly the development of Tibet has been infrastructural, it’s been about taking out Tibet’s resources, like any colonial relationship. And it really has been to benefit the Chinese state or Chinese settlers, not Tibetans themselves.
BBC: And people, I think, will wonder why perhaps there hasn’t been more resistance locally over the past 60 years. Explain. Explain why, people have put up with it.
Lhadon Tethong: Actually, there has been quite incredible resistance, and it sort of. There has been every, say, 10 years or so, a major show of resistance from Tibetans. The difficulty, of course, is how isolated Tibet is. And now China has Tibet on complete lockdown, and so no foreigners allowed in, no media, no international media presence in Tibet, no international NGO or independent observers. And so we don’t hear about and see the resistance that’s taking place every day. But in moments like the lead up to the Olympic Games In Beijing in 2008, we saw a massive, uprising across the entire Tibetan plateau, far outside what China calls just Tibet, which is only western and central Tibet, the Tibet Autonomous Region, even into historical Tibet, which is, you know, already absorbed into Chinese provinces there. And it’s just the difficulty in getting information out. But the resistance is there. Tibetan loyalty to the Tibetan government in exile, to His Holiness the Dalai Lama, is still strong, and that’s exactly why Xi Jinping was there.
BBC: Lhadon Tethong, thank you very much.