Tibetan group asks Trump to seek release of Panchen Lama during talks with Xi

Ahead of Chinese President Xi Jinping's upcoming visit to the United States, a Tibetan advocacy group called the International Campaign for Tibet (ICT) has urged US President Donald Trump to use his meeting with Xi to seek the release of the 11th Panchen Lama and to push for increased dialogue between China and the Dalai Lama or his representatives.

The ICT's President Tencho Gyatso stated that the US policy is guided by the Tibetan Policy Act of 2002 and the Resolve Tibet Act of 2024, which both emphasize peaceful resolution of the Tibet-China dispute through substantive dialogue without preconditions.

The ICT has also called on President Trump to support the resumption of Sino-Tibetan dialogue at this critical time, as China's new "Ethnic Unity and Progress Law" poses a significant threat to Tibetan identity. Additionally, the ICT joined numerous other human rights organizations in their demands to the Chinese government to take immediate, verifiable steps to address human rights abuses against Tibetans, Uyghurs, and other affected communities.

These abuses include atrocity crimes intended to eradicate cultural, identity, and language rights, and to deny individuals their freedoms of speech and fair trials.

The ICT's list of demands to President Xi includes the release of the 11th Panchen Lama, Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, who was recognized by the Dalai Lama in 1995 and went missing three days later, as well as other political prisoners. If the Panchen Lama remains in captivity, the ICT requests permission for US government officials to meet him independently.

Lastly, the ICT asks China to repeal the Ethnic Unity and Progress Law and to halt other policies aimed at forcibly assimilating the Tibetan population, which jeopardizes the preservation of Tibet's religious, linguistic, and cultural identity.