Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavský met with Norzin Dolma, Minister of Information and International Relations at the Central Tibetan Administration this week in the Indian capital New Delhi.
Lipavský is the first minister of a European nation to openly meet with the CTA’s foreign ministry officials. The meeting took place on the sidelines of the ongoing G20 foreign minister gathering in India.
The Central Tibetan Administration is considered by most Tibetans in exile as the official representative of the Tibetan people, while China claims full sovereignty over Tibet.
The Czech Republic also held the Presidency of the European Council until December 2022, until that role rotated over to Sweden. Czech government officials also recently met with their Taiwanese counterparts, drawing ire from Chinese authorities.
Following the meeting with the Tibetan delegates, the Czech Foreign Minister tweeted;
“It was a pleasure to meet again with representatives of Tibetans in exile during my visit to India. The friendship between Václav Havel and His Holiness the Dalai Lama lives on”.
Lobsang Shastri, a representative of the Dalai Lama, the Tibetan spiritual leader in exile in northern India, also attended the meeting. “It was a productive exchange of views on mutual priorities and we are deeply encouraged by the continued support of the Czech Republic for Tibet and the Tibetan people,” Shastri told RFA.
“The meeting also echoed the lifelong friendship of His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Former President Vaclav Havel.”
Havel was a renowned dissident when Czechoslovakia was under Communist rule, and he served as the country’s President from 1989 until, and then as President of the newly-independent Czech Republic until 2003.
Translated by Tenzin Dickyi. Edited by Nawar Nemeh and Malcolm Foster.