(TibetanReview.net, Mar31’26) – That last biannual session of the 17th Tibetan Parliament in Exile (TPiE) concluded on Mar 30 with the adoption of an over Indian Rs. 3.4 billion budget for the financial year Apr 2026-Mar 2027, and new Rules and Regulations for the Use of the Tibetan National Flag, Emblem, and Anthem, and other measures. During the session, which began on Mar 16, the TPiE earlier condemned China’s ethnic unity and progress law adopted during the month’s annual session of its parliament, the National People’s Congress. And it failed to adopt a procedural legislation for the impeachment of top leaders of the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA).
The parliament – which had a difficult start at the beginning of its term in 2021 due to a stubborn initial refusal by a quorum-busting section of the elected candidates to take their oath under the Charter of Tibetans in Exile – concluded on a relatively satisfying note as the election for the 45-member, 18th TPiE takes place on Apr 26.
While signing the new legislation this morning, Sikyong Penpa Tsering of the CTA has said the standardisation of the usage of the Tibetan National Flag, Emblem, and Anthem is pivotal in emphasising Tibet’s historical status as an independent nation prior to its forceful annexation by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army. The new rules will come into force on May 25, 2026.
“The Central Tibetan Administration’s standardisation of Tibetan national symbols, aimed at underscoring Tibet’s historical independence status, also forms part of its broader policy strategy. This includes leveraging the objectives of the Middle Way Policy to call upon the People’s Republic of China to return to the negotiation table without preconditions, while also strengthening international support for the Tibetan cause,” said the CTA on its Tibet.net website Mar 31.
The rules comprehensively detail prohibitions of any commercial exploitation, improper display, or any form of desecration of the Tibetan national flag. They lay down protocols to be followed in any official hoisting of the flag or during official mourning ceremonial events and so forth.
The national flag must not be used in any manner inconsistent with its prescribed colours, design, or form.
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The Charter of Tibetans in Exile empowers the TPiE to impeach and remove from office the top executive and judicial heads of the CTA by a two-thirds majority vote. However, without having a procedure for doing so in place, the previous TPiE, the 16th, summarily removed from office the entirety of the justice commissioners of the Tibetan Supreme Justice Commission (TSJC), including the Chief Justice Commissioner, in a single, short-shrift sitting.
The move was seen as a reprisal against the TSJC for having imposed a token penalty on the TPiE’s standing committee members for having failed to summon a regular meeting of the TPiE in breach of the Charter.
But the 16th TPiE obviously did not foresee that its action to summarily sack the entirety of the TSJC would leave the CTA without any person to administer oath to the candidates elected to the 17th TPiE and the Sikyong, following the elections in 2021.
At the just concluded session, a move to amend the TPiE Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business to lay down a procedure for the removal of the top executive and judicial heads of the CTA failed to pass, with some arguing that that there was no immediate need for it and others finding fault with the draft proposal, even though the proposal was stated to be in line with the practices in other major democratic countries.
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During its session, the 17th TPiE also passed a seven-point resolution that strongly condemned China’s “Law on Promoting Ethnic Unity and Progress,” adopted on Mar 12, calling it a coercive legal instrument aimed at destroying Tibetan identity, culture, and language.
Sikyong Penpa Tsering, who introduced the draft resolution, called the law, which will come into force on Jul 1, 2026, a “legal blueprint for ethnic genocide” and a systematic effort to force the total Sinicization of the Tibetan people.
The resolution called on China to repeal the law at once and for international action to pressure Beijing to do so.
It called on Tibetans in and outside their homeland to resist China’s assimilation move by preserving their language and identity, and announced that the fourth week of every September would be observed to underline this campaign.