(TibetanReview.net, Sep02’26) – Wang Dan, a prominent Chinese political activist, history scholar, and one of the primary student leaders of the 1989 Tiananmen Square pro-democracy movement, visited Dharamshala as distinguished guest at the 66th Tibetan democracy day which was commemorated by the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA) on the Thekchen Choeling Tsuglakhang courtyard on Sep 2 morning.
Wang has accused the Communist Party of China of using violence and lies as means to control the country’s population whereas the Dalai Lama had employed democracy to unite the Tibetan people.
“The Chinese Communist Party relies on violence, lies, and control. The Tibetan community in exile, in contrast, relies on the recognition of its people, democratic legitimacy, and a coalition of its institutions. It is obvious that this democratic system has brought together the Tibetan people across the world,” he has said.
Wang, 57, and the founder of Dialogue China, has said Chinese democracy activists in exile were currently preparing to establish a China Congress, with more than a thousand founding electors already participating in the move.
“We hope to bring democratic practices belonging to the Chinese people, accumulate experience for China’s future democratic transition, and contribute to constitutional development,” he has said.
He felt that the Tibetan Parliament in Exile could serve as a valuable model for this endeavour.
Wang has commended the CTA’s Middle Way Policy of seeking autonomy for Tibet under Chinese sovereignty while emphasising that a future democratic China should never repeat the repressive and assimilative policies of the Communist Chinese government.
Wang was placed on a list of the 21 most wanted student leaders of the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and jailed twice for his role in it, accused of spreading counterrevolutionary propaganda and incitement. He later went into exile in the United States in 1998 and, after earning a PhD from Harvard University, divided his time between Taiwan, where he taught at several universities, and the United States.
Before Wang, Sikyong Penpa Tsering of the CTA and Speaker Dolma Tsering Teykhang of the Tibetan Parliament-in-Exile have delivered their customary addresses to the gathering of CTA leaders and officials as well as the Tibetan public.
The English translation of A Chronicle of Tibet’s Foreign Relations and Policy (7th–21st Century), written by former TPiE member and CTA’s former New Delhi Representative Mr Lobsang Shastri was released, as also a publication by the Tibet Policy Institute documenting the history of relations between Tibet and its neighbouring nations.
Also released was a publication refuting any role for the Chinese government in any matter concerned with the recognition of the reincarnation of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, and the third volume of The Evolution of Tibetan Democracy in Exile, which is a compilation of His Holiness’s speeches delivered to the TPiE over the decades.
Awards were also presented to seven Tibetans who had completed their PhD degrees and others for outstanding performances during the recent high school board exams in India.
(Based on tibet.net report Sep 2, 2026 and other sources)