(TibetanReview.net, Aug06’26) – A high profile international seminar on Tibetan studies that was four years in the making has been cancelled at the last moment, ordered by Nepal’s top bureaucrat at the behest of China. Seminars like this directly contradict the Communist Party of China-state’s ideological mandate that any discussion of anything Tibetan must be based on the presupposition – no matter how glaringly ridiculous – that the Tibetan civilization is just an offshoot of Chinese civilization.
It was earlier reported that China had only expressed concern about being criticized by a section of participants in the 17th International Association for Tibetan Studies (IATS) seminar scheduled to take place in Kathmandu over Aug 23-29 but that it did not demand the event’s cancellation. But now that appears to have been a gross understatement as despite the removal of that section of speakers, Nepal has ordered the cancellation of the event.
What was undoubtedly an honour for Nepal in being chosen to host such a prestigious, high-profile international event has now turned into something of a cause for embarrassment, if not downright disgrace, all for the sake of placating China.
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Nepal’s Chief Secretary Govinda Bahadur Karkee, after consultations with Foreign Secretary Amrit Bahadur Rai, personally called senior Kathmandu University officials and instructed them to stop the event, reported the kathmandupost.com Aug 5, citing multiple government officials.
The decision was never brought before Cabinet, despite what one minister described seeing it as having significant foreign policy implications, officials who spoke to the Post have said, asking to speak on condition of anonymity so they could discuss sensitive decisions without fear of retribution.
“We advised the organisers that it would be better not to hold the event. It could be sensitive, several concerns might arise, and it could pose security risks. So we advised the organisers, in good faith, to cancel the event,” the report quoted Karkee as saying.
This was despite the fact that the head of one security agency told the Post that officials had examined the event “from various angles” and, even with “around 18 or 19 days remaining,” had explicitly stopped short of recommending cancellation — choosing instead to continue monitoring, the report said.
Besides, Just days before Karkee’s order, Home Minister Gurung had told journalists from Kantipur that the seminar would not be cancelled, only that participants would face security vetting.
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The latest development began with the arrival in Kathmandu on Jul 29 of China’s top Buddhist monk Venerable Master Yin Shun, a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), former vice president of the Buddhist Association of China, and abbot of the Zhong Hua Chinese Buddhist Monastery, located in Lumbini. The kathmandupost.com Jul 28 cited a Nepali government official as saying at the time that his arrival the next day may be in connection with the upcoming international seminar on Tibetan studies, but not as a participant.
The report said Karkee’s order followed a sustained pressure campaign by Chinese diplomats that intensified once registration closed in June.
Following Ambassador Zhang Maoming’s meeting with Foreign Secretary Rai on Jul 21, Master Yin also discussed the seminar during his visit, the report cited a senior security official as saying.
Ultimately, the decision to order the cancellation of the seminar was stated to have been taken to reassure China that Nepal’s new government is not pro-West.
“Beijing has already become suspicious that the present government is tilted toward the West. The seminar became a test of the government’s neutrality. To assuage China’s concerns, the decision was taken to cancel the event,” the report quoted another senior government official as saying.
The event was cancelled despite the fact that around 100 Chinese scholars and experts — including from the China Tibetology Research Centre — had registered to attend the seminar, which was to bring together over 720 scholars of Tibetan history, language, culture, art, philosophy and religion from 39 countries. The report cited the organisers as saying they had already agreed to Beijing’s core conditions.
This was the first time the flagship IATS Conference was to be held in Nepal, with its previous Asian venues being Japan (1989) and Mongolia (2013). The local co-organisers were to be Kathmandu University’s Himalayan Centre for Asian Studies and the Centre for Buddhist Studies of the Rangjung Yeshe Institute.
The conference was to be coordinated by Dr Sagar Sharma, Director, Himalayan Centre for Asian Studies, Kathmandu University, and Thomas Doctor from the Rangjung Yeshe Institute.