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Lobsang Sangay (Photo courtesy: Harvard Law School)

Tibet announced its new prime minister today. He is Lobsang Sangay. He speaks with anchor Marco Werman about the difficulties of representing a country that is not recognized by any other nation in the world. Download MP3

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Marco Werman: That new Prime  Minister was announced today.  He’s a senior fellow at Harvard Law School.  His name is Lobsang Sangay.  Sangay will be the political leader of the Tibetan community, as Tibet’s spiritual leader, the Dalai Llama, retires from active politics.  We’ve reached Professor Sangay in Washington.  As we just heard in that peace by our correspondent, Mary Kay Magistad, life is not getting easier for Tibetans.  China’s continuing to crack down on its opponents, and the crackdown has even spilled across the border into Nepal.  What can you, as an exiled Prime Minister, do to ease these tensions and help Tibetans gain genuine autonomy?

Prime Minister Lobsang Sangay: It’s unfortunate, you know.  Tibet is under occupation; there is political oppression, cultural assimilation, economic marginalization, environmental destruction.  It’s really tragic.  If China wants to be a great power, they have to earn respect.  They cannot buy, or they cannot force, respect.  They have to earn it.  Their treatment to Tibetan people will determine their image around the world.

Werman:  You know, you are the Prime Minister of a country that no one recognizes, that in effect, doesn’t even exist.  How does that affect your position on the world stage?

Sangay:  Well, even though Tibetan government in exile doesn’t have its territory, we have had a very democratic election, through which people have voted for me overwhelmingly, so I do have democratic mandate.  And most importantly, with His Holiness’s magnanimous announcement of devolving his political power to elected leaders, I will be enjoying his traditional credibility and legitimacy as well.

Werman:  You know, to a certain extent, the Dalai Llama has found himself caught between younger Tibetans, who want a more assertive, even a confrontational approach to Beijing, and older Tibetans who have, at least to some extent, compromised with the Chinese government.  Where do you stand on that spectrum, Mr. Prime Minister?

Sangay:  Well, I can understand there is an element within the Tibetan society who are loud about, you know, their frustration with the lack of progress with the Chinese government, and as far as I’m concerned, I have to implement the existing policy of the Tibetan government in exile.  The Parliament in exile has adopted middle way as the policy, and this is also an express view of His Holiness, the Dalai Llama, and I support the middle way policy of the Tibetan government in exile.

Werman:  Mr. Sangay, on a personal note, you’re at the Harvard Law School; you live a fairly cloistered and I would guess ‘cushy’ life there.  Are you ready to go from this life at Harvard to a less privileged existence in Dharamsala, in India, the home of the government in exile?

Sangay:  Absolutely.  You know, I see it as a privilege: an honor.  But you know, from where I came from, actually, I came from very, very small village in Darjeeling.  My parents had a very modest kind of a wealth, and they…  For example, they sold one of their three cows to send me to Tibet Refugee School, and I used to spend my winter vacations fetching wood in the forest and cutting grass for cows.  That’s where I began.  I went to Tibet Refugee School, where I had to eat lentil soup and rice for dinner every day for ten years.  So I will proudly try to live up to the expectation and aspiration of those people who have voted for me, and six million Tibetans in Tibet, who are in really sad condition.

Werman:  Lobsang Sangay is a senior fellow at the East Asian Legal Studies program at Harvard Law School.  He’s Tibet’s new Prime Minister.  Thank you very much indeed.

Sangay:  Thank you very much.

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