On today's episode of Justice Matters, co-host Mathias Risse speaks with Lobsang Sangay - political leader of the Tibetan administration in exile from 2011 to 2021 - about Tibet’s future. His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama turned 90 earlier this year, which has brought renewed attention to the question of how the succession would be handled in the country that has been occupied by China since 1950.

Lobsang Sangay is a Senior Visiting Fellow at the East Asian Legal Studies Program at Harvard Law School. He was the democratically elected Sikyong (President) of the Central Tibetan Administration and served two terms (2011-21). He completed his BA and LLB from Delhi University and did his LLM ’95 and SJD ‘04 from Harvard Law School where he received the Yong K. Kim’ 95 Memorial Prize for excellence. He has spoken at international conferences such as Forum 2000, Halifax Security Forum, and Oxford Union and has written numerous Op-eds in major newspapers including The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, and appeared on many international TV networks like BBC and CNN. He was awarded the Gold Medal for Outstanding Contribution to Public Discourse by Trinity College, Dublin (2014) and the Salisbury University Presidential Medal for Distinguished Community Leadership (2015).

On today’s episode they discuss: why China occupied Tibet in 1950, the role of rare earth minerals in the occupation, what occupation and exile has meant for Tibetans, the role of the Dalai Lama and the naming of his successor, how reincarnation comes into play in finding the next Dalai Lama, China’s attempt to seize control of the process, Lobsang’s own role in the Tibetan government in exile in India, the interplay between the diaspora and those remaining in Tibet, the relationship between the exiled Tibetan government and the government of India, and the Dalai Lama’s aspiration towards a middle path for negotiations with China.