Torbjørn Færøvik's Blog, page 67

Dalai Lama vows he won’t be the last leader of Tibetan Buddhism

The Dalai Lama has announced that he will have a successor after his death, continuing a centuries-old tradition that has become a flashpoint in the struggle with China’s Communist Party over Tibet’s future. Tibetan Buddhism’s spiritual leader made the declaration on Wednesday in a video message to religious elders gathering in Dharamshala, India, where the Nobel Peace laureate has lived since

Iran Pivots Toward China, But Is Beijing Ready To Play Ball? – Analysis

The war with Israel last month decimated a senior echelon of Iran’s military leadership, crippled its air defenses, and exposed the vulnerability of its air force. Within days, Israel had established aerial superiority, paving the way for US air strikes on Iran’s nuclear sites.But the war also tested the limits of Iran’s alliance with Russia, which offered little more than diplomatic support to

TRANSLATION OF CHAI JING INTERVIEW WITH CHINESE CIVIL WAR SURVIVOR GAO BINGHAN, PART 2: “WAR IS ALWAYS A TRAGEDY, SOMETHING I CANNOT ENDORSE.”

Amid recurrent China-Taiwan tensions and rising geopolitical instability, investigative journalist and documentary filmmaker Chai Jing has revisited and updated her iconic 2012 interview with Gao Binghan, a survivor of the Chinese Civil War who escaped with the Nationalists to Taiwan at the age of 13. Now 90 years old, Gao saw his family torn apart by civil war between the Communists and the

Voice for the Voiceless: Over Seven Decades of Struggle with China for My Land and My People

In this unique book offering personal, spiritual, and historical reflections—some never shared before—His Holiness the Dalai Lama tells the full story of his struggle with China to save Tibet and its people for nearly seventy-five years.The Dalai Lama has had to contend with the People’s Republic of China for about his entire life. He was sixteen years old when Communist China invaded Tibet in

The Dalai Lama’s Succession: Strategic Realities of the Tibet Question

The Post-Dalai Era, according to Chinese analysts, will begin immediately after the 14th Dalai Lama dies. Public statements by Chinese officials are vague about the risks they expect to face at the time of his death: Officials speak in public only in general terms about the overriding importance at that time of “safeguarding the unity of the motherland, strengthening national unity, and carrying

How the Dalai Lama is planning to use his death to thwart China

The Dalai Lama will be 90 on July 6. According to his doctors, he remains in “excellent health”, but following knee replacement surgery last year in the United States, his advancing age and frailty have become more evident. It is a particularly significant age for the man who since 1959 has lived in India, having fled Tibet following the Chinese invasion of his country.He has said that his

Chinese President Xi Jinping's Tough Childhood Revealed in New Book: Excerpt

Chinese President Xi Jinping's father, Xi Zhongxun, was a Communist Party official for more than seven decades—from the Communist Revolution through the Great Leap Forward, the Cultural Revolution, the Tiananmen Square protests and beyond. In the first English biography of Xi Zhongxun, The Party's Interests Come First, Professor Joseph Torigian uncovers the story of his life and of the modern

China Research Ship Spotted on NATO's Doorstep

China continues to expand its military reach around the world as one of its naval ships was seen transiting the Strait of Gibraltar and heading into the Atlantic Ocean over the weekend. The presence of the Chinese navy near NATO member states comes as the United States has dispatched an aircraft carrier-led strike group from the East Coast for a mission in Europe. The Chinese military possesses

Chinese factory activity improves slightly with delay on tariffs, but still lags

Chinese factory activity improved somewhat in June after President Donald Trump agreed to delay imposing higher tariffs on imports from China for 90 days, but overall activity was still contracting, according to a survey released Monday.  The purchasing managers index, which reflects new orders and other measures, rose to 49.7 from 49.5 in May, the National Bureau of Statistics reported.

CHINA-TAIWAN WEEKLY UPDATE, JUNE 27, 2025

The China–Taiwan Weekly Update is a joint product from the Institute for the Study of War and the American Enterprise Institute. The update supports the ISW–AEI Coalition Defense of Taiwan project, which assesses Chinese campaigns against Taiwan, examines alternative strategies for the United States and its allies to deter the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) aggression, and—if necessary—defeat