US Interference in Tibet Affairs: Trump Administration Appoints Special Coordinator
Kathmandu / US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has announced the appointment of Riley Barnes as the US Special Coordinator for Tibetan Issues. Barnes has been appointed to this position, which was created by the US Congress in 2002, and currently also serves as the Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor.
Rubio made the appointment public through a statement issued on Tuesday on the occasion of Losar, the Tibetan New Year. “On this first day of the Year of the Fire Horse, we celebrate the fortitude and resilience of Tibetans around the world,” Rubio said. “The United States remains committed to supporting the unalienable rights of Tibetans and their distinct linguistic, cultural, and religious heritage,” he added.
This appointment comes at a time when the administration of President Donald Trump has remained largely silent on human rights issues globally, while the US has been engaged in direct intervention or threats against countries including Venezuela, Iran, Cuba, and Denmark’s Greenland.
Although the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not immediately respond due to the Chinese New Year holiday, Beijing has strongly opposed such appointments in the past. Following a similar appointment during the Trump administration in 2020, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian had stated, “The setting up of the so-called coordinator for Tibetan issues is entirely political manipulation to interfere in China’s internal affairs and destabilize Tibet. China firmly opposes that. Tibet affairs are China’s internal matters that allow no foreign interference.”
Meanwhile, on Tuesday itself, the head of Washington-based Radio Free Asia announced that the US-government-funded news outlet has resumed broadcasting into China. Radio Free Asia, which had shut down its transmissions in October due to budget cuts by the Trump administration, has now begun broadcasting programs for Chinese audiences in Mandarin, Tibetan, and Uyghur languages.
