A high-level international conference on Tibetan studies, scheduled to be held later this month in Kathmandu, has been canceled at short notice following concerns raised by Nepal’s government over diplomatic sensitivities.

In planning for four years, the much-anticipated 17th Seminar of the International Association for Tibetan Studies (IATS) was scheduled to be hosted in Nepal’s capital from 23–29 August. With delegates due to attend from around the world, it was set to be one of the largest academic gatherings Nepal has hosted in recent years.

According to local media reports, Nepal’s chief secretary, Govinda Bahadur Karkee, told senior Kathmandu University officials to cancel the event, following discussions with Foreign Secretary Amrit Bahadur Rai.

“We advised the organizers that it would be better not to hold the event,” Karkee was quoted as saying. “It could be sensitive, several concerns might arise, and it could pose security risks. So we advised the organizers, in good faith, to cancel the event.” (Kathmandu Post)

The decision is reported to have followed pressure from Chinese diplomats in Nepal. China’s ambassador, Zhang Maoming, met with Foreign Secretary Rai on 21 July to discuss the conference, the Kathmandu Post newspaper said, adding that officials familiar with the meeting had said Zhang stopped short of directly demanding cancellation but urged Rai to stay “vigilant” about participants who might make pro-Tibet statements. (Kathmandu Post)

Soon after the ambassador’s meeting in Nepal, the Dharamsala-based Central Tibetan Administration held its own internal discussion and canceled plans to send an official delegation of five scholars from its research wing, the Tibet Policy Institute.

The IATS seminar serves as a gathering for international scholars of Tibetan studies, a field encompassing Tibetan Buddhism, language, history, art, medicine, and culture. This would have been the first time Nepal has hosted the conference, which is held roughly once every three years.

Organized jointly by the Himalaya Centre for Asian Studies, Kathmandu University, and the Kathmandu University Centre for Buddhist Studies at Rangjung Yeshe Institute, this year’s conference program was to open with a ceremony at Kathmandu University’s Dhulikhel Campus. This would have been followed by roughly 70 panel discussions and paper presentations over the course of the week at the Soaltee Hotel. Conference organizers reported that more than 700 participants from 39 countries were expected to attend.

Hosting an event of this scale was an opportunity for Nepal to position itself as a hub for Himalayan and Buddhist scholarship, as well as a popular destination for Buddhist pilgrims. The organizers emphasized that every stage of planning for the conference had been coordinated with Nepal’s government agencies. 

Despite the whirl of political concerns, the profiles of participants do not indicate that the convocation would have served as platform to promote pro-Tibet causes. 

“Of the more than 700 registered delegates from 39 countries, the largest single contingent, around 150 people, is coming from the United States, while China supplies the second-largest national delegation at close to 100 participants,” an editorial published by the Nepal News portal explained. “Researchers are traveling from Chinese institutions including universities in Lhasa, Sichuan, Qinghua, and Peking, alongside scholars from Harvard, Columbia, Oxford, and Cambridge. China’s own state affiliated Tibetology research body is also sending representatives, and Buddhist monastic institutions from India, Taiwan and Japan are contributing participants as well.” (Nepal Post)

The Kathmandu Post newspaper cited an unnamed high-ranking Nepal government official as saying that the government should have focused on managing risk rather than cancelling the seminar outright.

News of the cancellation has drawn expressions of dismay from scholars, who emphasized that the IATS forum was a scholarly gathering focused on academic research. The conference’s organizers said Kathmandu University was waiting for formal written confirmation from the government, but noted that the Himalaya Centre for Asian Studies and the Kathmandu University Centre for Buddhist Studies would not proceed with convening the conference. They added that all further decisions concerning the event would be handed over to the board of the IATS.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, a Kathmandu University academic expressed dissatisfaction with the cancellation, saying it would send damaging signal about Nepal to the global academic community.

“Despite the cancellation, a Chinese delegation linked to the seminar is still expected to arrive in Nepal,” the newspaper reported. It added that Jiang Jianguo, a member of the Standing Committee of the CPPCC’s National Committee, vice director of its Ethnic and Religious Committee, and executive vice president of the China Society for Human Rights Studies, accompanied by a five-person delegation, was scheduled to arrive in Kathmandu on 18 August for a three-day visit. (Kathmandu Post)

See more

Nepal overruled its own security agencies to cancel Tibetan studies conference under Chinese pressure, officials say (Kathmandu Post)
International Tibetan studies conference in Kathmandu cancelled over geopolitical concerns (Nepal Post)
17th Tibetan Studies Seminar in Kathmandu: Academic gathering or geopolitical flashpoint? (Nepal Post)
Cancellation of IATS seminar sparks dispute (The Himalayan Times)
Nepal’s top bureaucrat overrules Home Minister, security agencies to cancel a flagship int’l Tibetan studies seminar to placate China (Tibetan Review)
China’s grouse compels CTA withdrawal from upcoming Tibetan studies int’l conference in Nepal (Tibetan Review)

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