Deputy Secretary Verma’s Remarks at the State Department 2024 Losar Reception

Hello, everybody. Great to see everyone. Uzra, thank you. We are so grateful to have Uzra’s leadership in so many areas, and it’s wonderful for you to kick things off like that. To Representative Cheodup, to Executive Director Gyatso, and so many other distinguished guests, it’s an honor to be with both of you, and let me say Losar Tashi Delek to all of you.

Losar is such a time of celebration – of gratitude for the past year and to welcome the blessings of the new year. While we gather here this afternoon, Tibetan diaspora communities globally are holding their own celebrations. These traditions link Tibetans worldwide, even as new communities form and new generations come of age. Losar is also a cherished tradition across the entire Himalayan region, with communities in Bhutan, India and Nepal taking part in welcoming the arrival of a new year.

I have been honored to have a long connection with the Tibetan people and the Himalayan region, and it is a true delight to observe this occasion in the company of so many familiar faces. Tencho – your stepfather, my dear friend Tempa Tsering, has been a teacher and guide to the history and culture of Tibet and was always at our side whenever we met His Holiness in India. I know he continues his devoted service in the Personal Office of His Holiness, and I wish him the very best on this auspicious occasion.

Before taking up my post in New Delhi as Ambassador, I had read about the close relationship between the United States and the people of Tibet. But it was not until my service in India and subsequent years working on the U.S.-India relationship that I have come to appreciate just how close Americans and Tibetans have been for generations.

I recall learning about how the Library of Congress office at Embassy New Delhi was founded in the 1960s by the legendary Gene Smith to rescue priceless Tibetan texts from the ravages of the Cultural Revolution. I remember discussing how the U.S. government played a major role in establishing Tibet House in New Delhi which has been so essential to preserving Tibetan religious and cultural traditions, and how the U.S. government helped fund and construct the reception centers in Dharamsala that have welcomed and housed so many Tibetans.

I also came to appreciate the depth of the unwavering commitment by India, our close partner, to the Tibetan cause in welcoming His Holiness and hosting over one hundred thousand Tibetans fleeing oppression in the PRC.

Most importantly, I learned about the ties between Americans and Tibetans from His Holiness the Dalai Lama himself. I recall His Holiness telling me the story of the pocket watch that he received as a small boy as a gift from President Franklin Roosevelt, and the twinkle in his eye as he showed it to me and told me how it served as an introduction to our country, which His Holiness described as a “champion of freedom.” I’m sure that small boy in Tibet would never have imagined that the people of the United States would one day recognize him with the Congressional Gold Medal for his own contributions to the freedom of thought, conscience, and religion around the world.

I remembered those moments when I had the honor of presenting the Secretary of State’s International Religious Freedom Award to Lhadon Tethong, whose organization, Tibet Action Institute, has pioneered open-source communication technologies, nonviolent strategies, and innovative training programs for Tibetans and members of other groups facing repression by the People’s Republic of China.

Losar is an opportunity to reflect on the things we are grateful for. And for me, it is important to express gratitude for the deep affinity between Americans and Tibetans that will continue to draw us to each other. It is an affinity that arises from values shared by the American and Himalayan traditions – values grounded in tolerance, openness, compassion, and an interest in the world around us. An affinity based on the shared conviction that individual believers are keepers of religious and cultural traditions, not governments, and not political parties. I see this shared outlook in American academics such as Dr. Bob Thurman, who has done so much for the understanding of Tibetan Buddhism in our country, and artists such as Richard Gere who has spent decades working to advance the rights of the Tibetan people.

In fact, it was over a dinner conversation with Richard Gere and Pema Khandu, the Chief Minister of the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh, that highlighted to me just how broadly these connections extend across the entire Himalayan region. I felt that connection when Chief Minister Khandu hosted me on a visit to Tawang in the Indian Himalayas, the Indian birthplace of the Sixth Dalai Lama, where residents are also celebrating Losar today.

And I experienced it in Bhutan, where Losar is also a cherished tradition, and where the vibrant commitment to democracy among the Bhutanese people recently shepherded elections to a successful conclusion and the fourth peaceful transfer of power in the Kingdom.

So, this Losar, I am grateful for the enduring bonds between the people of America, Tibet, and the entire Himalayan region. It is my hope that our peoples will continue to reinforce and encourage the best in our respective democracies, so that we can support each other in realizing the words of His Holiness that “peace starts within each one of us.”

With that, it is my honor to introduce Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who has provided a pre-recorded message for the occasion. Thank you very much.