The on-line boom of Tibetan diplomacy: David Gorombolyi explains how exiled Tibetans have used digitalisation to their advantage in proclaiming their message.

• Author: Gorombolyi, David

Communication revolution, digitalisation, Web 2.0... this group of phenomena has changed every aspect of the reality we live in, and the world of diplomacy is no exception. The depth of the on-going changes is surprisingly profound for almost all actors of the international community, but perhaps none have experienced a boost like the foreign affairs of the central Tibetan administration (CTA)--or, as still often referred to, the Tibetan government in exile.

There is a wide consensus that with the new on-line tools the format of diplomacy automatically changed, and it brought diplomacy out of the 'shadows', closer to the people, made it more accessible and understandable. Based on my research, I also believe that apart from the format, the substance also changed, and thanks to all these tendencies the transparency and accountability of diplomacy grew considerably.

Having examined and compared these effects in different national foreign ministries and international organisations, it seems that Tibetan diplomacy is a clear winner of digitalisation. It is no enigma why: the previously limited set of diplomatic tools of an entity with no 'classical statehood' naturally limited all diplomatic activities in earlier decades. No wide reach or scope, not much awareness. No speeches at the UN General Assembly, no invitations to inter-governmental negotiations or conferences. But the explosion of on-line possibilities resulted in a true renaissance of international presence and development of Tibetan diplomacy.

Legal status

It is obvious that this short study has neither scope nor intention to discuss Tibet's legal status. We are not debating if legally its sovereign statehood still exists under Chinese occupation, or if it has been an integral part of China since the Yuan dynasty of the 13th century. It is a fact that no government has explicitly recognised the central Tibetan administration as legitimate representatives of the people of Tibet, but it is also a fact that leaders and delegations of the CTA have been received at high-level official meetings and negotiations on numerous occasions, and official political documents refer to the CTA as a partner institution worldwide. Not forgetting this specific and unclear status, one may find it truly interesting how such an entity conducts its foreign affairs, and how its diplomatic activities have evolved in line with digitalisation.

I had the good fortune to interview not only multiple Tibetan and non-Tibetan on-line users with experience in these tendencies but also Tenzin Lekshay, official spokesperson of the CTA, who was kind enough to share with me valuable information on the basic approach, and a few background details of the on-line aspect of the administration's foreign affairs.

Tibet.net, the main news and media website of the CTA today, is visited by tens of thousands every day and has around 200,000 followers on Facebook alone. Counting other official profiles and other on-line platforms; and certainly adding the multiplying effect of every single like, comment or share received, the reach is well in the millions for every post published. This is quite a feat from an institution that a few years ago was practically invisible on the global stage of the international community.

When the 14th Dalai Lama resigned from all political and administrative powers, and the first Sikyong (the democratically elected leader of the CTA), Lobsang Sangay, started his term in 2011, Web 2.0 tools were already on their way to overtake the on-line realm, but were still far from what they have to offer today. The CTA saw the opportunity and built its on-line presence consciously--in a time when in the diplomatic world many forward-thinking on-line initiatives were still halted by the opposition of strict old-school leaders, who considered social media 'not serious enough' for diplomacy.

Transparent presentation

Not only does the CTA have advanced, well-maintained homepages with a consumer-friendly and inter-connected nature, presenting its foreign policy in a highly transparent way, but it is active on the three most...