November Breakfast Club Meeting

I meet most months with a very interesting group of English speakers here in Taipei. At these meetings, someone gives a speech or presentation to those assembled. This month it was Khedroob Thondup, who is an elected Member of the Tibetan Parliament in Exile, the President of the Tibetan Refugee Self Help Center and he is also the nephew of His Holiness, the Dalai Lama.

Our Featured Speaker, Khendroob Thondup.

Mr. Thondup spoke with surprising (to me anyways) candor about his groups aims, experiences, negotiations with different governments and vision for the future. He spoke frankly about what Tibetans want, which is not quite the de facto independence from China that most Taiwanese desire, but autonomy and security within their region and their methods and goals for attainment. He also talked about direct negotiations with the Chinese government, as well as negotiations with the KMT and DPP governments here in Taiwan. He also spoke openly about the inevitability of succession of His Holiness and what affects that will have on his people.

I truly enjoyed listening and found Khedroob to be a gentlemanly, softspoken and

peaceful, while at the same time being absolutely resolute and firm within his vision. An impressive gentleman for sure.

Now, for some of the members of our breakfast club.

Dr. Jerome Keating
Author, university professor and commentator on Taiwan.
Jerome organizes the monthly meetings.



Michael Turton
University professor, PhD student and a very well known blogger in Taiwan.
Michael seems to fit 30 hours into his days.


Syd Goldsmith
Syd is an author (check out his book, Jade Phoenix) and ex diplomat,
along with many other accomplishments from his tenure in Taiwan.


Linda Arrigo
Linda is an icon in Taiwan; very well known and respected.


David Reid
Master's student, teacher and a well known blogger


Ryszard
Ryszard (Richard) is originally from Poland; a really bright and friendly guy