Abstract: With respect to the relationship between thermal anomaly over the Tibetan Plateau (TP) and atmospheric circulation upstream and downstream of the TP on interannual timescale, the present paper briefly summarizes the latest research. Through observational analyses and numerical experiments, it is revealed that on the interannual timescale, the TP thermal anomaly is significantly and steadily correlated with the Asian-Pacific Oscillation (APO) in the summer. This relationship is likely due to the impact of the TP thermal anomaly on the APO via regulating the anomalous vertical circulation cell over the extratropical Asia and eastern-central Pacific. In addition, the TP thermal anomaly in the summer may contribute to interannual variability of tropospheric temperature over the TP and its adjacent area and associated large-scale circulation in the upstream, which subsequently affect precipitation over Sahel in the West African monsoon region. The TP thermal anomaly is only one of the factors that affect interannual variation of the atmospheric circulation upstream and downstream of the TP, and influences of other factors need further investigation in the future.