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British MPs attend session of Tibetan Parliament-in-exile

By Lobsang Wangyal

Speaker of the Tibetan parliament-in-exile Karma Choephel addressing the sixth session of the 14th Parliament. Tibet Sun/Lobsang Wangyal/India

The ministers read the annual reports of the different departments from the accounting year 1 April 2007 to 31 March 2008.

Prime Minister of the exile government Samdhong Rinpoche, who has the Home Ministry portfolio, read his report after the presentation of Religious and Cultural Affairs minister Tsering Phuntsok.

The House will later present their findings from the presentations, and will question the ministers of the seven departments of the exile government on different activities, mainly on their performances in the past year and the current situation in Tibet.

The House paid tribute to the Tibetans who lost their lives in the Chinese crackdown following the Tibetan protests since 10 March in Tibet by observing a minute’s silence.

Three British members of Parliament, Norman Baker (Liberal Democrat), Julie Morgan (Labour), and Tim Loughton (Conservative), briefly attended the session. After a welcoming speech by Speaker Karma Choephel, the Tibetans paid a standing ovation to the honoured guests.

Baker, who is leading the delegation to Dharamshala, is the President of the Tibet Society, and a member of the UK All Party Parliamentary Group for Tibet.

He said that the delegation has come here to get the latest updates on the Tibetan issue so that they could pursue their campaigning on the Tibetan cause.

“Britain is one of the few countries that have not recognised the Chinese sovereignty over Tibet”, Baker says.

Expressing doubts about the Chinese leadership’s commitment to the on-going talks, he said, “The upcoming meeting in October is crucial to see how serious China are about the talks.”

The envoys of the Dalai Lama and the Chinese leaders met in July this year for the seventh round of talks that started in September 2002, making no breakthrough so far. The two sides are scheduled to meet again in October.

“So far it felt like the meetings were Chinese tactics to buy time to successfully get over the Beijing Olympics,” Baker said.

He said that the issue of Tibet is complicated considering the differences between how Tibetans and Chinese conceive Tibet geographically. But despite this difference, China could take baby steps to improve in other fields such as social, economic, educational, health, etc.

The exile parliament has 43 members. The Dalai Lama, who could nominate three members to the parliament, chose not to exercise his powers for the 14th parliament.

Copyright © 2008 Tibet Sun

Published in Tibet Sun