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Former HK Governor Patten backs Britain's new Tibet policy

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Former Hong Kong Governor Chris Patten speaking to journalists in Beijing on 1 November 2008. Patten welcomed the adoption of new policy on Tibet by Britain recognizing Tibet as a part of China. China.org.cn/China

Former Hong Kong Governor Chris Patten has welcomed a new policy adopted by the British government of recognizing Chinese sovereignty over Tibet, according to Chinese media.

Patten was speaking to journalists in Beijing on 1 November backing the 29 October statement by British Foreign Secretary David Miliband, changing British government policy on Tibet.

Citing Patten, Chinese media reported that it had been a little-known technicality and “a quaint eccentricity” that Britain had previously recognized Chinese suzerainty, but not sovereignty, over Tibet. The Foreign Secretary’s statement made it clear that Britain recognizes that Tibet is a part of China. “I commend Mr Miliband for bringing Britain into line with the rest of humanity,” Patten reportedly said, adding that not even the Dalai Lama had shared Britain’s previous position.

Miliband said that Britain’s position on the status of Tibet until now was defined at the start of the 20th century, and was “based on the geo-politics of the time” and “the outdated concept of suzerainty”.

He further said, “Some have used this to cast doubt on the aims we are pursuing and to claim that we are denying Chinese sovereignty over a large part of its own territory.”

“We have made clear to the Chinese Government, and publicly, that we do not support Tibetan independence.”

Reacting to Miliband’s statement, spokesman for the Tibetan government-in-exile Thubten Samphel told the Wall Street Journal that Miliband was “testifying a falsehood.”

Samphel clarified that before 1950, Tibetans had many treaties with British India government in which Britain recognized Tibet as an independent country.

“For the UK to say now that it always saw Tibet as a part of China is testifying to a falsehood,” Samphel said.

David Miliband issued a statement ahead of the two envoys of the Dalai Lama’s departure for Beijing on 30 October for the eighth round of talks with Chinese leaders.

He said that the talks are hugely important for the future of Tibet. “They provide the only forum in which there is any realistic possibility of progress to resolve the differences between the parties involved.”

“We have consistently made clear that we want to see the human rights of the Tibetan people respected, including through respect for their distinct culture, language, traditions and religions. Our interest is not in restoring an order which existed 60 years ago and which the Dalai Lama himself has said he does not seek to restore,” Miliband wrote in the statement.

Copyright © 2008 Tibet Sun

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