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EU need more "understanding" of Tibet, says Chinese ambassador

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Song Zhu, China’s most senior diplomat in Brussels, defended his country’s policy towards Tibet and urged MEPs to develop a more comprehensive and objective understanding of the reality in Tibet on the eve of Dalai Lama’s visit to EU parliament.The Parliament/Brussels

China’s ambassador to the EU has made a robust defence of his country’s policy towards Tibet and its leader, the Dalai Lama.

Speaking on the eve of the Dalai Lama’s much-awaited visit to parliament, Song Zhu, China’s most senior diplomat in Brussels, also urged MEPs to “develop a more comprehensive and objective understanding of the reality” in Tibet.

In an exclusive interview, he told this website that Tibet had been an “inalienable” part of China “since ancient times ” and that in the past, Tibetans “did not have any democracy, human rights and freedom to speak of.”

Song, who heads China’s mission to the EU, said that until China implemented reforms in 1959, “their conditions were worse than animals and life was miserable. ”

He said that Tibetans now enjoyed “a wide range of political rights and “unprecedented fundamental human rights”. Life expectancy had risen from 35 to 69, adult illiteracy had fallen from 95 per cent to 4.48 per cent and the region’s GDP was higher than China’s national average.

The ambassador insisted that Beijing “fully respects and effectively guarantees” the religious freedom of Tibetans.

“The past 50 years of development and progress of Tibet is there for all to see. That Tibet is an inalienable part of China is recognised by the whole world.”

“China will firmly safeguard national unity, territorial integrity and national unity and continue to maintain this hard-earned excellent situation in Tibet.”

He went on, “I sincerely hope that our friends in the European parliament will develop a more comprehensive and objective understanding of the history and reality of Tibet and continue to enhance understanding between the peoples of China and Europe.”

Many Tibetans strongly disagree with his assessment, pointing out that the Himalayan region was an independent kingdom for many centuries.

There have been periods of unrest and sporadic uprisings, most recently in March when there were riots and demonstrations both in Tibet and surrounding provinces.

During his visit to parliament, the Dalai Lama, the head of exiled Central Tibetan Association [sic], will address the full plenary.

His visit has incensed the Chinese who cancelled this week’s EU-China summit in Lyon in protest at French president Nicolas Sarkozy’s separate meeting with the Dalai Lama in Poland.

MEPs visiting China last week for an inter-parliamentary meeting were warned that the EU can expect a “serious response” from China if the Dalai Lama’s visit to Brussels on Thursday goes ahead.

Meanwhile, German Green MEP Helga Trupel has voiced disappointment on the failure of the latest round of talks between Tibetan envoys and Chinese officials.

She said, “Consistently blaming the Tibetan side and rejecting any proposal from the Dalai Lama is counter-productive.”

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