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Exile Tibetan government lauds UN chief's concern

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The Kashag (cabinet) building of the Tibetan government-in-exile in Dharamshala, India. The ministers of the exile government are the members of Kashag, which is headed by the Prime Minister (Kalon Tripa in Tibetan).Tibet Sun/Lobsang Wangyal/India

The Tibetan government-in-exile lauded the concerns of the Secretary-General of the United Nations over Tibet.

Ban Ki-moon, the UN chief, advised Beijing to continue the negotiations on the future of Tibet with representatives of the Dalai Lama. Ban last week said he hoped the dialogue would continue “in a sincere manner, so that all the concerns regarding Tibet will be resolved smoothly and harmoniously”.

“These forthright remarks by the secretary general of the world body indicate the concerns of the international community as a whole on the current sad state of Tibet. We believe that such remarks will serve as an impetus for the Chinese authorities to resolve the issue of Tibet to the satisfaction of the Tibetan and the Chinese people,” the government-in-exile said in a statement.

China said it will not compromise on the status of Tibet after the last eighth round of talks at the beginning of November. The talks between the two side were resumed in 2002.

“At the same time, we are dismayed by the remarks made in response to the Secretary General’s comments by the Chinese foreign ministry’s statement saying that the door to dialogue is still open while reiterating many pre-conditions that make it impossible for the dialogue process to move forward.”

Refuting China’s recent remarks which said, “The key is whether the Dalai Lama examines and corrects his political stance, abandons his wrongful position on ‘Tibetan independence’ and genuinely matches his words with actions,” the statement said they were only hampering the dialogue’s progress.

“In fact, this attitude of the Chinese authorities is the real obstacle to the advancement of the dialogue process. This attitude is the one that firmly closes the door for further dialogue,” the Tibetan statement said.

The statement clarified that the Dalai Lama is no more seeking an independent Tibet. “Therefore His Holiness has no reason to correct his political stance. All his actions absolutely match his words. The whole world knows His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s position of not seeking Tibetan independence for last three decades.”

The two envoys of the Dalai Lama presented a memorandum on genuine autonomy for the Tibetan people to the Chinese authorities. The memorandum outlined how the needs of the Tibetan nationality can be met and how the principles on autonomy would be applied within the constitution of the People’s Republic of China.

China stated that the memorandum was attempting to seek independence or semi-independence or independence in disguise.

The exile government has reiterated their sincerity and commitment to the dialogue process and would be ready to have dialogue with China at anytime, anywhere.

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