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Exile PM asks China to demonstrate sincerity for dialogue

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Prime Minister of the Tibetan government-in-exile Samdhong Rinpoche in a file photo taken on 10 March 2009 in Dharamshala, India. Rinpoche asked China to demonstrate sincerity and respond to the latest Tibetan proposal on genuine autonomy submitted to Chinese leaders in October last year.File photo/Tibet Sun/Lobsang Wangyal/India

Welcoming China’s willingness for dialogue to resolve the Tibetan issue, the prime minster of the Tibetan government-in-exile asked China to ‘demonstrate sincerity’ and respond to the latest Tibetan memorandum on genuine autonomy submitted to Chinese leaders in October last year.

Samdhong Rinpoche, the exile prime minster, said he welcome premier Wen Jiabao’s statement expressing China’s willingness to continue contacts and consultations with the envoys of the Dalai Lama during a press conference on 13 March 2009.

“His Holiness the Dalai Lama is always ready to engage with the Chinese leadership to find a mutually acceptable solution to the problems of the Tibetan people,” Samdhong Rinpoche said in a statement released late Saturday night.

“We hope that Beijing will demonstrate its sincerity in resolving the Tibetan problem.”

China upped its rhetoric specially after the Dalai Lama said China has turned Tibet into a “hell on earth” in his statement during the 50th anniversary of the failed uprising against the Chinese rule on 10 March.

Wen said during the press conference on Friday that talks between the central government and the Dalai Lama may continue if he is “sincere” and really gives up his “separatist attempt”.

But the exile prime minster says that the Dalai Lama is not seeking Tibetan independence, but autonomy for Tibetans within China.

“On many occasions, His Holiness the Dalai Lama has reiterated that he is not seeking separation from the People’s Republic of China. The Chinese Premier’s allegations of His Holiness the Dalai Lama seeking separation is far from the truth. The international community is well aware of this fact and it does not need further clarification.”

The Dalai Lama’s proposal for autonomy was presented to the Chinese government by his envoys on 31 October 2008 during the eighth round of talks. China rejected the proposal saying it was seeking ‘independence in disguise’.

Rinpoche says the memorandum clearly outlines the aspirations of the Tibetan people, which is strictly within the constitutional principles of the People’s Republic of China.

Wen countered the Dalai Lama’s statement that he has never asked Chinese troops and the ethnic Han people to be driven out of Tibet. “These are sheer lies,” Wen said during the press conference according to Xinhua.

Wen pointed out that the Dalai Lama demanded, in his “five-point peace plan” in 1987 and the “seven-point new suggestions” in 1988, that the Chinese troops and military facilities be withdrawn from Tibet, and stop the Han Chinese from settling in Tibet and that those who have already settled in be moved out.

“Those are all written words. The Dalai Lama can change his course. But he can never deny what he has said,” Wen said.

Rinpoche alleged that premier Wen Jiabao appears to be trying to avoid acknowledging the memorandum and said he was referring to some past statements of the Dalai Lama.

Copyright © 2009 Tibet Sun

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