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Australian MPs to visit Tibet in 18 years

By Steve Lewis | news.com.au

Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd welcomes the Executive Vice-Premier of China Li Keqiang to ‘The Lodge’ on 30 October 2009 in in Sydney, Australia. Australia and China signed five bilateral agreements covering education and training, cultural heritage, illegal logging and a commercial agreement between Telstra and ZTE Corporation of China.File photo/Getty Images/Pool/Tim Wimborne/Australia

China and Australia will usher in a new era of co-operation after the communist superpower agreed to a group of federal MPs visiting Tibet — for the first time since 1991.

In a breakthrough in the bilateral relationship, China will this weekend host the parliamentary delegation, to be led by the Senate President John Hogg.

The seven federal MPs will be among the first international observers to gain official access to Tibet since the Buddhist kingdom erupted in violence in 2008.

The two-day visit reinforces the strengthened relationship with China — which has been strained by the jailing of Rio Tinto executive Stern Hu and Australia’s willingness to allow Chinese dissidents to speak openly.

Senator Hogg and his colleagues have promised that they won’t hold back in criticising China over its human rights record.

The delegation includes three Labour MPs — Mark Dreyfus, Anna Burke and Sid Sidebottom — while the Liberal Party is sending West Australian Mal Washer and Andrew Southcott.

Greens Senator Scott Ludlam will round out the delegation and is promising to speak out if he witnesses human right abuses.

But he also said he expected to be “closely watched over” during the visit to the Tibetan capital of Lhasa.

“I know that (our) movement is going to be very restricted,” Senator Ludlam told News Limited from China.

It is understood that planning for the Tibet visit has been underway for several months.

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd angered Beijing when he bluntly criticised China’s human rights record in Tibet during a speech to Peking University in March 2008.

Senator Hogg has also promised that the delegation would not hold back if it witnessed human rights abuses during its visit.

“We will engage in debate in a robust and forthright manner,” the veteran Labour Senator said.

But Senator Hogg also conceded the visit reflected an improvement in the bilateral relationship.

“I think that is quite correct,” he said.

In another sign that China wants to rebuild the relationship, Mr Rudd met with Vice-Premier Li Keqiang last weekend — the two leaders keen to promote a closer bilateral relationship following a series of controversies.

Copyright © 2009 News Limited

Published in news.com.au