US Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks to staff at the US state department during the first visit of US President Joe Biden (left) in Washington, DC, on 4 February 2021. File photo/AFP
By Yashwant Raj | Hindustan Times
ON THE WEB, 6 February 2021
US secretary of state Antony Blinken on Friday raised human rights violations in Xinjiang, Hong Kong and Tibet in his first conversation with his Chinese counterpart, Yang Jiechi.
Blinken also told Yang, who is director of the office of the central commission for foreign affairs, that the United States and its allies will hold China “accountable for its efforts to threaten stability in the Indo-Pacific”, according to a readout of their call released by the US state department.
The new US administration’s engagements with China are being followed closely the world over, as well as in India. President Joe Biden has called China the “most serious competitor” and said in a speech earlier this week, “We’ll confront China’s economic abuses; counter its aggressive, coercive action; to push back on China’s attack on human rights, intellectual property, and global governance.”
Blinken’s conversation with Yang was the first contact between the new US administration with Chinese officials at the top level.
President Biden and President Xi Jinping have not spoken yet. Xi did call to leave a congratulatory message for Biden on his election win.
Blinken told Yang “the United States will continue to stand up for human rights and democratic values, including in Xinjiang, Tibet, and Hong Kong, and pressed China to join the international community in condemning the military coup in Burma (Myanmar)”, said the US state department.
Blinken went on to reaffirm the US will “work together with its allies and partners in defence of our shared values and interests to hold the PRC (People’s Republic of China) accountable for its efforts to threaten stability in the Indo-Pacific, including across the Taiwan Strait, and its undermining of the rules-based international system”.
TGiE must prioritize to review the Middle Way Policy which is longer than quarter of a century old by now. China has delivered Nothing thus far but total disregard to Tibetan people’s democratically mandated policy.
These days Sinkiang, Hongkong and Taiwan are talk of the town in the international fora and press. It may portray a false picture as though there are no problems in Tibet these days! Is it because of our Middle Way Policy (MWP) of reaching out to the Peking regime with the intention to trade sovereign independence to some kind of genuine autonomy? In any case, it is high time our exile administration withdraws this MWP (for the fact that China deliberately ignored it as of this day) and declare that all options are open way forward. This will be a great historical service to the future generations of our great Tibet.
unquote.
Thank you,
NTenpa
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