Issued statement from Maria Otero, US Special Co-ordinator for Tibetan Issues on 6 December:
Maria Otero, US Special Co-ordinator for Tibetan Issues
Expressing deep concern over the increasing number of self-immolations by Tibetans, the US today asked China to initiate unconditional talks with the Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama.
“We call on the Chinese government to engage in dialogue with the Dalai Lama or his representatives without preconditions,” Special US Coordinator for Tibetan Issues Maria Otero said in a statement.
Otero said the United States is deeply concerned and saddened by the continuing violence in Tibetan areas of China and the increasing frequency of self-immolations by Tibetans.
“Chinese authorities have responded to these tragic incidents with measures that tighten already strict controls on freedoms of religion, expression, assembly and association of Tibetans. Official rhetoric that denigrates the Tibetan language, the Dalai Lama, and those who have self-immolated has further exacerbated tensions,” she said.
Noting that senior US officials have directly raised the issue of Tibetan self-immolations with their Chinese government counterparts, Otero said the US Government has consistently urged the Chinese government to address policies in Tibetan areas that have created tensions.
“These policies include increasingly severe government controls on Tibetan Buddhist religious practice and monastic institutions; education practices that undermine the preservation of Tibetan language; intensive surveillance, arbitrary detentions and disappearances of Tibetans, including youth and Tibetan intellectual and cultural leaders; escalating restrictions on news, media and communications; and the use of force against Tibetans seeking peacefully to exercise their universal human rights,” she said. “We call on the Chinese government to permit Tibetans to express their grievances freely, publicly, peacefully, and without fear of retribution. We hope that the tragic acts of self-immolation end. We call on China’s leaders to allow journalists, diplomats and other observers unrestricted access to China’s Tibetan areas.”
The strong American statement comes days after relatives of three Tibetans, who recently self-immolated in Tibet protesting against the Chinese oppression, met Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, Michael Posner. “He (Posner) expressed our deepest condolences and our grave concern for the spiraling violence and harsh crackdown in Tibetan areas as well as, you know, grief with regard to the self-immolations,” State Department spokesperson Victoria Nuland told reporters.
Hugo Swire, British Foreign Office Minister:
“We strongly support the resumption of meaningful dialogue to resolve the underlying grievances of Tibetan communities. I also urge the Chinese government to ensure unrestricted access to the Tibetan Autonomous Region and other Tibetan areas of China for diplomats, international media and other concerned parties. We believe a long term solution is best achieved through respect for universal principles of human rights and genuine autonomy for Tibet within the framework of the Chinese constitution.”
Joseph Lieberman, US Senator:
Tibet “has never been permitted to participate in a free and fair election of the sort that have taken place among Tibetans in exile. In fact, this is a community governed by authorities who have deemed that carrying a copy of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights or a photograph of His Holiness the Dalai Lama to be illegal and punishable acts. It is a community that has faced brutal repression and violence and that has, for decades, been denied their fundamental rights, including the freedoms of expression, assembly, and association.”
John Baird, Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister:
“I am concerned about the escalating number of self-immolations …and the increasingly punitive measures being taken in response which further exacerbate tensions in the region. Canada supports Tibetans’ freedoms of expression, assembly and association…and encourages China to give full consideration to the traditions and culture of the Tibetan population in a manner that will help ease tensions. We call on China to lift restrictions on access to the affected areas for the diplomats, media and other observers.”
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