EU-China summit must address the issue of Tibet : Envoy Kelsang G
tibet-envoy.eu[Friday, May 15, 2009 21:44]
By Envoy Kelsang Gyaltsen

The European Union-China Summit will take place on May 20, 2009 in Prague, Czech Republic. His Holiness the Dalai Lama welcomes the summit. He has always spoken out against any idea of isolating or containing China. Instead he has consistently called for the need to bring China into the mainstream of the world community and in particular into the mainstream of the world democracy. The forthcoming summit offers a timely opportunity for the European Union to address the issue of Tibet with their Chinese counterparts. The situation inside Tibet is compelling and urgent. Presently, the Tibetans in Tibet are undergoing the harshest wave of repression since the days of the Cultural Revolution. The increasing number of death sentences passed on Tibetans in recent months is a clear indication of the grave and tense situation in Tibet.

Envoy Kelsang Gyaltsen

On October 31, 2008 the envoys of His Holiness the Dalai Lama presented a Memorandum on Genuine Autonomy for the Tibetan People to the Government of the People’s Republic of China. This memorandum puts forth the Tibetan position on genuine autonomy and how the specific needs of the Tibetan people for autonomy and self-government can be met through application of the principle on autonomy of the Constitution of the PRC.

Unfortunately, the Chinese government rejected the Tibetan proposal without presenting their own views on a way forward.

His Holiness the Dalai Lama has steadfastly followed the Middle Way approach, which means the pursuit of a mutually acceptable and mutually beneficial solution through negotiations in the spirit of reconciliation and compromise. His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s thinking on the issue has evolved in the course of time since presenting his “Five Point Peace Plan” in 1987 and “the Strasbourg Proposal” in 1988. He has adjusted and refined his position on a number of issues in light of changing realities on the ground and in consideration of the Chinese government’s legitimate concerns, needs and interests. This reflects His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s flexibility, openness and pragmatism.

The Memorandum on Genuine Autonomy for the Tibetan People and not earlier proposals and other statements, authoritatively represents His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s position today with respect to an acceptable solution to the Tibetan issue. Although it differs in significant aspects from earlier proposals, it remains true to the fundamental approach known as the Middle Way of His Holiness the Dalai Lama.

Despite the categorical rejection of the memorandum by the Chinese side, the Special Meeting of the Tibetans in Diaspora held in November 2008 in Dharamsala, India, reconfirmed the mandate for the dialogue process with the PRC on the basis of the Middle Way approach of His Holiness the Dalai Lama. As a result the Tibetan leadership in exile reiterated its commitment to the dialogue process. Today, the Tibetan side stands ready to engage in honest and earnest discussions on autonomy for the Tibetan people anytime and anywhere. It is now for the Chinese governments to show sincerity and seriousness in addressing the real problems and issues of the Tibetan people in Tibet.

Against the background of a current policy of merciless repression of the slightest dissent by the Chinese authorities, which is resulting in grave and wide-spread violations of human rights throughout the Tibetan plateau, and His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s consistent and unwavering commitment to non-violence and to dialogue in the spirit of reconciliation and compromise, it would be befitting the European Union to take the lead in promoting a peaceful resolution of the issue of Tibet. In today’s heavily interdependent world no country and no government is immune to world opinion and to outside influence. There is no doubt that the European Union could play a much more proactive and constructive role in bringing about a honest dialogue and negotiations on the issue of Tibet between His Holiness the Dalai Lama and the Chinese leadership

We Tibetans are in dire need of international help. First and foremost in opening up Tibet to the rest of the world so that the Chinese authorities and security forces no longer have a free hand in Tibet. International presence will have a restraining influence on the authorities and the security forces and will thus provide some measures of protection to the captive Tibetans inside Tibet. Sending government and parliamentarian delegations to Tibet is a way to ensure this. Moreover, the Chinese government must be encouraged to open up Tibet to international press, aid organisations, other non-governmental organisations and to tourism. Immediate interventions for the suspension of the death sentences passed on to Tibetans recently are a matter of great urgency.

Moreover, it is important to leave no doubt that the current aggressive pressure politic of the Chinese government in attempting to isolate His Holiness the Dalai Lama and to silence the issue of Tibet, has no chance of succeeding. The message of the European Union to the Chinese leadership must be that the issue of Tibet will continue to be an important agenda in the EU-China bilateral relationship unless it is properly addressed and resolved through dialogue in a mutually acceptable way for the parties concerned. Evading the issue of Tibet during the EU-China Summit will only increase the suspicion and distrust in the minds of the Chinese counterpart in the light of the wide-spread sympathy and support for the cause of Tibet and for His Holiness the Dalai Lama by the people and the public across Europe.

Above all, such a consideration of the political sensitivity of the issue of Tibet for the Chinese government would only encourage and strengthen the hardliners within the Chinese leadership. Consequently, it is the Tibetan position and appeal that the issue of Tibet be judged by the universally recognized principles and norms and dealt with accordingly. It is unacceptable and can only undermine the international system based on agreed upon principles and international legal covenants, when the political sensitivity of the Chinese government is made the primary criteria in dealing with the cause of the Tibetan people instead of judging it in terms of the gravity of the violations of human rights, injustice and oppression taken place in Tibet. It is a fact that Tibet today belongs to the most restricted and least free places and the Tibetans to the most repressed and threatened peoples in the world.

Ultimately, we Tibetans need on the other side of the negotiating table a sincere partner for an honest dialogue. Last year after the wide-spread demonstrations throughout the Tibetan plateau, the EU Foreign Ministers called on March 29, 2008 “for substantive and constructive dialogue which addresses core issues like preservation of the Tibetan language, culture, religion and traditions”. The Tibetan side has answered the call of the EU Foreign Ministers and presented the Memorandum on Genuine Autonomy for the Tibetan People. On account of the Chinese rejection of the Tibetan memorandum, the Sino-Tibetan dialogue process has now reached an impasse. Consequently, failing to address the issue of Tibet at the forthcoming EU-China Summit would greatly undermine the credibility of the EU position on the issue of Tibet in particular and on human rights in China in general.

This is a very critical and crucial time for the Tibetan people and the issue of Tibet. The EU-China Summit will be watched closely by millions of Tibetan and Chinese peoples. The Tibetan people need a message of hope, sympathy and solidarity - not only not to give in to despair and bitterness but also to strengthen their faith in the path of non-violence, dialogue and reconciliation as advocated by His Holiness the Dalai Lama.

China’s Zhao decries June 4 “tragedy” from the grave
Reuters[Friday, May 15, 2009 21:38]
By Benjamin Kang Lim and Chris Buckley

BEIJING, May 14 (Reuters) - Two decades after his downfall and four years after his death, reformist Chinese leader Zhao Ziyang has broken the official silence on the 1989 Tiananmen crackdown, denouncing the killings of protesters as a “tragedy”.

In memoirs recorded secretly under house arrest, Zhao has challenged China’s cautious, current leaders just before the 20th anniversary of June 4, when troops crushed pro-democracy protests centred on Tiananmen Square in Beijing.

He praises Western-style democracy and denounces the armed quelling of the protests, when troops and tanks pushed down Chang’an Avenue, shooting demonstrators and onlookers.

“On the night of June 3rd, while sitting in the courtyard with my family, I heard intense gunfire,” says Zhao. “A tragedy to shock the world had not been averted.”

Zhao, who was head of the Communist Party in 1989, rejects the government’s claim that the student protesters were part of an anti-Communist conspiracy.

“I had said at the time that most people were only asking us to correct our flaws, not attempting to overthrow our political system,” Zhao says in the book “Prisoner of the State”, to be published by Simon & Schuster in English this month ahead of the 20th anniversary.

The memoirs, about 30 hours of tape, were given to three confidants and smuggled out of China. A manuscript was obtained by Reuters.

Zhao’s account of Party elders pushing him from power sheds rare light on the political warring behind the protests that shook China 20 years ago, culminating in his ouster and the crackdown that killed hundreds on the streets of Beijing.

“I told myself that no matter what, I refused to become the (Party) general secretary who mobilised the military to crack down on students,” he says.

Zhao had his eyes fixed on China’s future when he secretively recorded his memories throughout years under house detention until his death in January 2005. He decries what he saw as the mistaken conservative path taken by the Party after 1989 and argues for a gradual transition to Western-style democracy.

“In fact, it is the Western parliamentary democratic system that has demonstrated the most vitality,” says Zhao.

“If we don’t move toward this goal, it will be impossible to resolve the abnormal conditions in China’s market economy.”

China’s current leaders brush aside the “disturbance” of 20 years ago as a distant event with a settled official verdict, and Zhao’s book is sure to be banned by authorities who will seek to stop copies of the Chinese edition slipping into the mainland.

But Zhao remains a symbol of reformist rectitude to sympathisers and, with even apolitical citizens eager to learn about the Party’s secretive ways, copies may still spread.

Bao Pu, a Hong Kong-based publisher and son of Zhao’s former top aide, said Zhao apparently wanted to give his version of events to challenge the Party’s official condemnation of the Tiananmen protesters and its one-Party rule.

“He did not leave instructions … but clearly he wanted his story to survive,” said Bao, whose New Century Press is publishing the Chinese edition of the book.

“It’s a crucial period of history that defines modern day China. It contradicts the government’s version of the truth.”

Bao Pu’s father, Bao Tong, lives under police surveillance in Beijing but has been allowed to meet foreign reporters. [nSP91291]

BREAKING WITH DENG

The thread running through Zhao’s memories of his rise and fall is his tortured bond with Deng Xiaoping, the wizened revolutionary veteran who steered China to market reforms but rejected — ultimately with force — calls for democratic change.

Deng is honoured by China as the pioneer behind the country’s economic success, and Zhao’s account of double-crossing and betrayal under Deng is likely to irk the country’s current leaders, who like to present an image of solid unity.

Zhao rejects the notion Deng was instinctively in favour of political relaxation but was led astray by conservatives.

“Deng had always stood out among the Party elders as the one who emphasised the means of dictatorship. He often reminded people about its usefulness,” says Zhao.

Deng’s notions of democracy “were no more than empty words”.

Deng was paramount among Party elders who dominated behind the scenes while Zhao and his colleague, Hu Yaobang, coaxed officials to break up rural communes and strictures on private business that Communist leader Mao Zedong made his legacy.

But by the late 1980s, Zhao found it increasingly difficult to weave between conservatives enraged by the crumbling of Soviet socialism and the advances of market reforms and intellectuals and advisers who wanted to push past barriers to economic and then political liberalisation.

Zhao says that in ousting him from power, Deng, then-premier Li Peng and Party conservatives trampled on rules meant to prevent a return to Mao’s years of arbitrary, one-man power.

The remedy to China’s problems, Zhao says, lies in gradual but unceasing movement towards democracy.

“I believe the time has come for us to tackle this issue seriously,” he concludes.

(Additional reporting by Ben Blanchard in Beijing and James Pomfret in Hong Kong; Editing by Nick Macfie and Dean Yates)

FACTBOX: China’s leaders in 1989
Reuters[Thursday, May 14, 2009 18:16]

BEIJING - China’s 1989 pro-democracy movement split the Communist Party leadership and triggered a power struggle that ended in a bloody crackdown on student protesters in the pre-dawn hours of June 4, 1989. Following are profiles of key leaders at the time: * DENG XIAOPING, then the power behind the throne in China, sent in tanks and troops to crush the student-led demonstrations for democracy centered on Beijing’s Tiananmen Square on June 3-4 that year. He died on February 19, 1997, aged 92, after reviving the economy with a dramatic tour of the south in 1992. * ZHAO ZIYANG was toppled as China’s Communist Party chief and accused of splitting the Party for challenging Deng’s decision to crush the protests. Zhao refused to repent and spent more than 15 years under house arrest until his death in Beijing on January 17, 2005. * JIANG ZEMIN rose from Communist Party boss of Shanghai, where he quelled parallel protests without bloodshed, to oust Zhao as national Party chief in 1989. Zhao’s political ghost haunted Jiang, who refused to end Zhao’s house arrest. Jiang held on to power for 13 years before retiring as Party chief in 2002.

A Beijing citizen stands in front of tanks on the Avenue of Eternal Peace in this June 5, 1989 file photo during the crushing of the Tiananmen Square uprising. (REUTERS/Stringer)

* LI PENG is known as the “Butcher of Beijing” for declaring martial law on national television days before the bloody crackdown. Li, then the premier, was reviled by many and the butt of jokes but he was a political survivor and went on to become parliament chief. Writing in retirement, Li sought to wash his hands and clear his name.

* BAO TONG, Zhao’s top aide, was ousted from the Party’s elite Central Committee and was the most senior official jailed for sympathizing with student protesters. He lives under tight, round-the-clock police surveillance and remains a thorn in the government’s side as an outspoken critic of the country’s human rights record and the slow pace of political reform.

* CHEN XITONG, Beijing mayor, supported the crackdown and emerged as Jiang’s main rival. Chen was ousted in an anti-corruption campaign in 1995 and sentenced to 16 years in jail. He has reportedly been released on medical parole.

* HU JINTAO, now China’s top leader, was Party secretary in Tibet in 1989. He declared martial law in Lhasa in March 1989, following clashes between Tibetan protesters and police. Hu was selected by Deng in 1992 as heir apparent to Jiang.

* WEN JIABAO, then director of the General Office under the Communist Party’s Central Committee, accompanied Zhao to Tiananmen Square, where Zhao made an emotional appeal to protesting students to leave. While Zhao was ousted days later, Wen not only survived, but went on to become premier in 2003.

(Compiled by Benjamin Kang Lim and Lucy Hornby; Editing by Nick Macfie and Dean Yates)

—-
Also Read: Hong Kong students start vote on Tiananmen killings

US wins UN rights council seat
Agencies[Thursday, May 14, 2009 17:43]

The United States has been elected to the UN Human Rights Council, after the administration of Barack Obama, the US president, ended a policy of boycotting it. China, Cuba, Saudi Arabia and Russia, who have all been accused of serious rights violations, were also among the nations elected on Tuesday following a secret ballot. Susan Rice, the US ambassador to the UN, said that Washington still believed the body to be flawed. “We are looking forward to working from within with a broad cross-section of member states to strengthen and reform the Human Rights Council.” The administration of George Bush, the previous US president, had boycotted the council over its criticism of Israel and its failure to cite rights abuses in Sudan and elsewhere. In March, the Obama administration said it would seek to join the council as part of a “new era of engagement” with the body.

The US decided it wanted a seat on the council

Widespread criticism

The US was elected alongside Belgium and Norway to join the Western States bloc of nations sitting on the council.

Bangladesh, Cameroon, Djibouti, Hungary, Jordan, Kyrgyzstan, Mauritius, Mexico, Nigeria, Senegal, and Uruguay will also join the 47-nation council for a three-year period.

The council was set up three years ago to replace the UN Human Rights Commission, which was widely criticised for failing to overcome political alliances and take a strong stand on issues including China’s rights record.

But the new council has also been criticised by the US for focusing on Israel and its treatment of the Palestinians and not taking a strong enough stand against violence in Tibet and Darfur.

Human Rights Watch has condemned the trading of votes for seats on the Human Rights Council as unacceptable.

Human Rights Council

• Set up by in 2006 by the UN General Assembly to address incidents of human rights violations and address them.
• Is the successor body to the UN Commission on Human Rights.
• Forty-seven nations sit on the council, elected by regional groups from Africa, Latin America, the West, Eastern Europe and Asia.
• Has no power to enforce findings and instead reports to General Assembly.

EU must condemn Tibetan death sentences during dialogue with China: FTC
Phayul[Thursday, May 14, 2009 11:01]
Dharamsala, May 14 – The Free Tibet Campaign has urged the European Union to raise with China the issue of “recent imposition of death penalty on five Tibetans as well as China’s persistent failure to account for the whereabouts of more than 1000 Tibetans detained after last year’s protests in Tibet and who are still missing.” EU officials will meet Chinese representatives today in Prague for the 26th human rights dialogue in the Czech capital Prague.

While welcoming the dialogue with China, the London based Non Governmental Organization, in a press release issued yesterday, said the participating EU officials must do much more than simply use the opportunity as a forum for resumption of constructive engagement with China.

The FTC urged the EU officials to “demand from their Chinese counterparts that the death sentences be quashed with immediate effect and that any further cases related to protests in Tibet in March and April 2008 should be suspended until a full and independent inquiry into those events, as called for by the UN Committee Against Torture in November 2008, has been held.”

China postponed the last summit scheduled to have taken place in France in December 2008, citing its opposition to a scheduled meeting between French president Nicholas Sarkozy and the Tibetan leader Dalai Lama.

Director of the Free Tibet Campiagn, Stephanie Brigden, said, EU officials have a vital opportunity to express before their Chinese counterparts their firm opposition to the death sentences passed on the five Tibetans.

The meeting is expected to focus on two principal areas, access to justice in China and Tibet, and the rights of defendants in criminal proceedings to legal defence; and protection for persons with disabilities.

“It would be unforgiveable in a dialogue supposedly addressing shortcomings in the access to justice for the EU not to make a strong statement of concern about these very real death sentences that were imposed in courts closed to independent observers”, said Brigden.

Exile Tibetans to build memorial for Tibet victims
Phayul[Wednesday, May 13, 2009 18:25]
By Phurbu Thinley

Dharamsala, May 13: Tibetan exiles around the world will make financial contribution to build a memorial stone pillar to pay tribute to Tibetan victims of China’s repression.

The memorial pillar would be built in “memory and honour of those Tibetans who showed spirit of sincerity, indomitable courage by sacrificing their lives for the cause of Tibet under China’s repression,” a statement on the official website of the Tibetan Government-in-Exile said.

The statement said the decision was an outcome of a unanimous resolution passed by the Tibetan Parliament-in-Exile during its seventh session held in March this year. It said the resolution was passed to “honour those who have sacrificed everything, including their lives in Tibet.”

Tibetans exiles from all over the world are to make financial contribution for the memorial, the location for which is yet to be decided.

The statement said the memorial would be erected with the monetary contribution of Rs 3/- from every Tibetans residing in India, Nepal and Bhutan, and US$1from those living in other countries.

The Tibetan Parliament is to choose an appropriate location for the memorial later on.

High-level Chinese delegations visited Nepal uninvited: Prachanda
Phayul[Wednesday, May 13, 2009 15:04]
“… not a single (Chinese) delegation came to Nepal on my invitation,” says Prachanda.

By Phurbu Thinley

Dharamsala, May 13: In an exclusive interview with an Indian newspaper, Nepal’s former PM Pushpa Kamal Dahal unexpectedly said the flurry of High Level Chinese delegation visiting Nepal in recent times had arrived in the country without his invitation. The recently resigned Maoist PM, better known as Prachanda, said the Chinese officials visited Nepal of their own to mainly tackle Tibet-related activities in the wake of unrest in Tibet last year. When asked about regular visits paid by Chinese delegations to Nepal lately, a move seen by India as edging towards China, the recently resigned Maoist PM said the perception of Nepal tilting to China was a baseless one. The Maoist leader said India’s perception that Nepal was tilting to China was “highly exaggerated.” He instead admittedly tells that the Chinese officials visited Nepal to deal with “Tibet-related activities” in Nepal. “Last year, because of the Tibet situation, the Chinese side got more sensitive about Tibet-related activities going on in Nepal. I would like to say clearly that not a single (Chinese) delegation came to Nepal on my invitation,” Dahal said. “The initiative for these visits came solely from the Chinese side…mainly because of the Tibet crisis”, Prachanda tells The Hindu dated May 11, 2009.

Nepal’s former PM Pushpa Kamal Dahal “Prachanda” speaks during a convention in Katmandu, Nepal, 09 May 2009 (Photo: AP)

Nepal had come under international criticism last year for its brutal treatment of Tibetan protesters, and was accused of acting under pressure from China. Tibetans in Nepal staged some of the most sustained and regular anti-China protests in Kathmandu last year after unrest against Chinese rule in Tibet faced brutal Chinese military crackdown. The demonstrators mainly targeted Chinese embassy and its visa office in Kathmandu. Tibetan demonstrations were routinely stopped by Nepali police, often using excessive force. The demonstrators regularly faced arrests, intimidation and in some cases individual threats and arbitrary detention. Recent high-level visits by Chinese officials, including a delegation led by Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi, repeatedly asked Nepal to effectively curb “Free-Tibet activities” while promising to increase assistance to the crisis-stricken country in return. A visit by Chinese delegation in February this year, forced the district administration in Kathmandu, which last year witnessed continuous protests by Tibetans for almost eight months, to impose an indefinite order to prohibit all protests near the Chinese embassy and its visa office. The ban came just days before the commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the Tibetan Uprising Day. —- Also Read: Tibetan refugees in Nepal are scared

Police chase and beat a monk during an anti-China protest in the Nepali capital of Kathmandu in March 2008. The Tibetan refugees in Nepal were demanding justice in front of the UN office in Kathmandu regarding the crack down on Tibetans by Chinese authorities. (Photo: Reuters)

Paris mayor stands by the Dalai Lama on its honorary citizen award
Phayul[Wednesday, May 13, 2009 12:27]
By Tenam

Paris May, 12 - The Socialist mayor of Paris, Bertrand Delanoë, has said he stands by his view about the Citizen of Honour that was voted by the city of Paris to be conferred on Tibetan leader the Dalai Lama in April 2008. The Paris Mayor was quoted by La Croix, a French paper, as saying Monday that it “is not an interference in China’s internal affairs”. China warned Paris last week not to make more “errors” on Tibet by honouring the Dalai Lama with its honorary citizenship when he visits the city in June. “If the Paris city government does make this award, it will definitely meet once again with the Chinese people’s firm opposition,” AFP reported foreign ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu as saying during a regular news briefing in Beijing last week. “We urge the Paris side to stop doing things that interfere in China’s internal affairs and make no further errors on the Tibet-related issue.”

His Holiness Dalaï Lama with Delanoe and interpreter Mathieu Ricard on October 16, 2003 Henri Garat, Mairie de Paris/file

“We urge the Paris side to stop doing things that interfere in China’s internal affairs and make no further errors on the Tibet-related issue.”

The Mayor while proposing the resolution at the city council in 2008 said that this is city’s “homage to a person of peace” and “fraternal support to Tibetan people who are fighting for their fundamental rights, their dignity, their freedom; and simply their life”. Tibetans are fighting “an unequal fight to preserve their cultural and spiritual identity, and its their existence as a people that they want to affirm. In this fight, Paris is in solidarity,” the Mayor added. Since 2001, Paris has conferred its Citizen of Honour on Mumia Abou Jamal (2001), Ingrid Betancourt (2002), Iouri Bandajevski (2003), Aung San Suu Kyi (2004) and, Hauwa Ibrahim (2005). The Dalai Lama will be will be visiting Denmark, Iceland and the Netherlands before his Paris visit on June 7 and 8. He is scheduled to give a public talk on ‘Ethics and Society’ at Bercy Stadium, Paris, on June 7 before returning to India.

France’s President Nicolas Sarkozy (C) and Tibet’s exiled spiritual leader the Dalai Lama meet in Gdansk December 6, 2008. (REUTERS/Eric Feferberg/Pool/Files)

Sino-France relations soured considerably after French President Nicolas Sarkozy defied stern warning from Beijing and met with the exiled Tibetan leader in Poland in December 2008.

As the Office of Tibet here announced the visit of the Tibetan leader early this month, media speculation has grown about the Dalai Lama receiving the Citizen of Honour.

Delanoe said the issue is not about interference and neither is it about giving up on his convictions to support democracy, peace and Tibetan people’s right to freedom. Yet, he said, he is not trying to provoke the chinese by honouring the Dalai Lama, which is basically a decision voted upon and passed by the Paris city council last year. “There is no question of interfering (into Chinese affairs),” he added.

“I received the Dalai Lama a few years ago… As the Mayor, I accept the vote of the elected representatives of Paris to give honorary citizenship to the Dalai Lama. When I shall convey it, I do not know”, Delanoe added.

Canada resumes ‘quiet diplomacy’ with China
Globe and Mail[Wednesday, May 13, 2009 10:59]
MARK MACKINNON

BEIJING — Foreign Minister Lawrence Cannon set out today to put Canada’s rocky relations with China onto a new “forward-looking” course, albeit by borrowing heavily from Liberal policies that his government had previously dismissed as ineffective. Speaking to students here at the China Foreign Affairs University, Mr. Cannon acknowledged that the Canadian-Chinese relationship – damaged in recent years by disputes over human rights, Tibet, and Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s decision not to attend last years Beijing Olympics – has “gone through its ups and downs.” But Mr. Cannon said he hoped relations between Ottawa and Beijing could be “frank, friendly and forward-looking” from this point forward. But the new China policy that Mr. Cannon appeared to be signalling today is more a retreat to the past, where Canada pushed human-rights concerns to the back-burner in favour of growing trade relations. Mr. Cannon told journalists that something similar to the old Canada-China Bilateral Human Rights Dialogue would soon be formed, though likely with a different name and a slightly different format.

BEIJING, MAY 11-09 — Canada’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Lawrence Cannon and Jinping Xi, Vice President of China in Beijing, May 11, 2009. Photo:Barry Acton/Global TV

“What we are proposing, and we want to be able to move forward with this, is a mechanism whereby both parties will be able to look at this issue,” Mr. Cannon told a press conference hosted by the Canadian Embassy a day after he met with Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi and Vice-President Xi Jinping. “I don’t like using the words human-rights dialogue. I want to propose a mechanism whereby everybody will feel comfortable as we move forward.”

The old human-rights dialogue, which began in 1997 under former prime minister Jean Chrétien, was criticized by human-rights groups as an ineffective tool that allowed Beijing to make a show of listening to international concerns while doing little to change its policies on the ground. It was abandoned by Mr. Harper’s government soon after it took office in 2006.

Human-rights groups still contest there is little point in resuming such contacts now, since Beijing seems no more willing to change its policies toward political dissidents, independent media and capital punishment than it was three years ago. “It is our contention that resuming quiet diplomacy by a secret bilateral dialogue with China on human rights has the effect of implying tacit acceptance of Chinese government violations of the universal norms of human rights,” read a letter delivered to Mr. Cannon’s office last week by the umbrella Canadian Coalition on Human Rights in China.

The sudden willingness of the Conservatives to bring back something like the human-rights dialogue seems part of a broader effort to restart relations with Beijing after three years in which critics say Canada both lost its former political influence in China and missed out on valuable trade opportunities.

While Canada’s new policy toward China remains in many ways undefined, Mr. Cannon’s visit follows close on the heels of a trip by Trade Minister Stockwell Day, who made headlines by reverting to another old Liberal policy and reopening six trade offices around China that had been shut in recent years. Mr. Harper is also expected to visit Beijing later this year.

There’s clearly a lot of fence-mending to be done. The fact that many Chinese now perceive Canada as something other than a friendly country came through clearly during Mr. Cannon’s question-and-answer session with students at the China Foreign Affairs University.

“In the past several years, this administration of Canada has emphasized a lot human-rights issues or Tibet issues, so there has been a downturn of relations between China and Canada. I want to know whether your visit and the visit of the Trade Minister … means a positive change in China and Canadian relations and means a positive change in the foreign policy of this admin to china?” was how one student, a 24-year-old international relations major named Zou Jianye, sharply put the point. The question forced Mr. Cannon to retreat to platitudes about the prospect of “good relations in the coming years.”

Other students asked Mr. Cannon about the controversial case of Lai Changxing, a top Chinese fugitive who has sought refuge in Canada from corruption charges, as well as perceived anti-Chinese sentiment in Canada, and why Canada’s foreign policy was so often indistinguishable from that of the United States.

The grilling Mr. Cannon got from the Chinese students was better than the average session of Question Period in the House of Commons, quipped Liberal foreign affairs critic Bob Rae, who is shadowing the visit along with Olivia Chow of the New Democratic Party. Nonetheless, he said he was pleased to see the Harper government ease its reflexive anti-China stand.

“It’s a coming to maturity of the Harper government,” Mr. Rae said. “I think frankly [relations with China] will improve as result of what we’ve seen in the past several months.”

Still, the Conservatives have clearly put themselves in an awkward spot by trying to move toward a pro-business position on China after years of promising not to sacrifice human-rights principles in the name of trade.

Asked by a journalist about the looming 20th anniversary of the June 4, 1989 massacre of student protesters on Tiananmen Square, Mr. Cannon said he had raised the “larger scheme of things in terms of human rights” during his meetings with Chinese officials, though he did not elaborate.

“Canada’s position has not changed. You know that our foreign policy is based on the promotion and development of human rights, on democracy, and on freedom, as well as the rule of law. That’s part of our DNA, and we won’t change that.”

But while Mr. Cannon’s entire press conference at the Canadian Embassy was translated into English and Chinese, Mr. Cannon’s response to the Tiananmen question was not translated into Chinese for the local media present.

Embassy officials later said that the translation was cut off because the minister, who flew to Shanghai later in the day, was falling behind schedule.

Tibet protest monks receive hero’s welcome in Dharamsala
Phayul[Tuesday, May 12, 2009 13:05]
By Phurbu Thinley

Dharamsala, May 12: Five Tibetan monks, who staged protests against Chinese rule last year in Amdo Labrang and later managed to escape Tibet, arrived to a hero’s welcome in Dharamsala on Sunday. Tibetan exiles, including representatives of Tibetan organisations, bearing Tibetan National Flag and Khata (ceremonial scarves) greeted the monks as they arrived here early morning by bus from Delhi. Of the five, two monks identified as Gedhun Gyatso and Kelsang Jinpa were instrumental in organizing a major peaceful protest in Labtrang in Sangchu (Ch: Xiahe) County in Gansu Province on March 14 as parallel protests in Tibetan capital Lhasa were being violently crushed down by Chinese security forces on the same day.

(From left) Gedhun Gyatso, Kelsang Jinpa, Lobsang Gyatso, Jamyang Jinpa, and Jigme Gyatso at a press conference in Dharamsala, India, Monday, May 11, 2009 (Photo: Phayul)

The other three- Jamyang Jinpa, Lobsang Gyatso and Jigme Gyatso were among a group of 15 monks who disrupted a state-managed media tour of the Labrang Monastery on April 9, 2008. (Watch video)

A press conference was held jointly for the newly arrived monks yesterday by the Central Executive Committee of Dhomey (Amdo Province)at the Lhakpa Tsering Memorial Hall of the Department of the Information and International Relations (DIIR) of the Tibet’s Government-in-Exile

“We couldn’t remain silent when peaceful Tibetan protests in Lhasa and other places were being brutally crushed down, and our fellow Tibetans were being killed for holding peaceful demonstrations,” Gyatso added. “From a Radio Free Asia Amdo-dialect broadcast we came to know that foreign and Chinese journalists were visiting Labrang Monastery at the time. Some of us felt it was a rare opportunity to tell the world about Tibet’s situation. We wanted to speak out to correct the distorted information being propagated by Chinese government on Tibet to the outside world,” Jamyang Jinpa said. “We simply shouted for the Dalai Lama’s return to Tibet. We told visiting journalists that there was no respect for human rights and freedom in Tibet under Chinese rule,” Jinpa said. At the end of yesterday’s press conference the monks were greeted with handshakes and thanks, and were felicitated with Khata by well wishers and representatives from different activist groups who came to hear the monks speak.

Thousands of Tibetans, led by monks from Labrang Monastery, staged peaceful demonstrations against Chinese rule over Tibet in Labrang in Sangchu County in Gansu Province on March 14, 2008. (Photo: Phayul/file)

“These are our true heroes. These are the people who have taken extreme risks for the cause of Tibet and its people,” Mr Gonpo Dhondup, Vice President of the Central Executive Committee of Dhomey, said of the monks.

“Our Tibetan brothers and sisters in Tibet are source of hope and inspiration for those of us in exile. Their fearless resistance despite imminent threat to their lives has become the strength and backbone of the Tibetan freedom struggle. Their heroism and courage constantly dictates Tibetans living in freedom in exile to keep the freedom struggle alive,” Dhondup said.

“What has been happening in Tibet from last year is a spontaneous outcome of deep rooted resentment Tibetan people have had against the Chinese government. No one was there to tell us to protest. Situation alone compelled us to come out on the street,” Jinpa said.

Despite their escape, the monks feel, there was no sense of relief.

“Thinking of Tibet makes us feel worried. Our greatest concern is for those who are still suffering in Tibet. Many Tibetans are undergoing torture in Chinese custody,” Gyatso said.

“Our only good hope is to have a chance to see His Holiness the Dalai Lama here,” Jinpa said.

After taking part in protests, the five monks had to be constantly on the run. Soon after the protests, they escaped separately into the hills near their monastery and kept moving from place for more than a year to avoid arrests before finally escaping to Nepal.

Once in Nepal, their flight was not yet over. Fearing possible deportation if apprehended by Nepalese authorities, the monks could not spare more than a week before fleeing again into India for their final safety last week.

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Also Read: A Record of the Tibetan Unrest: March 10—March 25

Gedhun Gyatso and Jamyang Jinpa spoke respectively of the two separate protests in Labrang in which monks from Labrang Tashikyil Monastery played the leading roles.

“What has been happening in Tibet from last year are spontaneous outcome of a deep rooted resentment Tibetan people have had against the Chinese government. No one was there to tell us to protest. Situation alone compelled us to come out on the streets against Chinese rule,” Gedhun Gyatso said.