It gives me great pleasure to welcome you all to the Senate of the Parliament of the Czech Republic on the occasion of the Fourth International Conference of Tibet Support Groups. You are all here among friends. Some of our senators have already met with His Holiness the Dalai Lama three times. I personally met him when he was invited by Vaclav Havel to visit Prague during the first few days after our Velvet Revolution. His visit was a source of great encouragement for us then, and today I had the unexpected pleasure of meeting him for the fifth time in my house.

We have always sympathised with Tibet’s efforts to establish self-rule within the People’s Republic of China and also for a number of other reasons. The specific culture of the Tibetans and their original religion does not just belong to them or just to China, but to the world as a whole. It is, therefore, also our treasure which must be maintained and given a chance to develop in a way that the Tibetans themselves wish it to develop. This is not to say that we challenge the territorial integrity of the Chinese Republic. We, of course, wish to have the very best of friendly relations with the Chinese Republic and we are convinced that this will not conflict with our concerns for human rights. Also, we in the Czech Republic are open to criticism from outside about our neglect in the area of human rights. Let us not forget that it was not so long ago when we were ourselves struggling for respect for human rights in our country under very complex and even dangerous conditions. At that time the democratic world supported us and told us to value solidarity. We pledged then that when our circumstances improved we would support and offer solidarity to those who need it. Hence, this is the repayment of an old debt.

In keeping with this thinking in March 1998 the senate of the Parliament of the Czech Republic adopted a resolution calling upon the Chinese Government to set free all political prisoners and prisoners of conscience in China and Tibet, to open talks with His Holiness the Dalai Lama about forms of self-rule in Tibet, to work out means to enable a free and safe return of all those living in exile and to stop all policies aimed at the oppression of the Tibetan nation. At the same time, we called upon our own government to demand the release of all political prisoners and prisoners of conscience and the respect of international principles concerning human rights in talks with the Chinese Republic. I can assure you that this is a position we still maintain.

Moreover, of late we have been seeing more and more groups and movements promoting their goals by the means of violence and terror and this is why we have to appreciate the non-violent but persistent pressure being exerted by the Tibet Support Groups for a solution to the Tibetan question. The path being followed by these Support Groups is very important not only for Tibet but for the whole world. Violence in the world is increasing and the Tibet Support Groups provide a powerful example which shows that it is possible to struggle without violence. We are convinced that the People’s Republic of China will soon appreciate this and it will prove its power by becoming a part of the negotiations with the representatives of Tibet.

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