DHARAMSHALA: The United States has described European governments’ call to the Chinese Government on Tibet as a “good example” of  Europeans and the United States working “to help improve security and build new relationships in Asia.”
 
In her remarks on European Union’s Human Rights Day in Washington, DC, on Tuesday, Under Secretary Maria Otero highlighted areas where the EU and the United States are working together to promote and strengthen human rights around the world.  As Ms Otero could not attend the ceremony, her statement was read out by Deputy Assistant Secretary Daniel Baer.
 
Ms Otero said the US government applaud some of the newest members of the EU for using their recent experiences with democratisation to support democratic aspirations in Eurasia, the Middle East, and North Africa.
 
She said the US European allies to help improve security and build new relationships in Asia.  “our pivot to Asia is not a pivot away from Europe. On the contrary, we want Europe to engage more in Asia along with us, to see the region not only as a market, but as a focus of common strategic engagement,” she reiterated Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s remarks.
 
“And as a good example, European governments, including Germany, UK, Switzerland, the Czech Republic, and Poland, have joined the call for Chinese authorities to address the worsening human rights conditions in Tibetan areas,” Ms Otero said.
 
Ms Otero, who is the Special Coordinator for Tibetan Issues, 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 the freedoms of religion, expression, assembly and association of Tibetans. Official rhetoric that denigrates the Tibetan language, the Dalai Lama, and those that have self-immolated has further exacerbated tensions.
 
“The United States 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.

“But advancing freedom and human rights is our daily work and we must continue the hard work of making human rights a human reality. We continue to press for the fundamental rights and freedoms of all people, and we will stand with citizens, activists, and governments around the world that do the same, as we strive for a world in which each human being lives freely and with dignity,” Ms Otero said.