On
this joyous occasion of the seventy-fourth birthday celebration of His
Holiness the Dalai Lama, the Kashag — on behalf of the Tibetans in and
outside Tibet — firstly makes obeisance to His Holiness and wishes him
many happy returns of the day. The Kashag, at the same time, implores
him to continue to live as the sole protector and saviour of all
sentient beings until the end of this Samsaric world.While
remembering the great religious and secular service that His Holiness
the Dalai Lama has been rendering towards the short- and long-term
benefits of all humanity in general, and the people of the Land of
Snows who have been suffering in this current era of “Five
Degenerations” in particular, the Kashag would like to beseech him to
continue to keep his compassionate eye on all humanity, and
particularly on the people of his adopted Land of Snows, in the future
as well or until they are all elevated to the realm of enlightened
beings.Since March 2008 until now, Tibetans all over the three
traditional provinces of Tibet have been staging peaceful protests
against the Chinese government, which the latter crushed by brute
force. The fallout, as we can all see, is that many Tibetan protestors
are being killed, beaten, tortured and incarcerated. While paying
tribute to these heroic men and women of Tibet, as well as expressing
our solidarity with them, the Kashag would like to reassure all these
people that their great sacrifices will never go in vain. Everybody
knows that during the eighth round of talks last year, the envoys of
His Holiness the Dalai Lama submitted in writing a Memorandum on
Genuine Autonomy for All Tibetans to the People’s Republic of China’s
government, in which all the future aspirations of the Tibetan people
are enumerated or elucidated. This memorandum is the latest in the
series of suggestions put forward by His Holiness the Dalai Lama for
the resolution of the Tibet problem. Rather than providing a rational
explanation as to whether it agrees — or disagrees — with what is
contained in the memorandum, the Chinese side has resorted to
distorting the Tibetan proposal and leading the international public up
the garden path by quoting bits and pieces of His Holiness’ statements
issued many years ago. Moreover, it is making deliberate attempts to
cause instability in Tibet. All these developments raise further doubts
in our minds whether the present leadership of the People’s Republic of
China really have the willingness to resolve the Tibet problem.
Therefore, we have now shifted our focus on engaging with the Chinese
people — or rather thought it more important to do. As such, we have
been doing our utmost to form Chinese-Tibetan friendship associations
in all those countries across the globe where Chinese nationals reside,
and create awareness among them about the truth of the Tibet issue. In
the future also, the Kashag believes, it is very important for both the
Tibetan administration and public to invest all our energies toward
this end.As for us, we are ever ready or prepared to engage in
dialogue on the already-submitted memorandum, which can obviously serve
as the definite agenda for the future conduct of the dialogue process.
There is no change whatsoever in our determination to continue the
talks once we receive a clear signal from the Chinese government.The
Kashag would like to take this opportunity to extend our greetings and
heartfelt thanks to all the peace-loving people across the world who
have been providing, either directly or indirectly, support and
assistance to the cause of Tibet as well as to the maintenance of its
culture and religion. The Kashag would like to particularly express our
sincere appreciation to those many Chinese writers and scholars who
have, since last year, been issuing statements and writing articles in
defence of the just cause of the Tibetan people. Similarly,
the Kashag would like to welcome and thank the Australian all-party
parliamentary delegation for the trouble it has taken to come to
Dharamsala coinciding with the seventy-fourth birthday of His Holiness
the Dalai Lama so as to show their support for the Tibetan cause. Your
presence here in Dharamsala is not only an indication of the love and
support the Australian government and people have for the Tibetan
people, but the Kashag recognises this as an important gesture that
will be recorded in bold letters in Tibetan annals.Finally, the
Kashag prays for the long life of His Holiness the Dalai Lama and the
spontaneous fulfilment of all his wishes. May the truth of the issue of
Tibet prevail soon!The Kashag6 July 2009N.B.   
This is an English translation of the statement issued in Tibetan. If
there is any difference between this and the Tibetan original, please
treat the latter as authoritative and final.