Statement of Kalon T.C. Tethong on the EU’s Refusal to Co-sponsor China Resolution
Dharamsala, March 20, 2001
We are disappointed by the fact that the European Union has decided not to co-sponsor the move by the United States to censure China’s abysmal human rights record at the annual session of the UN human rights commission. This will send a wrong and misleading signal to the Chinese authorities that they can trample upon the human rights of their own citizens and ethnic minorities without any protest from a powerful and significant part of the free world.
This will also disappoint a large segment of people in China and Tibetans and other ethnic minorities who are struggling for the restoration of their fundamental freedoms and their human dignity. These people expect the rest of the world to help fulfil their just aspirations.
In Tibet, the human rights situation remains appalling and will grow worse, judging by the hardline statements that are being made by some of the top Chinese leaders. On 5 March, Hu Jintao, the Chinese vice-president and the man whom many commentators describe as the one who will fill in President Jiang Zemin’s shoes, told the Tibetan members of the National people’s Congress, “Resolute struggle against splittist rebellions and other activities disturbing social stability must be treated an important work on high-level political agenda. We must implement this campaign seriously … All splittist activities must be curbed and repressed firmly according to the law.”
In the light of these sentiments of China’s blatant willingness to crush all dissent by force, the EU’s refusal to co-sponsor a China resolution comes as a betrayal of the Western world’s own cherished principles of individual liberty and human freedom.
More than in China, in Tibet the human rights situation is appalling. The measures to control the freedom of the Tibetan people’s to practice their religion and to preserve their culture and language are carried out more brutally.
The Tibetan people whose basic rights and freedoms are violated look towards the United Nations and the free and democratic countries to stand up and defend their rights which they are not in any position to do so, without being mauled or jailed.
However, we still firmly believe that the EU will oppose China’s usual trick of resorting to a no-action motion to stop debate on China’s human rights record. Also by voting for the United States’ China resolution the EU will send a clear message that the major European countries do not approve of or tolerate the present human rights situation in China.
Kalon T C Tethong Minister Department of Information & International Relations Central Tibetan Administrtation