Exile Tibetan Administration Lauds Condoleezza Rice for Urging China to talk to His Holiness
Condoleezza Rice during a media conference |
Dharamshala, 12 July 2005- The Central Tibetan Administration (CTA) hailed the recent comments of US Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, calling on the Chinese leaders to reach out to His Holiness the Dalai Lama, whose considerable moral authority she said is no threat to China, as an indication of international support for the issue of Tibet, and believes will reflect favourably on the ongoing talks between the envoys of His Holiness and the Chinese representatives.
Speaking at a press conference on 10 June after meeting with President Hu Jintao and other leaders in Beijing, Ms. Rice said, “I had an opportunity to raise questions of human rights and religious freedom, to raise a few individual cases, but also to encourage China’s leaders to work with us toward a resolution of some of the structural issues in human rights and religious freedom and to ask that China reach out to, in particular, the Dalai Lama, a man who is, for Tibet, a man of considerable authority and considerable moral authority, but who really is of no threat to China.”
The spokesperson of the CTA, Thubten Samphel, yesterday said “The CTA appreciates the comments made by Secretary Condoleezza Rice during her recent visit to Beijing, encouraging the Chinese leaders to reach out to His Holiness the Dalai Lama who the US Secretary regards as an individual of considerable moral authority.”
Speaking to TibetNet, Mr. Samphel, who is also the secretary of the Department of Information and International Relations of CTA, further added “We believe such expression of international support and concern will facilitate to move the current contacts to a new level of dialogue to resolve the issue of Tibet.”