LETTER

The Rights of Tibetans

To the Editor:

I do not wish to respond to the entirety of Nicholas D. Kristof’s Aug.
7 column, “An Olive Branch From the Dalai Lama.” Mr. Kristof himself
says that both sides will surely flinch at some terms, and he is
correct about that.

The one point that needs immediate clarification is on the
autonomous rights of the Tibetan people. The way it is presented, the
reader may get the impression that the Tibet issue is only one of
education, culture and religion.

Even according to Chinese law as spelled out in the White Paper
on the Regional Ethnic Autonomy in Tibet issued by the Chinese
government in 2004, Tibetans are entitled to the following rights: full
political right of autonomy; full decision-making power in economic and
social development undertakings; freedom to inherit and develop their
traditional culture and to practice their religious belief; and freedom
to administer, protect and be the first to use their natural resources,
and to independently develop their educational and cultural
undertakings.

Lodi Gyari

Special Envoy of His Holiness the Dalai Lama

Washington, Aug. 7, 2008

( This letter to the editor is reproduced from the online edition of The New York Times, published 8 August 2008.)