Tokyo: International Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC), in collaboration with Japanese Parliamentarians for Human Rights Diplomacy, organised the IPAC Tokyo Forum today at the Japanese Parliament’s Lower House Conference hall in Nagatacho, Tokyo. The objective of the Forum, as per the organisers` statement, is to encourage a coordinated democratic response to Beijing’s distortion of the rule-based international order.
In their opening remarks as organisers, Garnett Genuis, Canadian Member of Parliament, and Funayama Yasue, Japanese MP, spoke on the importance of human rights and the universal value of democracy and the rule of law. They said the democratic nations should unite to challenge the dictatorial governments violating these universal values and destroying world order.
Representative Arya Tsewang Gyalpo was invited to speak on the current human rights situation in Tibet in the Forum’s first session. Dr. Arya spoke on the increased Chinese repression of Tibetan people through the destruction of monasteries and religious statues, forced indoctrination of Tibetan children in Chinese boarding schools, and how China is claiming authority to select Tibetan high Lamas, including the next Dalai Lama.
Dr. Arya informed the Forum of the US government’s 2020 Tibet Policy and Support Act, in which the US has strongly condemned Chinese interference in Tibetan religious affairs, including the appointment of the reincarnation of the Dalai Lama. He explained the recent five-point resolution adopted by the Japan Tibet Support Group and appealed to the IPAC Tokyo Forum to issue a similar resolution or statement to warn China to stay off Tibetan religious matters.
Representatives from Uyghur, Southern Mongolia, Hongkong, Taiwan, and Myanmar spoke on the gross human rights violations in their respective regions. They sought the attention of the IPAC members to condemn the repressive Chinese regime and its allies.
Panelists and lawmakers Nagashima and Nakagawa thanked the speakers. They spoke on China destroying the international norms and how China is going beyond its border policing the people in foreign countries. It was noted that fifty-four Chinese police stations in sixteen countries spread over twenty-six cities policing Chinese and the people of occupied territories.
Apart from the Japanese lawmakers, several parliamentarians from Canada, Europe, and other countries attended the one-day Forum. Among the participants were Scott Morrison, Liz Truss, and Guy Verhofstadt, the former Prime Minister of Australia, the UK, and Belgium, respectively.
In the remaining three sessions, the IPAC members are scheduled to discuss the Magnitsky Act and its global perspective, human rights due diligence, sustainable development in the context of China, and securing a Free and Open Indo-Pacific.
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?
-Report filed by OoT Japan