Save Tibet Asia Pacific Forum Held in Tokyo: Updated
Friday, 4 July 2008, 10:41 a.m.
Tokyo: The Save Tibet Asia
Pacific Forum began Wednesday morning at 10:00 a.m. at the Gakkushi
Kaikan hall in Yurakucho, Tokyo. The Save Tibet Network led by Makino
Seishu, former Japanese Parliamentarian organized this Forum ahead of
the G-8 leaders’ Summit scheduled in Sapporo 7 July. It was attended by
Parliamentarians, scholars, supporters and general public from Japan,
Australia and Taiwan.
 KalonKesang Y Takla (second from right) addressing a press conference at the Foreign Correspondents Club in Tokyo, Japan, on 1 July 2008/Photo: www.thetibetpost.com |
Makino began the Forum with a welcome speech, and said
that since the demonstration in Tibet this March, the issue of Tibet
was widely raised around the world. He said G-8 leaders’ summit has
many agendas, but the most pressing issue of human rights and Tibet is
not one of them.
“We are all here to discuss the gravity of the Tibetan
situation and call upon the G-8 leaders not to forgot Tibet and urge
them to send strong message to Chinese leadership to address Tibetan
problem seriously. Environment and human right concerns are beyond
boundaries, we all have responsibility to voice our anxiety, therefore,
we are all here to make this Tibetan issue heard in the G-8 summit,”
said Makino.
Kalon Kesang Yangkyi Takla, Kalon for the Department of
Information and International Relations, Central Tibetan
Administration, read out the message of His Holiness the Dalai Lama,
followed by her keynote address.
She welcomed the delegates, and thanked the organizers for
their hard work in making this forum materialize at this crucial time.
She dwelt on the undergoing hardships of the Tibetan people under the
oppressive policies of the Chinese government.
She explained that human rights and basic fundamental rights
violation is still going on in Tibet. She hoped that through this
Forum, a strong message could be sent to the leaders of the G-8
countries to urge the Chinese leadership to face the reality and take
Tibetan issue seriously.
Other speakers were Japanese Parliamentarians and Tibet
supporters, including Matsubara, Fujita, Suzuki, Igarashi and Oishi.
They spoke about their experience while working on the Tibet issue and
applauded the leadership of His Holiness the Dalai Lama and justness of
Tibetan struggle for peace and justice.
“China is the most heavily populated nation in the world and it
is there that human rights violation is taking place and people are
denied basic fundamental rights. We should all take a moral
responsibility to tell the Chinese leaders that what they are doing is
not right and not acceptable to international communities,” said one
Parliamentarian.
Delegations from Australia are Tenzin P Atisha, Representative
of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Peter Slipper, Michael Organ, and Paul
Bourke of Australia Tibet Council. Atisha spoke about his experience in
1985 when he visited Tibet as a member of fact-finding delegations sent
by the Central Tibetan Administration. The participants spoke on
necessity of raising Tibet issue not only for the sake of Tibet, but
also for the benefit of China itself. A gist of what they said in their
presentation could be summarized as follows.
“The world leaders found Tibet not worth a risk antagonizing
China. Tibet is not just a political issue nor it is a riots or an
isolated human right issue, it is a global issue. We all need to take
this seriously and uphold the theme of this Forum, i.e. Compassion for
the planet,” said the delegates. “China has agreed to the International
Olympic Committee that they would improve on human rights and freedom
of press but what we see today is that it has become worse in Tibet.
G-8 leaders should see that China take its words seriously and resolve
Tibetan issue.”
Delegates from Taiwan included Dawa Tsering, Representative of
His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Prof Su Chia-hung of Foo-yin University,
and Taipei city councilors Lee Ching-Feng and Lien Li-Jen. Taiwanese
delegations expressed their support and solidarity with the Tibetan
people for their struggle for peace and justice in their homeland. They
urged the Chinese leaders to see if the material developments and the
railway lines they are boasting of are really benefiting the Tibetans.
They want China to take more effort in improving their human rights
record and press freedom.
Representatives from Inner Mongolia and Uighur, Khereed and
Mahmut said the situation in Tibet is similar to their regions, where
they have lost their pride, identity and language, they live under a
foreign culture and language. “Practice of one’s culture and language
has become a thing of the past,” said one of them.
Later, Professor Ishihama of Waseda University made a
presentation on Tibet, which highlighted the influence of Tibetan
Buddhism in Mongolia and China.
The delegates responded to questions raised from the audience.
There were some 200 people who participated as audience. Television and
newspaper representatives from major media have widely covered the
event.
In the evening, liaison office of His Holiness the Dalai Lama
for Japan and East Asia hosted a dinner for the delegations and the
organizers. Idano Yukio, president of Japanese Parliamentarians Group
for Tibet welcomed the delegates and convinced his support for the
Forum. Baba Reiko of Busshokai raised a toast to the delegates.
Representative Tshoko Lhakpa thanked the delegates for their
participation in the Forum and for their insightful presentations. He
said he is very hopeful that the Forum could send a strong message to
G-8 leaders to raise Tibet issue during the summit. He also thanked
Makino and his team for their sincere effort in organizing this timely
Forum.
In its continuing chapter today, the delegates called upon all
G-8 leaders to address the Tibet issue at the Summit scheduled to take
place 7 and 8 July. They drafted a resolution after much deliberation
and unanimously finalized it at 12:00 pm the conditions of which are as
follows.
Resolution of the Save Tibet: Asia-Pacific Forum
Given the current critical situation in Tibet, present and past
parliamentarians, Tibet support groups and supporters from Australia,
Taiwan and Japan attended a Forum prior to the G8 summit to appeal to
world leaders to use their influence to address the Tibetan issue as a
matter of urgency. [Note: Tibet in this document refers to the whole of
Tibet, comprising the provinces of Amdo, Kham and U-Tsang.]
The Asia-Pacific Forum, organized by Save Tibet Network Japan,
was held in Tokyo from 1-3 July 2008. Participants recognized the
dramatic increase of concern and support for Tibet throughout the world
resulting from the recent tragic events in Tibet.
The Forum condemns the on-going violations of human rights in
Tibet, including arbitrary arrests, repression and the campaign of
so-called “patriotic education” in Tibet.
The Forum commends the Tibetan people for responding to the
call by His Holiness the Dalai Lama to reject violence, despite the
violence and suffering inflicted on them by the Chinese authorities.
The Forum fully recognizes His Holiness the Dalai Lama and the
Central Tibetan Administration to be the legitimate representatives of
the Tibetan People.
The Forum fully supports the Middle-Way Approach of the Central
Tibetan Administration and the re-opening of official contact between
envoys of His Holiness the Dalai Lama and the Government of the
People’s Republic of China to discuss the peaceful resolution of the
issue of Tibet.
The Forum notes that many of the leaders attending the G8
Summit at Toyako, Japan, including President George Bush, President
Nicholas Sarkozy, Prime Minister Gordon Brown, Prime Minister Stephen
Harper, Chancellor Angela Merkel, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and Prime
Minister Yasuo Fukuda, have individually made strong statements of
support for the Tibet-China dialogue.
The Forum urges these leaders to jointly re-affirm their
support for the dialogue process and calls upon them to urge President
Hu Jintao to elevate the dialogue to the level of formal,
results-oriented negotiations leading to genuine autonomy for the
Tibetan people as soon as possible.
The Forum urgently calls on the Chinese leadership to:
a) Cease the arbitrary arrest and detention of Tibetans and
immediately release all those imprisoned for peacefully exercising
their basic human right to free expression.
b) Allow the United Nations, foreign journalists and other
media, diplomats and independent international fact-finding delegations
unrestricted access to Tibet.
c) Immediately cease the so-called “patriotic education” campaign, which has been re-introduced across Tibet.
d) Respect the rights of the Tibetan people to engage freely in cultural and religious practices.
e) Cease the facilitation of migration by Han Chinese and other non-Tibetans into Tibet.
f) Stop the reckless exploitation of Tibetan natural resources,
which is endangering Tibet’s fragile eco-systems and impacting on
neighboring countries.
g) Transform the Tibet-China dialogue from mere token
discussions to transparent, agenda-driven negotiations with the aim of
achieving genuine autonomy for the Tibetan people and bringing harmony
to both Tibet and China.
Report filed by Tibet House, Shinjuku, Shinjuku-ku, Japan
