Special Envoy Lodi Gyari making a point during his meeting on July 1st with Du Qinglin, Vice Chairman of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference and Minister of the Central United Front Work Department. To his right is Envoy Kelsang Gyaltsen while to the left of Du Qinglin is Executive Vice Minister Zhu Weiqun of the Central United Front Work Department. Photos/Central Tibetan Administration |
Envoy Kelsang Gyaltsen and I accompanied by senior aides Sonam
N. Dagpo, Bhuchung K. Tsering, both members of the Task Force on
Sino-Tibetan Negotiations, and Jigmey Passang from the Secretariat of
the Tibetan Task Force, visited Beijing from June 30 to July 3, 2008.
We met with Du Qinglin, Vice Chairman of the Chinese People’s
Political Consultative Conference and Minister of the Central United
Front Work Department, on July 1, 2008. This was our first meeting with
Minister Du who had taken over the present post after the 17th Party
Congress. He gave us a brief overview of China’s domestic and
international situation as well as on China’s policy on Tibet. We took
the opportunity to explain His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s basic approach
in resolving the issue of Tibet and also expressed our heartfelt
condolences to the victims of the earthquake in Sichuan.
We visited the China’s Centre for Tibetan Studies and were
received by Director Lhakpa Phuntsok and Deputy Director Zhu Xiaoming.
We had a good discussion with the scholars who briefed us about their
research projects. We appreciated the work of the scholars in various
fields and had the opportunity to emphasize the importance of scholars
engaging in unbiased and independent research on issues such as the
history of Tibet, which will contribute to a better understanding of
the different perceptions.
His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s Envoys Lodi Gyari and Kelsang Gyaltsen and their team in discussion with Executive Vice Minister Zhu Weiqun and Vice Minister Sithar with their team on July 2, 2008 in Beijing. |
We had a day-long discussion with Executive Vice Minister Zhu Weiqun and Vice Minister Sithar on July 2, 2008.
This meeting took place at a crucial time in our relationship.
The recent events in Tibet clearly demonstrated the Tibetan people’s
genuine and deep-rooted discontentment with the People’s Republic of
China’s policies. The urgent need for serious and sincere efforts to
address this issue with courage and vision in the interest of
stability, unity and harmony of all nationalities of the PRC is
obvious. In addition even though His Holiness the Dalai Lama is seeking
a solution to the issue of Tibet within the PRC, it is a fact that it
has become an issue of great international concern. In this context, we
had hoped that the Chinese leadership would reciprocate our efforts by
taking tangible steps during this round. On the contrary, due to their
excessive concern about legitimacy the Chinese side even failed to
agree to our proposal of issuing a joint statement with the aim of
committing both parties to the dialogue process.
While the Chinese side finally seems to have realized that
their allegations against His Holiness for instigating the recent
events in Tibet and in sabotaging the Olympics Games have become
untenable, they are now urging His Holiness not to support violence,
terrorism, and sabotaging the Olympics. We stated in the strongest
possible terms that no one needs to urge us on this as His Holiness and
the Tibetan struggle are universally acknowledged and appreciated for
consistently rejecting and opposing such acts. While the Tibetan Youth
Congress does not support the Middle Way Approach of His Holiness the
Dalai Lama and stands for independence of Tibet, we categorically
rejected the Chinese attempt to label it as a violent and terrorist
organization. His Holiness has repeatedly and clearly stated publicly
he is not seeking separation and independence of Tibet.
Throughout our talks we have reiterated to our counterparts
that the issue at hand is the welfare of the Tibetan people and is not
about the personal status and affairs of His Holiness the Dalai Lama or
that of the Tibetans in exile.
His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s Special Envoy Lodi Gyari (R) and Envoy Kelsang Gyaltsen during a press conference in Dharamsala, Saturday, 5 June 2008 (Photo by Tenzin Dasel / Phayul) |
In the course of our discussions we were compelled to candidly convey
to our counterparts that in the absence of serious and sincere
commitment on their part the continuation of the present dialogue
process would serve no purpose.
The Chinese side expressed the view that the dialogue process
has been productive and that we need to keep in mind that a
half-a-century-old issue of great complexity, cannot be resolved in a
matter of years.
Guided by the Tibetan leadership’s policy of engagement, we
agreed with our counterparts to have the next round of discussions in
October and discussed some points that could serve as the basis of the
agenda.
We briefed His Holiness the Dalai Lama today. We also briefed
Speaker Karma Chophel and the Deputy Speaker Dolma Gyari this morning.
On our arrival in Dharamsala on July 4 we briefed Kalon Tripa Samdhong
Rinpoche.
We thank our host the Central United Front Work Department of the Chinese Communist Party for its hospitality and assistance.
Dharamsala, July 5, 2008