Paris, 12 March: “The non-violent struggle of the Tibetan people must be commended and is an example for other struggles to follow,” said Mr. Michel Raison, President of the Tibet Group in the French Senate during a press conference with Sikyong Dr. Lobsang Sangay at the French Parliament today.

“We are happy to invite you to the French National Assembly before the rally for Tibet on 14 March,” said Mr Jean P Gille, the President of the Tibet Group in the National Assembly.

Mr. Raison said that the human rights of the Tibetan people are most important and the Tibet supporters in both the French National Assembly and Senate are working together for Tibet.

“The French people support us for being involved in the non-violent struggle of the Tibetan people,” he said.

Sikyong Dr. Lobsang Sangay, the democratically elected Tibetan political leader thanked the members of the French Parliament for their support.

“The international community should support Tibet because of the non-violent struggle of the Tibetan people,” said Sikyong Dr. Lobsang Sangay. “It is not an extremist or violent struggle as we see in many parts of the world.”

He said support for Tibet is support for non-violence and peace, so that others might follow non-violent.

Six different journalists covering major TV and radio stations, newspapers and news agency interviewed the Tibetan political leader.

During the interviews he said that he had come to the land of liberty. “However, the opposite of liberty is taking place in Tibet. There is repression and oppression in Tibet today,” he said.

Repression by the Chinese authorities is not bearable which is leading to self-immolations by Tibetans. If they stop repression in Tibet, there will be no self-immolation he said. We continue to discourage Tibetans from self-immolation.

136 Tibetans have self-immolated since February 2009 and 116 of them have sadly died. The last self-immolation took place on 5 March 2015 in Ngaba, Tibet.

Sikyong expressed his concern about the large migration of Chinese population into Tibet, which is leading to the economic marginalisation, cultural assimilation and environmental destruction.

“Inside Tibet, nothing has changed, in fact it has gotten worse,” he said.

The security surveillance has been increased and the introduction of with second-generation chips ID cards has been introduced to monitor the movements of Tibetans by the Chinese security authorities.

He said there are Chinese police sharp shooters on rooftops and security check post all over the towns and cities in Tibet.

Dr. Lobsang Sangay said over 1 billion people in Asia drink and depends on the water from rivers that start in Tibet. There will be shortage of water due to the deforestation and melting of glacier in Tibet. Tibet is referred to as the Third Pole as it holds the third largest deposit of glacier after North and South Pole.

China has been building lots of dams in Tibet on the Brahmaputra and there are fears in India that the river will be diverted to China.

There are concerns amongst experts that soon there will be war over water he said.

In response to questions from the media about the dialogue with China, the Tibetan political leader said that the Envoys of His Holiness the Dalai Lama are ready to engage in dialogue with their Chinese counterpart any time and any place. He said that the Middle Way Approach does not seek separation from China but genuine autonomy for the people within framework of the Chinese constitution.

Resolving the Tibetan issue will bring moral respect to China, he said. Moral respect must be earned but not by military might and strength.

The Tibetan political leader said that His Holiness the Dalai Lama remains the primary voice of Tibet and the Tibetan people. His Holiness has the respect of all Tibetans.

On 14 March, Sikyong Dr. Lobsang Sangay will address the Europe Stands for Tibet Rally organised by the Tibetan Communities and Tibet Support Groups in Europe.