Report of the 7th World Parliamentarians Convention on Tibet

7TH WORLD PARLIAMENTARIANS’ CONVENTION ON TIBET 7-10 MAY 2019, RIGA, LATVIA

A REPORT

7TH WORLD PARLIAMENTARIANS’ CONVENTION ON TIBET 7-10 MAY 2019 Venue: House of Riga Latvian Society Riga, Latvia

A REPORT

Hosted by Tibetan Parliament-in-Exile Latvian Parliamentary Support Group for Tibet International Network of Parliamentarians on Tibet

Published by Tibetan Parliament-in-Exile Design: Tibetan Parliament-in-Exile Photo Credit: Tibetan Parliament-in-Exile Website:www.chithu.org www.tibetanparliament.org 4

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CONTENTS INAUGURAL SESSION Address by Honorable Pema Jungney, Speaker of Tibetan Parliament-in-Exile

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Statement of Honorable Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the United States House of Representatives

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Keynote Address by Chief Guest Honorable Andris Buikis, Former MP and Professor Emeritus, Doctor of Mathematical Science of Latvian Academy of Sciences

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Video Message from Honorable Jim McGovern, Member of United States House of Representatives

Video Message from His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama

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SESSION I- PLENARY Challenges before the Tibetan People Today by Honorable Dr. Lobsang Sangay, Sikyong of Central Tibetan Administration

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SESSION II- PLENARY Issues Affecting Tibet Today Chair: Prof. Michael Van Walt Van Praag, President of Kreddha and Professor of International Relations and International Law: “Framing the issue of Tibet”

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India’s role on Tibet’s issue by Prof. Srikanth Kondapalli, Chairman & Professor in Chinese Studies Centre for East Asian Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, India

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China - Tibet History by Dr. Mumin Chen, Vice President for International Affairs, National Chung Hsing University and Professor at Graduate Institute of International Politics, Taichung, Taiwan

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The Tibetan Plateau and its current Environment Situation by Mr. Tempa Gyaltsen, Head of the Environment and Development Desk, Tibet Policy Institute, Central Tibetan Administration

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SESSION III- PLENARY Update on Parliamentary Initiatives on Tibet Hon. Michael Danby, MP Australia

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Hon. Ripun Bora, MP India

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Hon. Bhutila Karpoche, MPP Canada

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Hon. Vlado Mirosevic, MP Chile

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Hon. Chris Law, MP UK

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Hon. Csaba Sogor, MEP Romania

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Hon. Frantisek Kopriva, MP Czech Republic

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Hon. Consiglio Di Nino, Former MP Canada

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Hon. Tim Loughton, MP UK

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SESSION IV- PLENARY Tibet Issue in the International arena Status of US policy on Tibet by Mr. Jonathan N. Stivers, Staff Director of Congressional Executive Commission on China

A Strategy for the International Defense of Tibet by Mr. Carl Gershman, President of National Endowment for Democracy, U.S.A. The Issue of Tibet in the European Union by Hon. Csaba Sogor, MEP Romania

Policies of European Union on Tibet by Mr. Vincent Metten, EU Policy Director of Europe ICT

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SESSION V- PLENARY Brie�ing Session by Honorable Parliamentarians Hon. Andrus Navickas, MP Lithuania

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Hon. Gareth Hughes, MP New Zealand

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Hon. Michael Danby, MP Canada

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Hon. Pradeep Tampta, MP India

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SESSION IX- CLOSING SESSION Address by Chief Guest Hon. Andrius Navickas, MP, Lithuania

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Vote of thanks by Hon. Acharya Yeshi Phuntsok, Deputy Speaker of Tibetan Parliament-in-Exile

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RIGA DECLARATION

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PRESS RELEASE

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PHOTO COLLAGE

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Inaugural Session

Inaugural Session

Address by Honorable Pema Jungney Speaker of Tibetan Parliament-in-Exile

Video Message from Honorable Jim McGovern Member of United States House of Representatives

Statement of Honorable Nancy Pelosi

Speaker of the United States House of Representatives

Video Message from His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama Keynote Address by Chief Guest Honorable Andris Buikis Former MP and Professor Emeritus, Doctor of Mathematical Science of Latvian Academy of Sciences

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7th World Parliamentarians’ Convention on Tibet, 7-10 May 2019, Riga, Latvia

Pema Jungney

On behalf of Tibetans in and outside Tibet, I would like to extend my heartiest gratitude to all the honorable delegates attending this WPCT and con�irming your solidarity with us at this critical era of Tibet’s history.

Tibet occupies a vast area of plateaus and high snow capped mountains in Central Asia. It shares its border with India, China, Nepal, Burma, Bhutan and Turkistan. It is considered the highest plateau in the world and thus called the Roof of the World. It has a population of 6 million and land rich in minerals and the varieties of vegetation and wildlife animals. It is also a source of many great rivers to the Asian countries such as Yarlung Tsangpo (Brahmaputra), Senge Khaba (Indus), Drichu (Yangtze), Zachu (Mekong), Machu (Yellow river), Gyalmo Ngulchu (Salween). Tibet, thus commands the most strategic position in Central Asia. It has been a closed society with no relations to the outside world. It enjoys its own government, written and spoken Tibetan language, culture and religion.

In 1949, People’s Republic of China started their journey of invasion into Tibet from the eastern Tibet. On 23 May 1951, a Tibetan delegation, who had gone to Beijing to hold talks on the invasion, was forced to sign the so-called “17 point Agreement on Measures for the Peaceful Liberation on Tibet”- with threats of more military action in Tibet and by forging the of�icial seals of Tibet. The Chinese then used this document to carry out their plans to turn Tibet into a colony of China disregarding the strong resistance by the Tibetan people. The Chinese violated every article of this unequal ‘treaty’ which they had dictated on the Tibetans and gradually invaded whole of Tibet in 1959. The Chinese authorities levied forceful occupation on Tibetans through destruction of monasteries, suppression of religion, denial of political freedom, widespread arrest, imprisonment, massacre of innocent Tibetan people of all age, etc.

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Inaugural Session

The treacherous and illegitimate domination of PRC in Tibet and against His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama compelled His Holiness to �lee from His own country with around 85,000 Tibetans and took refuge in India. The people and the government of India had and still has been extremely grateful for giving us a asylum for decades and this year, it marks the 60th year of our exile to India.

During these 60 years, we Tibetans have managed to preserve our own culture, religion and language under the privileged guidance of His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama. Simultaneously, Tibetans inside Tibet, despite enduring the repressive and inhumane torture of Chinese government against them have and are still struggling hard to preserve it.

Up untill 1979, the Central Tibetan Administration and the Tibetan people adopted a policy of seeking independence for Tibet. But then, His Holiness the 14th Dalai lama from early 1970s has a different vision of having a middle way approach to resolve the issue of Tibet with the Chinese, as great changes are taking place in the independent status of countries and nationalities in the world, making it more sensible to solve a con�lict through negotiations. Despite these vision of His Holiness being very pragmatic in real terms, His Holiness the 14th Dalai lama didn’t force or push it on Tibetan people to follow this policy.

On the contrary, His Holiness held a series of discussion with the Chairperson and Vice-Chairperson of the Assembly of Tibetan People’s Deputies (the then Tibetan Parliament-in-Exile), the Kashag (Cabinet) and many scholarly and experienced people. Particularly in 1979, the late Chinese paramount leader, Deng Xiaoping’s proposal to His Holiness the Dalai Lama that “except independence, all other issues can be resolved through negotiations”, held a belief in resolving the issue of Tibet on a mutually bene�icial solution. Above that the opinions of Tibetans and the suggestions from Tibet, paved a way towards the unanimous adoption of this policy- Middle Way Approach, in the Assembly of Tibetan People’s Deputies on 18 September 1997. Therefore, this Approach is not something that has emerged all of a sudden but it has a de�inite history of evolution and was adopted democratically. This approach meets the realistic interest of both Tibetan and Chinese people and clearly implies of not seeking independence, but a genuine autonomy within the framework of the People’s Republic of China. Furthermore, yet again after the majority support from Tibetan people during the 2008 Special Meeting, Tibetan Parliament in Exile adopted a unanimous resolution to this policy on 20 March, 2010.

Up until now, we have had 9 rounds of dialogue with the Chinese government.

That last 9th round of negotiation was held in year 2010. During the eight round of talk in 2008, the two envoys of His Holiness the Dalai Lama presented the Chinese counterparts at their request, a copy of the Memorandum for Genuine Autonomy for the Tibetan People. This memorandum states for the importance of the middle way approach for both China and Tibet but this modest proposal

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7th World Parliamentarians’ Convention on Tibet, 7-10 May 2019, Riga, Latvia

was rejected on account of violating the Chinese constitution. Then during the ninth round of discussions, the two envoys presented to the Central United Front Work Department a note on the memorandum which explained how the demands of the Tibetan people, as articulated in the memorandum, did not violate the Chinese constitution. After that, despite every effort made from His Holiness the Dalai Lama and CTA, the Chinese government didn’t give any positive response for further dialogues. The CTA has made every effort within its power to create a conducive atmosphere for negotiations and taken a series of con�idence-building measures. Even after the devolution of His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s political authority to the then elected Political Leader in 2011, the greatest landmark in Tibet’s history, the CTA and the Tibetan people remain genuinely committed to take these steps till the issue of Tibet is resolved through a negotiated settlement in the best interest of both the Tibetan and Chinese peoples.

Even, Chinese scholars, activists, policy experts, journalists and individuals in and outside China have expressed their full support through letters, poems and voices for this approach of the Central Tibetan Administration and called on the Chinese government to resume dialogue with His Holiness the Dalai Lama.

Even Nobel Peace Laureate, late Liu Xiaobo supported this policy. The liberal thinkers of the Chinese section consider this approach a valuable proposal for solving the long-standing issue of Sino-Tibet, promoting reconciliation between China and Tibet.

Various parliaments, parliamentarians, organisations, intellectuals, individuals showed enormous support to this policy of Middle Way Approach. The coming up of World Parliamentarians’ Convention on Tibet (WPCT) is one such kind of efforts made by different Parliamentary Support Groups for Tibet in order to sustain and strengthen the Tibetan struggle to make aware and to support the truthful cause of Tibet. The �irst WPCT was held in New Delhi, India in 1994 with the efforts and aegis of All Party Parliamentary Forum for Tibet initiated by some great leaders of Indian parliamentarians who are ardent believer in just cause of Tibet. Followed by Second in Vilnius, Lithuania in 1995 with the support of Lithuanian Parliamentary Tibet Support Group, Third in Washington D.C. USA in 1997 with US Congressional Parliamentary Support Group for Tibet and International Campaign for Tibet, Fourth in Edinburg, Scotland in 2005 with UK All Parliamentary Group for Tibet, Fifth in Rome, Italy in 2009 with the support of Italian Parliamentary Support Group for Tibet and International Campaign for Tibet and the Sixth in Ottawa, Canada in 2012 with the close association of Canadian Parliamentary Group for Tibet and International Network of Parliamentarians on Tibet. And now the 7th WPCT with the assistance of Latvian Parliamentary Support Group for Tibet and International Network of Parliamentarians on Tibet.

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Inaugural Session

On behalf of Tibetan Parliament-in-Exile, I would like to sincerely express my thanks to Latvian Parliamentary Support Group for Tibet under the leadership of Hon. Artuss Kaimins and his team, Mr. Janis Martins Skuja who had extended their support to hold such an important convention despite having their own hectic schedules.

Latvia has been very benevolent towards our issue and has always raised their voice against the illegal treatment of Chinese government on Tibetans inside Tibet. On December 2005, Members of Latvian Parliamentary Support Group for Tibet sent a letter to Mr. Li Zhaoxing, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Guangya Wang, China’s Ambassador to the United Nations, Mr. Wu Bangguo, President of the National People’s Congress of the Chinese People’s Republic, Mr. Zhang Fusen, Minister of Justice and Mr. Zhang Limin, Ambassador of China in Latvia, expressing their concern on the crackdown of one of Tibet’s oldest monastic institution-Drepung Monastery on 16th December, 2018. Then, on September of 2003 in Riga, a group of Latvian Parliamentarians met with His Holiness the Dalai Lama and expressed their strong support for Tibetans in preserving Tibetan culture and identity. Besides that, on March 2016, a Joint Statement was made by Members of Parliament of Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania together with Tibetan supporters from three Baltic States showing their deep concern and anguish for the increasing wave of self-immolations in and outside Tibet since 2009, which clearly indicates about the repressive policies of Chinese government on Tibetans. Then, on January 2018, Latvian Parliamentarians including Members of Latvian Parliamentary Support Group for Tibet issued a joint statement on the case of Tashi Wangchuk, Tibetan language advocate, to ensure him a fair and transparent trail urging China to implement judgement process that is constant with international legal standards, with the presence of observers at his trial. Above that Latvia has warmly welcomed His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama several times in their country, thus Latvian and Tibetans share a strong bond of friendship.

Today we are gathered here together and able to hold this important Convention all because of your consistent support and encouragement, which recon�irmed and encouraged us to organize such a big event. This convention is being held after quite a long time but then the number of parliamentarians gathered here is encouraging despite having major elections in their respective countries. Many of the parliamentarians and our old friends sent their messages of regret for not being able to attend this convention due to sudden emergencies and many other things but they conveyed their best wishes to all of us and extended their support to this important convention.

At this crucial time of Tibet’s history, the support and the interest with which you all have shown by attending this convention will remain indebted to us. Simultaneously, the passing of Reciprocal Access to Tibet into Law

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7th World Parliamentarians’ Convention on Tibet, 7-10 May 2019, Riga, Latvia

by the US President and US Congress, the recent adoption of resolution of European Parliament on the increasingly repressive regime on Tibetans and minority groups in China and various other resolutions and statements by different Parliaments and its Parliamentarians all over the world, will remain indebted to us forever. Above that, the very recent statement of US Congressman Jim McGovern on His Eminence Panchen Lama’s 30th Birthday stating “The 24-year-long enforced disappearance of the Panchen Lama is one of the most egregious examples of China’s violation of the religious freedom rights of the Tibetan people. In honor of his 30th birthday, I again call on the Chinese government to free the true Panchen Lama immediately and without conditions.” is highly appreciative and it is indeed a hour of need, thereby, I would like to request all those truth loving countries to call upon Chinese governments to stop their interference in Tibetan reincarnation system through statements and resolutions.

Your presence �irmly validates our commitment towards solving the long standing issue of Tibet through a middle way approach with Chinese government. The number of Self-immolations inside Tibet is accelerating and has reached 153. Time is really running out and we urge each one of you to call upon Chinese government to resume the dialogue process with the Representative of His Holiness the Dalai Lama or Central Tibetan Administration, which got stagnant since from 2010 and accept this Middle Way Approach as the most viable means of solving the long standing issue of Tibet.

From this platform, we want to reaf�irm and recon�irm the Chinese government that His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Central Tibetan Administration and Tibetan people are still committed towards Middle Way Approach without seeking independence for Tibet. We ensure again that this policy will bene�it the interest of both the Chinese people and Tibetan people. This approach is not a sole wish of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, but an aspiration of majority of Tibetan people.

Thank you all for your active participation and hope your continuous support will be there with us.

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Inaugural Session

Jim McGovern

Thank you for the invitation to help kick-off the 7th World Parliamentarians’ Convention on Tibet. I am excited to see such a distinguished group of parliamentarians and advocates come together for the cause of Tibet. We know that a global, multilateral approach is essential for effective advocacy for the Tibetan people. We achieve more when we speak with one voice.

I would like to thank, the Latvian Parliamentary Support Group for Tibet, the International Network of Parliamentarians on Tibet, and the Tibetan Parliament-in-Exile for hosting this important global convention.

While the U.S. Congressional schedule prevents me from attending in person, please know that Members of the United States Congress will be following your deliberations closely. In addition, staff from the U.S. CongressionalExecutive Commission on China, which I chair, are present to participate in the discussions. We look forward to hearing the outcomes of your deliberations and then working together to implement your ideas and recommendations. This conference is especially important because 2019 marks the 60th anniversary of His Holiness the Dalai Lama being forced to �lee Tibet.

On this anniversary, we honor the many brave Tibetans who lost their lives and those forced into exile because of the violent crackdown on the Tibetan people in 1959. His Holiness is one of the greatest voices for democracy and human rights across the globe. His clarion call is an inspiration to people all over the world. We have a shared responsibility to answer that call, stemming from our commitment to universal human rights including:

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7th World Parliamentarians’ Convention on Tibet, 7-10 May 2019, Riga, Latvia

• • •

the right to engage in free expression without fear of any prior restraints the right to peaceful assembly without restrictions the right to practice your faith and live in security in your homeland

These rights – like the challenge of Tibet – are not limited by borders and are not limited to any one country or parliament.

In the United States Congress, our solidarity and commitment to universal human rights has led us to stand as a vanguard for global action on Tibet: • • • •

It led us to host the Dalai Lama over 30 years ago as he laid out his �ivepoint peace plan to resolve the crisis in Tibet.

It led us to pass the Tibet Policy Act to invest in Tibet’s economic development, assist refugees and of�icially make Tibet a national priority for the United States.

It led us to award the Dalai Lama with the Congressional Gold Medal – the highest civilian honor Congress can bestow.

And most recently last year, it led us to pass the Reciprocal Access to Tibet Act that says if American journalists, diplomats and tourists and Tibetan American can’t travel to Tibet, Chinese of�icials shouldn’t be allowed to travel freely in the U.S. This legislation reaf�irms the basic principle of reciprocity in international relations.

In addition, I was proud to author the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act to hold accountable government of�icials responsible for human rights abuses and corruption. The bill is named after Russian lawyer Sergei Magnitsky who died in prison after speaking out against Russian government corruption.

Moving forward, the U.S. Congress will continue to work to effectively implement our legislative initiatives and provide a bedrock of support for the Tibetan cause.

Today, our actions – in the U.S. and around the world – are as critical as ever.

Sixty years after Tibetans bravely assembled to protest Chinese rule, the harsh repression by the Chinese government continues.

As leaders of our nations, we cannot – we must not – let this status quo go unanswered. Over the next few days, leaders at this convention will engage in innovative and strategic discussions about the challenges in China and Tibet, culminating in a declaration and an action plan.

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Inaugural Session

I ask for all the world parliamentarians and advocates in attendance to consider passing your own versions of the Reciprocal Access to Tibet Act and the Global Magnitsky Act.

Our voices will be strong because we have the moral high ground, but also because we are standing together with a uni�ied voice. Standing together, parliaments and legislatures – the democratically elected representatives of citizens around the world – must keep working multilaterally on measures to support the men and women of Tibet and the Tibetan refugees in India and Nepal. Standing together, we will remain steadfast partners of the Tibetan people.His Holiness the Dalai Lama embodied the spirit of all Tibetans when he said: “I �ind hope in the darkest of days and focus in the brightest.”

For 60 years, His Holiness and so many Tibetans have remained separated from their land and their home. Yet His Holiness has found hope, even in the darkest hours. Thank you for your participation today and I look forward to working with you to make progress for the Tibetan people.

Thank you

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7th World Parliamentarians’ Convention on Tibet, 7-10 May 2019, Riga, Latvia

Statement of Hon. Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the United States House of Representatives

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Inaugural Session

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7th World Parliamentarians’ Convention on Tibet, 7-10 May 2019, Riga, Latvia

Video Message from His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama

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Inaugural Session

His Holiness the Dalai Lama

Respected friends and of course our supporters, I always describe Tibetan supporters as not mere pro-Tibetan but pro-justice. Because our struggleTibetan struggle is very much based on moral principle and thoroughly committed to non-violent way. So more and more people including many Chinese now showing deeper understanding about the Tibetan problem. So such occasion at this gathering very very helpful, very useful.

Since 2001, I retired and on political matter, the elected political leadership, carry full responsibility. My main commitment regarding Tibet is �irstly Tibet’s environment. Usually people call Tibet, “The Roof of the World.” It is true. And all major rivers which cover whole Asia -from China to Pakistan-all these major rivers come from Tibet. So one of my Chinese friends, an expert about ecology. He described the Tibetan Plateau as the ‘Third Pole’. Because effects of global warming from the Tibetan Plateau is as much as South Pole and North Pole. So he described the Tibetan Plateau as the ‘Third Pole’. So taking special care about environment in Tibet, I feel is very important. Some of my Indian friends, ecologists, they say Tibet, high altitude, dry climate.

So once ecology damaged, recovery would take longer period. Quite delicate.

Therefore we really need special care about environment inside Tibet.

Now I realize Tibetan language is the best language to describe about ancient Indian knowledge-psychology, philosophy, particularly quantum physics.

Tibetans- we have fuller knowledge because we study these things, come our knowledge. 8th century Tibetan emperor invited Nalanda, at that time 8th century top most scholar Shantarakshita. He was invited. So he introduced Buddhism according to Nalanda tradition and he also advised since 7th century Tibet already developed our own script copied from Devnagari. So he suggested, “You Tibetans, instead of studying Sanskrit or Pali, you should translate these texts, important texts”. So eventually more than 300 volumes of translation mainly from Sanskrit. And also from Pali. Therefore Tibetan language, you see, when translation started new words developed. So as a result now today Tibetan language is the closest language to Sanskrit. So therefore, I noticed when we discuss about psychology, about philosophy and you see these logical things, I found the Tibetan language is the best language.

Therefore it is really worthwhile to preserve it in order to study Nalanda tradition. These Nalanda tradition- not just religious matters. I consider them as academic subjects like logic – academic and psychology – academic.

Therefore the preservation of Tibetan language is, I think in whole Buddhist world particularly like China, Japan, Korea and Vietnam – same Buddhist tradition from Nalanda. Tibetan language is the most useful language to study these things.

And then now today 21st century, I think previously non-Buddhist countries like Europe and America –mainly these two continents. So Tibetan language

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7th World Parliamentarians’ Convention on Tibet, 7-10 May 2019, Riga, Latvia

now I realize, you see, if these sophisticated ancient Indian knowledge now today the Tibetan language is the best language to explain these things. So even as a sort of non-Buddhist countries now including many scientists are really showing interest to learn from ancient Indian psychology, Indian philosophy purely on academic level. So therefore I consider Tibetan language something very important to preserve. In future in terms of global level I think, these subjects are related with humanity. So on global level, Tibetan language I think, something useful, something important. These are my main concerns and my commitments since I retired from political responsibility. So my friends, you please think of these things- environment and preservation of Tibetan language. So, you are the source of our hope and our determination.

In 1959, when we came to India, felt there is a Tibetan saying – the sky suppressed the earth. So almost you see, helpless and hopeless. Since we have moral principle and certain sort of just issue, so decade by decade, more and more people showing interest. Now today the number of Chinese Buddhists and more realistic Chinese also showing genuine interest. Their last 70 years of their policy is not realistic. After 70 years Tibetan problem still remain there. So they also now thinking in order to solve the Tibetan problem a more realistic approach is needed.

So from our side we are not seeking independence. We since 1974 we are committed to remain within the People’s Republic of China. So there is no problem. In China, you see, Mongolia and Uighyur people and some other few different people are given autonomous sort of rights. The Chinese constitution mentions certain rights. Now these things, they should implement. So, therefore, my friends please think of these things and then support continuously.

Thank you very much.

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Inaugural Session

Andris Buikis

Dear colleagues, I apologize for my English not being very �luent, as the second language, I �luently speak German. But I have to speak that you can understand me, so I will use English. I will speak about my life experience, the things I vividly remember, I was born in 1939, in the year where the Second World War started. And I spent my childhood in the countryside. As a boy, I had to work in kolkhoz. I had to work with my parents. At that time, we all were kolhoznieki. We had to look after kok-sagyz, it is a form of rubber and in that time car tyres were produced from kok-sagyz.

In the summer where I was 15 years old, I had worked for 60 adult working days during the summer. In the autumn, I received 2 rubles and a few more kopecks. I had hoped to buy a Russian camera “Smena”. However, unfortunately, for that amount of money I could only afford a �irst row ticked in mediocre cinema. Then I was rescued by my father, who bought me the longed camera as a present a few months later. Now those who have not lived in those times may think that it is worth co-operating with Russia. Protect God from such dreams!

I remember the death of Stalin; I remember the revolution in China, as well as Korean War. I remember what I heard from my parents and their friends about the bombs in Japan. How all the adults were concerned!

After everything I have experienced, until the end of my life, I will always

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7th World Parliamentarians’ Convention on Tibet, 7-10 May 2019, Riga, Latvia

stand for true democracy. And that is the reason why working for 8 years in Latvian parliament I was always trying to work and be friendly with those nations, whose fate didn’t let them be independent. Such country is Tibet, whose �ighter for freedom – Dalai Lama I have met almost 10 times. The �irst time was in year 2001 in at the Latvian Academy of Sciences. After his speech from the audience asked about the 5 truths in Tibetian faith and and the 4 forces in physics. Does make sense that we do not know everything in physics yet? After the meeting, he asked me and said that we will meet again. And it was so! We indeed met several times while I was the member of Latvian Parliament. All the respect his Highness Dalai Lama, who has true respect from all the humankind.

A few years ago, I together with the Latvian Olympic athlete Martins Rubenis had written a complaint to the Chinese General Prosecutor's Of�ice about the murders of Falun Gong in China. Now I am frequently and regularly invited to Chinese conferences in mathematics. However, I never go there. Several years ago, I was in some conference of mathematical modelling and there was held a meeting on the in�luence of mountains on the global climate change (Tibtian Platou). The question is also in the program of the Convent of Tibet. After that conference, as a modeling specialist, I understand that this is a problem of our civilization, not just a question of Tibet and India. In fact, China's narrow approach is simply terrible, including the construction of power plants in the mountains.

I also defend the second “small” country, Taiwan, which I visited recently. I took part in year 2015 World Freedom Day Celebration. Taiwan is next to China, just as Latvia is next to Russia. And they both have the tendency to enslave. Taiwan is small, but proud over their nation. I will always have love, respect and true friendship towards such countries.

I now live a much-closed life, but when I heard about the "7th World Parliamentarian Convent on Tibet", I was pleased to participate in it and say my congratulations.

Moreover, I want to express my sincere gratitude to all those who have come to this event. I bend my head in front of you. Only people like us can do something in the future for the bene�it of humanity.

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Session I-Plenary, Challenges before the Tibetan People Today

Session I- Challenges before the Tibetan People Today

Address by Honorable Dr. Lobsang Sangay Sikyong of Central Tibetan Administration

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7th World Parliamentarians’ Convention on Tibet, 7-10 May 2019, Riga, Latvia

Dr. Lobsang Sangay

It is a great privilege to be here at the 7th WPCT. Under the leadership of Hon’ble Speaker Pema Jungney and Deputy Speaker Acharya Yeshi Phuntsok, we have 13 Tibetan Members of Parliament. We also have representatives from the Of�ice of Tibet from around the world. And I see many Members of Parliament have come from far and wide. I just met Hon’ble Member of Parliament from New Zealand. He changed four planes and travelled 40 hours to get here. An act that aptly conforms to the term support and determination.

I would like to mention the parliamentary Tibet Support Groups. The Czech Republic is the largest parliamentary Tibet Support Group in Europe with over 50 members. Though Members of Japan Parliament couldn’t be here due to prior engagements, Japan has the world’s largest parliamentarian Tibet Support Group with 92 members, 70 per cent from the ruling party. It shows that parliamentarians around the world are supportive of the Tibet cause.

I also like to acknowledge representatives from the US Congress, especially the Congressional-Executive Commission. Congressman Jim McGovern has been instrumental in passing the Reciprocal Access to Tibet Act. The video message for the Congressmen and the very supportive letter from Hon’ble Speaker Nancy Pelosi for the 7th WPCT shows the support from the US Congress.

I think what we intend to get out of the 7th WPCT is that there be strong support and resolution on the Middle Way Approach (MWA), and especially the dialogue between the envoys of His Holiness the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan

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Session I-Plenary, Challenges before the Tibetan People Today

people. Yesterday, we got the translation in the Latvian language, the book CTA published, which clearly says Tibet was never part of China, but Middle Way is a viable option. Hence, we want to make it very clear historically, as per International Law Tibet was an independent country. But if granted genuine autonomy, we will not seek independence. Hence, a dialogue is very important between the envoys of His Holiness the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan people.

Another very important issue is the reincarnation. The Communist Party of China which doesn’t believe in religion, or as Mao Zedong said religion is poison, wants to interfere in religious matters and on reincarnation. I think the reincarnation of His Holiness the Dalai Lama and all the Tibetan lamas are the business and the sole authority of His Holiness the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan Lamas. The Chinese government should not interfere at all. That is the crux of the religious freedom that we are advocating.

Generally, this gathering in the larger context is also defending democracy and human rights. Universal values, human rights and democracy are under attack. China is trying to create a new global order and rede�ine human rights.

So if you support Tibet, you are supporting democracy, you are supporting human rights, you are supporting justice and freedom. It’s not just simply an issue of six million Tibetans. We have been saying if you want to understand China, you must understand the Tibetan cause. Unless you understand what is happening in Tibet, you will not understand China. Tibet is the test for the whole world. It is a test for whether you are for non-violence, dialogue and democracy. And if you are for these values, speak for Tibet and Tibetan people.

This year we commemorated the 60th anniversary of the March 10, the Tibetan National Uprising Day. It has been 60 years since His Holiness the Dalai Lama has been in exile. Despite the power, pressure and efforts of the Chinese government to undermine us, dilute us, destroy us, we are still standing. It is mainly because of the leadership of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, partly because of the Tibetan people’s resilience, and primarily because of friends like you around the world.

Last year was also marked as the Gratitude Year. We wanted to thank all the supporters of Tibet around the world and travelled to various countries to express our gratitude. Some of you are from the places we haven’t been able to travel to. Taking this opportunity, I formally thank you for being with us for decades. The strong support is why we are still standing today, and why we have the 7th WPCT here in Riga, Latvia.

I think it is �itting that we had the 7th WPCT here in the Baltic State, Latvia.

This is the region where resistance took place many times in history and succeeded in restoring democracy and independence. I say this, particularly because I want to acknowledge the hospitality of Riga, Latvia and the Latvian

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7th World Parliamentarians’ Convention on Tibet, 7-10 May 2019, Riga, Latvia

Members of Parliament. I was in Vilnius, Lithuania for 36 hours. In that 36 hour, because of the efforts and contributions of the Lithuanian supporters, we were able to create a bit of a small wave through events and media coverage. The Chinese embassy issued a long press release condemning the press conference organized by our friend Andrew Navickas, who is here with us today.

The press release of the Chinese embassy explicitly said the presence of the Members of Parliament, such as the prominent Vytautas Landsbergis, the �irst president of the Lithuanian Parliament who is considered as one of the founding father and head of the nation, at the conference was prejudice, hostile and totally unacceptable. And they mentioned my name Lobsang Sangay, head of the Dalai separatist forces, who wants to split China.

The press release said, Lobsang Sangay, who has never been to Tibet. However, the press release forgot to add that the Chinese government never allowed me to go to Tibet. I want to visit Tibet tomorrow if they allow me. Another allegation was that Lobsang’s statement is full of lies. We are Middle Way, and what we do is seek truth and speak honestly, but, we are labelled as all lies.

There is political repression, economic marginalization, environmental destruction, cultural assimilation is going on in Tibet. All these are facts. Our book states that and so do the experts, but the Chinese embassy says it’s full of lies. It claims that Tibet is prosperous, and Tibetans are happy, but they forgot to mention that Tibet is listed as the least free region in the world after Syria for three years in a row in the annual reports of the Freedom House.

We all know about Syria, but how many people know that Tibet is the second least free region. Journalists are not allowed to go to Tibet. Reporters Without Borders, in a statement based on a quote from the journalists in Beijing, states that for journalists in Beijing, it is easier to go to North Korea than to Tibet.

Now we all know how restrictive North Korea is and yet, it is more dif�icult for journalists to go to Tibet. That’s why Reciprocal Access to Tibet Act is very important. If the Chinese government allows all these journalists, reporters, diplomats and academics to Tibet then they will see the truth about what is really happening in Tibet.

These kinds of press statements by the Chinese embassy in Lithuania is not new. I was in South Africa when they issued another press release. They sent hundred-plus Chinese and labor migrants, who were hired and paid to stomp the University, stomp the auditorium, stomp the stage where I was going to speak.

In Canada at the University of Toronto, around �ifty Chinese students carrying Chinese national �lag protested outside the place where I was going to speak. In

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Session I-Plenary, Challenges before the Tibetan People Today

Madrid, Spain, the City Mayor invited the Tibetan delegation and the Chinese delegation pulled out. The Mayor was under so much pressure because they warned that the President of China’s visit to Spain could be cancelled if he went ahead with the project.

In October, I was in Prague, Czech Republic. The Mayor of Prague invited Sikyong as per the protocol that they extended to Xi Jinping a few years ago. The Chinese government retaliated by cancelling all cultural exchanges between Prague and China. The Prague cultural troop were not allowed to go to China. Thankfully, the Mayor is strong enough to say, Okay, then we will send them to Taiwan.

These kinds of steps taken the Chinese government and Chinese embassies is an act of impunity. How long and how far can we go on tolerating this? All we can say is that these acts are based on insecurity. The fact that they are trying to isolate us and act the way they do demonstrates their insecurity. So these are the things we should be aware of, and we must unite in a multilateral approach to deal with China in defense of democracy and human rights.

When the Chinese army �irst came to Tibet, we were promised one road connecting China to Tibet. We were told that once Tibet was connected to China through this road and an airport, it will bring prosperity for Tibetans.

The Belt and Road Initiative says the same thing. We will connect the railway line, road and seaport to all these European countries and around the world, and it will bring prosperity. We also believed that party slogan, and we helped build the road.

While the road was being built, Tibetans were paid in silver coins for their labor. The Tibetans started singing a song, saying, the Communist Party acts like a kind parent �igure, it showers us with silver coins. Once the road was completed, the Chinese army came in, guns came, and tanks came, and took over our country. Soon trucks came for the forest, for the minerals, and for the last 60 years extraction of minerals is taking place, even now.

One road led to the occupation of our country. Now the same blueprint is being used in various parts of the world by China. I was giving a talk in South India, and two South African students asked me a question. What do you make of all these Chinese investments in South Africa? I asked them if China built good roads, railway lines, entertainment centers, and football stadiums? I asked if the ruling elites were speaking for the Chinese government. While answering with a yes to all my questions, they asked, how did you know about our continent?

I said I have never been to Africa, but that’s what happened in Tibet 60 years ago. And the same blueprint is being used in Africa, in Latin America, and they want to use it in Europe through this Belt and Road Initiative.

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7th World Parliamentarians’ Convention on Tibet, 7-10 May 2019, Riga, Latvia

There is a song promoting Belt and Road Initiative. In that video, lots of children sing that song, and it goes like this I quote “the belt connects the land, the road moves on the sea, together what they promise is join prosperity.” This song is somewhat similar to what we sang in Tibet as well. In another song, young leaders participating in the International Youth Forum, a UNESCO event, sings, “I would like to build the world a road and furnish it with love. I would like to see the world for once, all standing hand in hand and hear the echo through the belt of peace throughout the land. A community of shared future for mankind coming true. It is the Belt and Road, what the world wants today.” However, the song is a rip-off of the 1970s classic Co-Cola advertisement, “I would like to buy the world a coke.” Even the song promoting Belt and Road Initiative is a rip-off.

Co-optation of the elite is another thing China did in Tibet. I was visiting Australia around 8 years ago and the media was speculating whether Bob Carl, the then former Foreign Minister of Australia, would meet me or not. Obviously, he would not meet with me. During my next visit, I found out that Bob Carl has become a consultant for the Chinese government. Trade Minister of Australia is providing service to the Chinese government. So I went to Oslo, Norway, a few times. And the talk at that time was Beijing froze its relationship with Norway because it gave the Nobel Peace Prize to Liu Xiaobo. Then Foreign Minister of Norway wanted to normalize the relationship and signed an agreement. In return of the normal ties, His Holiness was not to be received by the king, Prime Minister, and the speaker, during his visit to Norway. Talks about democracy, human rights, and Tiananmen was not to be made. Then Foreign Minister of Norway is now the President of the World Economic Forum supported by the Chinese government. He is in charge of Davos, and it is not surprising that Davos rolled out the red carpet for President Xi Jinping, when he made a rare visit to Davos.

So you can see that it is not just Tibet, and it is not just Australia, Africa, Latin America, but right here in Europe. Ministers after ministers providing service to the Chinese government. So these are things we should be very careful about.

I know a country right here in Europe where a Chinese businessman was the advisor to the President with his of�ice right next to the President’s Of�ice.

Though he was �ired due to a major scandal, it is important to know that elite grab is the biggest threat to human rights, democracy and to the global order as we know it.

Today, that one road has become a hundred roads. Most of them leading to our minerals; gold, borax, lithium, uranium and many more. One airport has become thirty airports and six military air�ields. One railway line is becoming twothree railway lines connecting to gold, copper, and uranium mines. According to some environmentalists 70 per cent of the lithium comes from Tibet. China

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Session I-Plenary, Challenges before the Tibetan People Today

uses Tibetan-lithium made batteries for the phone and sell their phone at a cheap rate around the world. Similarly, at one time, 90 per cent of the rare earth in the whole world came from Inner Mongolia. For a foreign company to buy rare earth from China, they have to pay ten times its original amount.

Hence, the Chinese-made phones are cheaper than foreign-made.

Belt and Road Initiative is a big thing in Europe, in the Baltic States as well.

And I hope media and others pay attention and understand what’s going on in Tibet so that you will be aware and be careful when dealing with China. We are not asking you to not engage with China. What we ask of is standing up for your morals and principles when you engage with China. We are, after all, a human being with emotions and feelings. We cannot all become a commodity by proving services in exchange for money only.

Having said all these things, there has been a backlash. Even in Australia, the ruling party has proposed to pass a bill restricting foreign in�luence in Australian politics, restricting campaign �inance in the Australian election.

Such debates are also taking place in Czech Republic, Slovakia, and even in Germany. Many think tanks are coming out with reports saying China poses a threat or challenge to democracy, human rights, and universal norms.

The European Union and many American think tanks have come out with similar reports. We must equip ourselves with the �indings of these researches and learn how to deal with China. Even at the United Nations, we are seeing China rede�ining human rights and restructuring the United Nation. Socialism with Chinese characteristics, one-party rule with no freedom of speech or universal suffrage, is being promoted as the new norm. These basic rights, which we take for granted, are all at stake. We cannot be complacent. Though China’s presence and power are strong, we must prepare ourselves to deal with it together.

Today is the 7th WPCT meeting, hopefully, we will have the 8th in Lhasa, Tibet.

Under the leadership of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, and the resilience of the Tibetan people, we are still standing strong, and we are still relevant to the whole world.

In the 1950s and 60s, the �irst thing the Chinese army did was destroyed 98 per cent of Tibetan monasteries and nunneries. 99 per cent of Tibetans monks and nuns were disrobed. We had only a 2 per cent chance of survival and revival, and we took that 2 per cent chance and we rebuilt monasteries and nunneries in exile. We built Buddhist centers around the world, including in Latvia. We revived the Buddhist civilization in the whole of the Himalayan belt of South Asia, including Nepal, Bhutan, Sikkim, Ladakh, and Arunachal.

And most importantly we have revived Buddhism back in Tibet. Despite the

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7th World Parliamentarians’ Convention on Tibet, 7-10 May 2019, Riga, Latvia

ongoing repression of religious freedom in Tibet, we have revived Buddhism in private and social spaces. And in the last 60 years what has changed is China has become the largest Buddhist country in the world with 300 to 400 million Chinese practicing Buddhism. So spiritually, we have already prevailed or won against the Communist Party of China.

I am often asked about the chances of Tibetans getting succeed. It always reminds of my meeting with Lech Walesa, the former President of Poland. I asked him about how he succeeded and how he kept himself so positive. Lay Volusia shared about his meeting and conversation with the then Foreign Minister of Germany, who said to Lay Volusia that the Berlin Wall was not coming down in his lifetime. Few months after that meeting, the Berlin Wall came down. Sometimes you never know what is going to happen even in your backyard. If you have read the news coverage in the 1980s, obituaries were written about Nelson Mandela. But he got released and restored democracy in South Africa. We all know about Aung San Suu Kyi, the historic Good Friday Agreement and Vaclav Havel’s Charter 77.

We have come to Riga, Latvia to have the 7th WPCT because Latvia and the Baltic States fought for their democracy against all odds. Three small countries with 2.5, 2 million and 1.5 million population stood against the Soviet Union.

So we are sending a loud and clear message from Riga, Latvia to Beijing, to Lhasa, that one day our day will come too. And one day His Holiness the Dalai Lama will return to Tibet. One day soon, freedom will be restored for Tibetans.

If Latvian, Lithuanian and Estonian can do it despite being smaller countries in size and population, we Tibetans can do it too.

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Session II- Plenary, Issues Affecting Tibet Today

Session II- Issues Affecting Tibet Today

Framing the issue of Tibet by Chair: Prof. Michael Van Walt Van Praag President of Kreddha and Professor of International Relations and International Law

China - Tibet History by Dr. Mumin Chen

Vice President for International Affairs, National Chung Hsing University and Professor at Graduate Institute of International Politics, Taichung, Taiwan

India’s role on Tibet’s issue by Prof. Srikanth Kondapalli

Chairman & Professor in Chinese Studies Centre for East Asian Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, India

The Tibetan Plateau and its current Environment Situation by Mr. Tempa Gyaltsen Head of the Environment and Development Desk, Tibet Policy Institute, Central Tibetan Administration

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7th World Parliamentarians’ Convention on Tibet, 7-10 May 2019, Riga, Latvia

Prof. Michael Walt Praag

I would like to thank both the chairman and vice chairman and the members of Latvian Parliamentary Support Group for Tibet for hosting this wonderful event and the honourable Speaker and the Deputy Speaker of Tibetan Parliament-in-Exile for inviting me to participate in this very special convention.

Over the last 70 years the PRC has consistently argued and fed its own population as well as the international community the notion that Tibet has always been a part of China since ancient time. The result is that whereas international community widely regarded and condemned China’s invasion of Tibet when it occurred and for several decades after that as an illegal act of aggression, today many assume without any conclusive evidence to support that there is some truth to China’s claim that Tibet was historically a part of China.

Beijing has exactly where it wants us. Because this assumption alone changes the whole narrative in the nature of the Tibetan issue. Most importantly it provides Beijing with plausible legality for its actions in Tibet. And as a result we increasingly see that the con�lict, Sino-Tibetan con�lict is today viewed as internal affair of China. We don’t protest when Tibetans are being levelled as ‘separatists’. We inadvertently use the PRC terminology that characterizes the Tibetans as ‘one of the numerous ethnic minority groups’ of China.

And before we know it, we, not the Chinese, have changed and reduced the Tibetan issue to that of human rights and cultural preservation issue. China still considers it as a political issue. But we have changed it. Our governments

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Session II- Plenary, Issues Affecting Tibet Today

may see no harm in giving in to Beijing’s pressure to make repeated public statements recognising that Tibet is a part of China. It is our governments who are voluntarily legitimizing what the PRC itself cannot legitimize. In doing so we are enabling the PRC to entirely by pass the Tibetan people, their legitimate leaders and their representatives, His Holiness the Dalai Lama and the Central Tibetan Administration. The PRC no longer sees the need to negotiate.

The PRC does not claim the right to rule Tibet on the basis of its conquest of Tibet in 1950. It does not claim the right to rule Tibet on the basis of its effective control over Tibet over the past decades. It claims its right to rule Tibet only on the basis of its allegation that Tibet has been a part of China since ancient times. It is now bolstering this sense of legitimacy by pointing to our governments’ recognition of that claim. I am not suggesting that we bring history into the con�lict of that we bring history into the negotiations. Beijing already did that by requiring that the Dalai Lama publicly acknowledge that Tibet was a part of China since ancient time as a precondition to substantive negotiations. What I am saying is that we must challenge China’s claim that it is the legitimate sovereign of Tibet today. Since that claim that it is the legitimate sovereign of Tibet is based solely on a false narrative or a false historical narrative that it has been imposed on all of us acquiescing to or not challenging China’s narrative as very real and serious consequences for the prospects of resolving the Tibetan issue.

Today I can state with con�idence that Tibet was in fact historically never a part of China. I am not saying that Tibet historically was always independent. I am saying that the study of Mongols, Chinese, Tibetans, Manchus, contemporary historical sources leads to the conclusion that at no time before the PRC’s invasion of Tibet, was Tibet a part of China. You have been given a working paper that we prepared called, “Speaking Truth to Power Regarding China’s Claim to Tibet”. It explains why modern concept of sovereignty and territorial reality that China uses cannot be applied to historical Asian polities and to their relations because it leads to characterizations that are false and therefore conclusions that are false. This paper also similarly explains the counterpart norms of the Sinic World that the Chinese legal order the Sinic World to historical Inner Asia. By Inner Asia I am talking about Mongolia and Tibet.

Where PRC and many scholars do use sinic legal order to explain the relations with Tibet and relations with Mongolia. We show that to understand the real nature of those relations historically we must instead apply the principles and the norms of the Genghis Mongol legal order and of the Tibetan Buddhist legal order simply because it is those legal orders that govern those relations.

It was within those legal orders that the relations between Tibetans and Mongols, Tibetans and Manchus and even to an extent Tibetans and Chinese were constructed, regulated and interpreted. Now these insights that I just

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7th World Parliamentarians’ Convention on Tibet, 7-10 May 2019, Riga, Latvia

mentioned were gained over 7 or 8 years period of studying not only Chinese historical sources but Mongol, Manchu and Tibetan sources originally on a quest to understand how such different perceptions of history could grow overtime.

We engaged with over 70 leading scholars around the world on issue of the nature of polities in Inner Asia and east Asia, in history, the nature of their rule and the nature of relations between polities in Inner and east Asia that resulted in the publication of this book. And this is a book which deals with the nature of international relations in Inner and east Asia from the 13th century to the early 20th century and it is within this context we try to understand relations between Tibet and its eastern neighbours -whether it was Mongolian empire or Manchu empire and the Republic of China. With that new understanding that we developed from 8 years of working with those scholars, we then examined speci�ically the relation between Tibet and Mongol, Chinese and the Manchu Empire. To answer the question speci�ically, “Was Tibet ever a part of China?” And there again we worked and engaged with some additional 40 scholars to answer that question. In the �indings of that study as well as the international legal policy consequences of the responses to that question whether Tibet was a part of China.

It really matters that Tibet was not a part of China historically. It is not only an academic question but one that impacts situation today. And that is why it is important not to leave this issue unchallenged, not to leave China’s claim unchallenged. Let me just explain the principle reason why this matters because it quali�ies China’s invasion in 1950 as an act of aggression as here the annexation as a legal in Tibet’s status today as that of an occupied country. Aggression as I mentioned in the beginning is a serious violation of international law and importantly it cannot lead to lawful acquisition of territory or legal acquisition of sovereignty over another territory. And also recognition by other states, by other governments of such an illegal annexation is itself a violation of international law. Therefore a number of our governments are violating international law each time they repeat that Tibet is a part of China. That Tibet was not historically a part of China matters because it affects the legal obligations of the PRC under the international law.

The form of rule implemented in Tibet, the population transfer of Chinese civilians into Tibet, the PRC’s cultural and linguistic policies in Tibet as well as its responses to Tibetan people who resist Chinese rule or complain about it are subject to legitimate international scrutiny beyond even the domain of human rights precisely because Tibet is not lawfully a part of China. It matters because it impacts the Tibetans’ right to self-determination today which the PRC opposes with appeals to respect for its territorial integrity but that territorial integrity cannot apply to Tibet since because Tibet is an occupied territory. Speaking the truth about Tibet’s historical status

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Session II- Plenary, Issues Affecting Tibet Today

matters because it affects Beijing’s perceived need to negotiate. I think this is particularly important in the light of what we have heard this morning about the priorities of the Central Tibetan Administration to bring about renovation of the dialogue with the PRC.

But as long as Beijing senses that the international community buys in to Beijing’s argument that it has legitimate grounds to rule Tibet. Beijing will not feel pressured either to negotiate with the Tibetan leadership or to change its policies on the ground in Tibet to satisfy the needs of the Tibetans. Whether Tibet was or was not a part of China matters in relations to negotiation also because negotiations that start from the premise that Tibet was historically a part of China dramatically shifts the posts of the spectrum of possible outcomes of negotiations where the middle of the spectrum then is no longer something that can satisfy the Tibetan needs. As you know the Dalai Lama and the Central Tibetan Administration have proposed genuine autonomy within the PRC as an accepted political status to accommodate Beijing’s demand that Tibetans abandon independence as an objective in order to resolve the con�lict.

A genuine autonomy is a compromise somewhere in the middle between legitimate restoration of independence on the one hand of the spectrum and integration and assimilation to China on the other. This is what concretely the Middle Way Approach means. So less than genuine autonomy will not satisfy the needs of the Tibetan people and won’t end the con�lict between the PRC and Tibet. And if the posts are changed, the middle way approach becomes something between genuine autonomy and integration and assumption then we are talking about a solution that is far from real autonomy and it is very similar to the current situation in Tibet. In other words we are essentially saying that we are satis�ied with the way things are. And lastly that Tibet was not historically a part of China matters to all of us because it affects the obligations of all our states and therefore all government’s policy choices .

The status of Tibet and the unlawfulness of the annexation of Tibet and the rights of Tibetans to self-determination have direct consequences for the legal obligations of all states and in fact for other international actors including corporations and non-governmental organisations towards Tibetans, towards Central Tibetan Administration and towards the PRC. We can no longer remain complacent in the face of PRC’s assertions that the issue of Tibet is an internal affair and one that out of bounds for other states. In fact it is an international issue and the PRC as well as other states have a legal obligation to uphold international law and promote the rule of law. With it they have the obligation to promote the resolution of the con�lict.

I believe we must course correct and actively challenge the PRC’s false historical

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7th World Parliamentarians’ Convention on Tibet, 7-10 May 2019, Riga, Latvia

claim. There are many ways to do this and I will just mention some. We must frame the Sino-Tibetan con�lict as an unresolved international con�lict of legitimate international concern, a con�lict caused by the PRC’s illegal annexation of Tibet that requires urgent attention and urgent resolution. And euphemisms like ‘issue of Tibet’ don’t convey the nature of the con�lict nor do they convey the nature of the urgency of it needing to be resolved. As we address the symptoms of the con�lict such as human rights violation, cultural deprivation, assimilation, environmental destruction and degradation, lack of access we must do this in this light and within this framework and we must hold China to the legal standards that this characterization entails regarding its actions in Tibet.

We must also not lose the prominence, the origin of the Middle Way Approach which are effort to resolve the con�lict caused precisely bythe PRC’s invasion and continued illegal occupation of Tibet. If we lose sights of the source of the Middle Way Approach in this way it becomes very dif�icult to appreciate the generosity of the demand for genuine autonomy as a compromise between the two positions that I described earlier. And then it is dif�icult to see genuine autonomy then as a Middle Way Approach. We must therefore actively lobby our governments to cease making statements recognizing Tibet as a part of China. It may seem harmless since the Dalai Lama and the CTA are today not seeking independence but autonomy within the PRC if China agrees to genuine autonomy. But it is not harmless. Such statements validate Beijing’s false historical claim, even if they are not intended to and they undermine the efforts to persuade Beijing to negotiate with Tibetans. Moreover they pull the rug from under the Tibetan compromise middle way approach.

Collectively these statements effectively shift the middle towards China’s position- weakening the Tibetans’ ability to negotiate while strengthening the Chinese ability to negotiate which substantively translates into weaker autonomy and greater assimilation. Besides, this also violates the obligation of states not to recognize the illegal annexation.

We must also make clear that Beijing’s demand that the Dalai Lama publicly acknowledge that Tibet has been a part of China since antiquity as a precondition to substantive negotiation is simply unacceptable. Members of parliament are in an excellent position to play a role in all of these things.

You can demand of your governments that they at least investigate the basis of the Chinese assertion and carefully consider the consequences and the legality of their action before expressing any opinion on the status of Tibet, on the PRC’s sovereignty claim. You can initiate hearings on those issues.

You can organise brie�ings on the subject, draw attention to it and of course express views in parliament. You must convince governments that receiving representatives of the CTA including Sikyong, including parliamentary leaders representing the Tibetan Parliamentary-in-Exile is entirely appropriate, not

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Session II- Plenary, Issues Affecting Tibet Today

objectionable under international law or political relations. Because the CTA is the legitimate continuation of the former Government of Tibet that was in Lhasa. And despite decades of functioning in exile this govt. continues to be the legitimate representative of the Tibetan people.

To conclude one of the CTA’s top priorities you know is to get political talks started again with the PRC in order to reach a solution within the keeping of the Middle Way Approach. By taking a clear and truthful stand on the lines that I suggested we are supporting the Middle Way Approach. Because my contention is that promotion and conduct of dialogue with China must go hand in hand with the vigorous assertion of Tibetan rights only if the rights are forcefully articulated and have resonance and have reached a degree of resonance in the general consciousness as morally and legally just, historically truthful and politically credible, does a dialogue or negotiations have a real chance. Being strong on the rights, generous on the compromise is the best and the necessary approach. Otherwise I believe the adjustment of the Tibetan goals and the international community’s expectations with respect to those goals will continue to move to accommodate China’s unilateral shifting of posts towards its objectives to where there really will be very little left to gain or even to say . So let us start to course correct at this very convention and let us be true to power here and persuade our governments to do the same.

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7th World Parliamentarians’ Convention on Tibet, 7-10 May 2019, Riga, Latvia

China-Tibet History Dr. Mumin Chen

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Parliamentarians from all over the world, friends of Tibet, I am very glad to be here today to speak in front of you. Some of you know that I am from Taiwan. Taiwan is a very small place. You don’t even see Taiwan on this map.

It is too tiny. But Tibet is very big. We have been �ighting against the pressure from China for decades. So we have a lot to learn from Tibetan experience.

We also like to share more and also to learn from each other. Because we have same common goals. I am actually not an expert on Tibet. I am a scholar of international relations. And I teach more about Chinese foreign policies and China-India relations. But today I like to give an introduction about how Chinese government and how ordinary Chinese people see Tibet more like a historical perspective. I want to make clear that I do not endorse such position okay and I do not support, I do not defend their position. So if you challenge what I say, I will not defend. But I will try to explain to all of you why today not just the Chinese government but many other Chinese see Tibet as a part of China.

Actually there are two China – one is Republic of China in Taiwan. Our of�icial name is ROC and there is another China – PRC (People’s Republic of China) in Beijing. Before 1990s our government, the Taiwan government considered Tibet as a part of China. And today Taiwan no longer has that position but PRC government –they still consider Tibet as part of their autonomous.

You can see from these slides. There are two maps. The left side is the map

Session II- Plenary, Issues Affecting Tibet Today

claimed by the ROC government and the right side is the map of China – PRC. In both the maps you see that Tibet is considered their territory. Why so? I like to give you some very long history background. I will use a few slides. You won’t be very boring….. because I know some people don’t like history. So I will just give you some general idea.

7th century in China was Tang dynasty and from this period you can see Tibet was a very big empire. When I learnt at school we quoted ‘Tubo’ wangzao and later I found that Tubo means Tibet. So 1600 years ago you already had the name Tibetan empire and early kings like Songtsen Gampo and Trisong Detsen. I think it was around 7th century or 8th century. They made Tibet a very powerful empire, even more powerful than China and in 763 AD, they defeated the Tang dynasty army and occupied the capital Chang’an. So at that time there was no doubt that Tibet was a powerful country. No body then said that Tibet was a part of China. It was around this time that Buddhism was �irst introduced in Tibet. But Chinese and Tibetans have different interpretations about how Buddhism was introduced. The Chinese say that princess Wencheng who was married to King Songtsen Gampo brought Buddhism to Tibet. But Tibetans say that it was Guru Rinpoche who introduced Buddhism in Tibet. In the 13th century it was the Mongols who ruled not just China but many parts of Asia. At that time you can see from the map of the 13th century not just Tibet but the whole China was under the rule of the Mongols. And Mongolia conquered Tibet in the year 1270 and they maintained control for about like 100 years. The Chinese historians today say that Tibet has been under Chinese effective control since this time. But Tibetans and other people will say that it was not the Chinese but the Mongolians who ruled Tibet and China. So, who is right? Actually it was not the Chinese but the Mongolians.

Then we have Qing dynasty. The Qing dynasty started in the mid-17th century and lasted till 1911. Here actually there are two issues that we have to discuss. Firstly during the Qing dynasty what was the relationship between the Chinese emperors and the Dalai Lama? The Fifth Dalai Lama visited Beijing in 1652 and met with the Chinese emperor Shunzhi. Tibetans say that they are equal, but the Chinese will say he came all the way to Beijing to see the emperor then he must consider the Chinese emperor as master. We see that the Chinese and the Tibetans see the same thing and they get different conclusions. Secondly, during the end of the 19th century, the Chinese initiated a series of reformations and tried to consolidate their rule in Tibet. But it is debatable if this kind of rule or in�luence is sovereignty or just suzerainty.

Then we have Republic Era – Republic of China from 1911-1949 in China.

They continued the policies of the Qing dynasty saying that Tibet is a part of China. They also set up Mongolian and Tibetan Affairs Commission. And the 14th Dalai Lama was chosen and when he moved to Lhasa and later he became the leader, ROC government claimed that they had rati�ied the 14th

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7th World Parliamentarians’ Convention on Tibet, 7-10 May 2019, Riga, Latvia

Dalai Lama and it was this policy from the previous dynasty saying that the Dalai Lama had been chosen by the Chinese government. But actually the Tibetans had a different interpretation on this. The Chinese government – the ROC government sent someone whose name was Wu Chung-hsin as a representative to preside the ceremony. Tibetans say that Wu Chung hsin is just an envoy or some ambassador who came to Tibet to attend the ceremony.

In 1913-14, the British India invited the Chinese and the Tibetan government to Simla and they had serious conference to decide the border issue. The Chinese claimed that the Tibetan representative had no role in the conference.

But from the Tibetan or the British perspective, it was a trilateral conferencethey are talking about Tibet issue and the Chinese also participated. And later the Chinese govt. did not ratify. They did not sign the Simla Accord. But the British and the Tibetan government signed it and could end the problem of India-Tibet border disputes. When the Republican govt. was established in 1911, they knew that they could not claim to be the only Han country.

So they adopted the principle of unity of �ive nationalities including Han Chinese, Manchurians, Mongols, Muslims and �inally Tibetans. They saw that all �ive ethnic groups were integrated into a new Chinese nation. You can see that the national �lag used in our ROC from 1912-1928 had �ive colours. The �ive colours represented �ive different nationalities. Tibet was represented by black colour. So eventually it was our ROC’s policy on Tibet or other ethnic minorities- a kind of great Han nationalism. Still Han Chinese played a dominating role in leading the country but they tried to assimilate the other ethnic minorities including Tibet. However, before they came to power their policy was national self-determination. It was based on the Soviet experience. They allowed the minorities to have their own republic.

But after the Communists came to power in 1949, they dramatically changed the policies. In 1956 the PRC identi�ied 55 ethnic minorities. They said that China is not a single ethnic country. It is a multi-national state with 56 nations in total. And Tibet is one of them. But if you are ethnic minority, you could have self-rule. So they created a concept called national regional autonomy.

The autonomous governments can only deal with very local affairs and everything else is decided by the central government. So right now there are in total 155 autonomous areas. The top is called autonomous regions and the second is autonomous prefectures and at the bottom there are 120 autonomous counties. So when the ethnic reached 30% of the population of the region they could become autonomous area.

Now what are the PRC’s policies on Tibet? I have personally divided it in to four different phases. From 1952-1959 we are all familiar with it. They introduced ‘One country, two systems’ to Tibet. After the uprising of 1959, we can say, inside Tibet, was crack down and later a lot of turmoils particularly during the Cultural Revolution. After 1976 for around ten years many people

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Session II- Plenary, Issues Affecting Tibet Today

think that was the best time for Chinese and Tibet because Hu Yaobang was in charge of the Tibetan affairs and he allowed the revival of religion, revival of cultural rights. So this kind of rapprochement between Chinese and Tibetans and the Tibetan government also sent delegations back to Tibet during that time. After 1989 till now, the next stage what we see today, China continued to tighten their control over Tibet and tried to eradicate Tibetan religion, culture and identity.

In China the local people think everything about Tibetan as something ‘not useful’. They have no interest in knowing anything about Tibet. They don’t want to learn Tibetan culture and history. They are not interested in Tibetan.

This is very strange. I think the Chinese govt. has successfully educated their people to keep distance from Tibetan culture and religion. This is a disaster. I also had the chance to visit some areas in Ngapa county. This is called Nomad Settlement Policy. They encourage nomads to give up their land and move to a village where they are provided with a house and education facility. But the problem is that the nomads after leaving the land and moving into a village lose their skills to live. Many of them don’t know how to survive after spending all the money provided by the government. The Chinese government say that this Nomad Settlement Policy is good for the Tibetan people in the area. I also have some Tibetan friends. They say ‘no’. Actually the Tibetan people don’t really bene�it from a policy like this. I think that if you really want to make progress, we have to stand �irm but another important thing is that we try to encourage the ordinary Chinese people to know Tibet more. There are about 200,000 Tibetan Buddhists in Taiwan and people are showing sympathy to the Tibetan issue. And all the books about Tibet written in Chinese are published in Taiwan. You don’t get it published in China or Hong Kong but in Taiwan. So I hope you enjoyed my presentation.

Thank You.

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7th World Parliamentarians’ Convention on Tibet, 7-10 May 2019, Riga, Latvia

India’s Role on Tibet’s Issue Prof. Srikant Kondapalli

Thank you Mr. Chairman for the invitation. My apologies for �irstly on being absent at the venue. But through Skype I would like to make a few points. Let me greet the honourable parliamentarians from across the world who are concerned about the Tibetan-related affairs. Firstly I would like to say that many Asian countries are concerned in the recent times for the policy that China adopts towards Tibet. Because of the One-China Policy many Asian countries are today feeling the heat. Secondly with the recently launched Belt and Road Initiative, not just the Asian countries as we gather even central and eastern European countries are facing the heat from China. Well, as you all know and as the previous speaker had said that Tibet is on a high elevation over 4000 metres above sea level and roughly constituting about 2 million sq.km of territory out of the Asian land mass of 44 million sq.kms.

Tibet has a population of roughly about 6 million people. But there are over 8 million Chinese who have been present in the Tibetan Plateau. In addition to what the previous speaker mentioned over 30 million tourists bring in about 7 million dollars of revenues. Of course much of the revenues are going to the Han nationals rather than the local Tibetans.

The GDP of Tibet is just about 20 million dollars as compared to 30 trillion dollars in Asia as a whole and over 12 trillion dollars in China. So the per capita income in Tibet is one of the lowest in China with over a thousand dollars Tibetan as compared to an average of 7000 dollars in Asia. So Asian countries are relatively per position vis-a-vis Tibet but more signi�icant

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Session II- Plenary, Issues Affecting Tibet Today

from the point of Asian countries are also the resources that Tibet has. For example the human resources, especially the talent that Tibetans have is quite amazing. For example, in India we have 10th standard results. Every year the Tibetan students score very high marks in the examination. Secondly there are nearly 200,000 Tibetans today who are exercising democratic rights. They are voting in competitive election, especially in the last two elections. Very high percentage of voting is recorded among the Tibetan community. In other words the Tibetans are exercising their democratic rights –voting choice. In India right now we have all India election campaign. The average voting here in India is roughly about 60% to 65% as compared to the Tibetans who are voting something like 88 to 90%. So there is something that we can learn from the Tibetans in terms of participation in the electoral processes.

Secondly Tibet is endowed with natural resources. As the previous speaker had mentioned about the water resources and minerals for a hundred mining sites exist in Tibet. China is exploiting at a very massive phase. Secondly, the water resources roughly about 25% of water from Tibet is passing through South Asia and Southeast Asia as….. 28% water resources into China. Over ten rivers in southeast and South Asia are dependent on the glaciers melt down of Tibet. Of course last few decades between something like 15% of glaciers have melted down. This is a lot of concern for the Southeast Asia and South Asia. In addition of course China is diverting river water. The South North River Diversion Project – all these projects have already been completed. By 2050 China intends to divert something like 17 billion cubic metres of water with huge concern for the downstream countries like India, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and other countries. In other words the resources include those water and minerals is posing a huge concern for the rest of Asia. There is this Asian countries in general think the heat about OneChina Policy.

In this context H.H. the Dalai Lama had visited many Asian countries. But most frequently apart from his sermons extensively in India, there are visits to Japan almost every year. For the past few decades, H.H. the Dalai Lama also visited Taiwan several times in 1997, 2001, 2003, 2009 and in 2015.

Mongolia is a different case which is of course predominantly a Buddhist state. When H.H. the Dalai Lama went to Mongolia in 2002, China blockaded the borders of Mongolia. In 2016 when the Dalai Lama visited Ulan Bator, China increased the tariffs across the land-locked Mongolian landmark creating much hardship to Mongolia. Today Mongolia has joined the Belt and Road Initiative. However, it is a certain death that Mongolia is missing with the Belt and Road Initiative project. His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s in�luence is widespread among the public. Of course the Dalai Lama visited Thailand in 1993 to attend congregation of the Nobel Peace Laureates. They were putting pressure on another Nobel Peace Laureate, Aung San Suu Kyi of Burma. The

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7th World Parliamentarians’ Convention on Tibet, 7-10 May 2019, Riga, Latvia

Dalai Lama visited Indonesia a long time ago in 1992. So very few countries today are meeting the Dalai Lama even though these are basically religious meetings and sermons. In this context India has a certain model which I will recommend other countries to adopt.

India had given refuge to the Dalai Lama in 1959. Today there are nearly 160,000 Tibetans in India. Of course India had accepted the One-China Policy in 1954, 1988 as well as in 2003. In the of�icial documents India recognized that Tibet is a part of China. However, India today protects Tibetan culture, Tibetan religion, Tibetan view, education of other forms. For example, India never recognized that Tibet is a historical part of China. India also never recognized or never mentioned in its joint statements with China that Tibet is an inalienable portion of China. In other words, there are several areas that India avoided.

Today the Tibetan diaspora in India are free to conduct their own educational system, their own religious practices or even their own political ideas. So to that extent there is a lot of scope for other countries as well to adopt the Indian model in terms of protecting Tibetan culture and religion. For centuries we have had peace on the borders with Tibet. Since the People’s Liberation Army of China entered Tibet in 1950, we have seen tensions between China and India. This is re�lected in the 1962 con�lict. This is re�lected continuously in terms of nearly 400 transgressions in the border areas between China and India. In the light of this tension, it is the Indian effort to preserve the Tibetan �lame. For example in nurturing talent, in preserving the religious and cultural traditions of Tibetans, India has been in the forefront. Secondly, India has been in the forefront in encouraging the Tibetans to exercise democratic rights. Unlike in Nepal and unlike in other countries where there are restrictions on the electoral process for the Tibetans all over. There are no such restrictions in India. In other words, the Tibetans can exercise their rights. So this is one possibly a message that other countries including Latvia, other democratic countries to cause and nurture.

Thank you very much for your attention.

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Session II- Plenary, Issues Affecting Tibet Today

The Tibetan Plateau and Its Current Environment Situation

Tempa Gyaltsen

When it comes to the question of Tibet environment, there are many issues that we can focus on but I like to focus on four issues.

• • • •

H.H. the Dalai Lama’s environment efforts for the last 50 years The global signi�icance of the Tibetan Plateau The impact of climate change on the Tibetan Plateau The current environment situation in Tibet

1. H.H. the Dalai Lama’s environment efforts for the last 50 years

In 2015 during COP (21) UN Climate Summit, we launched a successful campaign called ‘Climate Action for Tibet’. During that climate action, His Holiness in his video message said, “This blue planet is our only home and Tibet is its roof. The Tibetan Plateau needs to be protected not just for the Tibetans but for the environmental health and sustainability of the entire world”.

Then His Holiness gave another written message last year at the COP 24 for which I had the privilege of handling this written message to the party delegates at the COP 24. In this message His Holiness said, “When we see photographs of the earth from space, we see no boundaries between us, just this one blue planet. This is no longer a time to think only of ‘my

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7th World Parliamentarians’ Convention on Tibet, 7-10 May 2019, Riga, Latvia

nation’ or ‘our continent’ alone. There is a real need for a greater sense of global responsibility based on a sense of the oneness of humanity”. When we speak on Tibet’s environment as His Holiness has said that there is no political boundary when it comes to environment issues. We speak about environmental issues not to embarrass the Chinese government but rather to protect Tibet’s environment. Because if we are able to protect Tibet’s environment, then we are able to provide generations and generations of younger Tibetans to enjoy the same natural environment that our father and grandfather enjoyed during our independent days.

2. The Global Signi�icance of the Tibetan Plateau

The Tibetan Plateau is called the ‘Roof of the World’. With an area of 2.5 million sq.km, which is almost 2% of the earth’s land surface it is a massive landmass standing at an average elevation of more than 4000 metres above sea level. It is considered to be the largest and highest plateau which ever existed in the geological history of the earth. This is the reason why the world’s highest peaks are found here on the Tibetan Plateau. Because of its massive surface area at a very high elevation Tibetan Plateau is home to 46000 glaciers. Because of the presence of a huge amount of mass of glaciers on the Tibetan Plateau it in�luences the climate conditions across the globe like North Pole and South Pole. That is why the Tibetan Plateau is called the ‘Third Pole’. It is the ‘Third Pole’ that deserves equal attention.

Because of the glaciers, because of the high elevation, the Tibetan Plateau in�luences climate conditions across the globe. According to scienti�ic studies it is said that the timing and the intensity of the Indian monsoon depend on the atmospheric temperature on the Tibetan Plateau. Those of you who are from India, like me know that the monsoon in India has been unpredictable in recent years. This is because we are losing a lot of glacier on the Tibetan Plateau. It is said by some scientists that the recent increase in heat waves in Europe is also linked to loss of glaciers on the plateau. It might be interesting for some of you who are from Canada that some scientists have found that the greater the snowcover in Tibet, the warmer it is in Canada. So the importance of the Tibetan Plateau extends not only to the Indian subcontinent but also to Europe and North America. And of course the Tibetan Plateau is the water tower of Asia. Those of you who had travelled to Tibet must have seen the Tibetan rivers. Tibet is home to hundreds and thousands of rivers. But those of you who have not been to Tibet but have been to any part of Asia, you are never far from the Tibetan rivers. The two most important rivers in Pakistanthe Indus and the Sutlej both come from Tibet. The most important rivers in north India –Indus, Sutlej, Karnali and Brahmaputra all come from Tibet.

Basically the fertile Gangetic plains in north India is fed by the Tibetan rivers.

Then if we travel to south east Asian countries like Thailand, Laos, Cambodia

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Session II- Plenary, Issues Affecting Tibet Today

and Vietnam, the two most important rivers in these regions - Mekong and Salween. Both the rivers originate from the Tibetan plateau and Mekong is called the Mother of Rivers. In ancient time we considered that the rivers �lowed from heaven. If that was true, Tibet was a heaven in the past.

In China, the two most important rivers running parallel to each other from west to east – Yangze in the south and the Yellow River in the north. Both the rivers originate from Tibet and �low across China. Basically Tibetan rivers sustain Chinese civilization and economy. According to UNEP, more than 1.5 billion people directly depend on the Tibetan rivers and if any damage happens to these rivers, 1/3 of the world population could be in some way or the other affected.

3. Climate Change and its Impact on the Tibetan Plateau

There are three facts that I like to highlight. Glacier Meltdown. Because of high elevation the temperature rise on the Tibetan Plateau is 0.3 to 0.4% which is twice more than global average and because of the rapid rise in temperature the Tibetan Plateau has seen more than 82% of its glaciers retreated in the last 50 years according to IPCC report. There has been no net accumulation of ice on the Tibetan Plateau since 1950 which means there been continuous loss of glaciers on the Tibetan Plateau. If this kind of rate continues, then 2/3 of all Tibetan glaciers would be gone by 2050. Another impact of climate change is permafrost degradation. 70% of the Tibetan Plateau is covered by some form of permafrost. 50% of the Tibetan Plateau is grassland. The Tibetan Plateau receives very little rainfall but during summer, we see full blown grassland that is because the permafrost on the Tibetan Plateau sustains and nurtures the plateau. So any loss of permafrost would cause rapid deserti�ication which is already happening in the north and north-eastern region of Tibet.

And I want to highlight one particular incident. You see a picture here. On 20 September 2017 there was an incident on a summer pasture while a mud �lowed down the hill like lava. That is because of rapid melting of frozen ground underneath because the surface could not carry the weight. The melting ground �looded down the hill. This is a clear indication of the rapid melting of permafrost on the Tibetan Plateau.

In the past our grandparents used to say that natural disasters will happen only in China but not in Tibet. That was the general belief that we the Tibetans had. But in recent years that was no longer the same. What used to happen in China is now happening in Tibet. In 2016 we saw unprecedented number of natural disasters happening at the same time. During the three months of summer we saw glacial avalanche, mud �lood and drought. That was when we wrote an article: Natural Disasters in Tibet: Is it New Normal? That was the fear we had as environmentalists. We feared the natural disaster that

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7th World Parliamentarians’ Convention on Tibet, 7-10 May 2019, Riga, Latvia

happened in 2016 might not be an isolated case but might be a new trend. We forewarned the Chinese government to put necessary measures to mitigate the impact. One particular incident in 2016 was the Tsolho mudslide. Because of the heavy rainfall in the mountains there was a mud �lood in Tsolho in Amdo. The mud �lood washed away many wild animals. That was something that the local people had never seen. This is a clear indication of the severity of natural disasters in 2016.

In 2017 the pattern continued. There were more such �loods in the southern part of Tibet mostly because of the heavy rainfall. I want to focus on one particular incident – Jomda �lood. What happened was that because of the heavy rainfall there was a �lood in Jomda. Because of the �lood, three people were killed and a �ive storey building was brought down. The local people said that they had never seen such a devastating �lood in their lifetime. Again we wrote an article, Flooded Tibet: Struggling to Adapt to New Reality. In this article we again forewarned the Chinese government to put necessary measures and policies to mitigate the impact. We also said that the recent �lood could have been avoided had the Chinese government proactively pursued a policy of ‘Safety First’ in any infrastructural development in Tibetan areas. In 2018 it was worse and in 2019 it is even worse. In 2018 we saw a summer nomadic pasture �looded because of heavy rainfall. In 2019 recently we saw heavy snowfall which killed thousands of yaks and thousands of wild animals.

4. The Current Environment Situation in Tibet • •

Destructive Mining Practices in Tibet Looming Garbage Crisis in Tibet

•

In August 2013 more than 4500 local Tibetans protested against a Chinese mining company. They were protesting for two main reasons.

The mining was happening at a sacred mountain. For Tibetans mining at a sacred mountain was unthinkable. If the Chinese govt. had known about Tibetan culture they would not do it. If the Chinese govt. had any respect for Tibetan culture they would not do it. But they did it.

The Tibetans were protesting because the mining was happening inside a national nature reserve. The national nature reserve was declared in 2000 by the then Chinese President Jiang Zemin. When they declared the area as the national nature reserve, they removed thousands of Tibetan nomads from these regions. They said that the Tibetan nomads were removed to protect the ecology of that particular area. But what happened after about ten years. In 2013 the Chinese govt. gave licence for doing mining at the same area from where the Tibetans were removed. This

Here I like to highlight two case studies

•

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Session II- Plenary, Issues Affecting Tibet Today

clearly af�irms the long held fear the Tibetans had that the resettlement of the Tibetan nomads was nothing but to make way for more mining on the Tibetan Plateau. The Tibetan nomads occupied a vast area. And during this particular incident 500 Chinese paramilitary forces were deployed and they �ired tear gas and rubber bullets. A Tibetan whose name was Shoba Chokdue stabbed himself in protest. The Tibetans had no one to go for justice that is why we, people in the free world here have the responsibility to accord their wishes and demands.

In 2016 two thousand local Tibetans protested against another Chinese mining company. They were protesting because the mining was happening at their sacred mountain and it had been happening for the last ten years and the Tibetans have been protesting for the last ten years. The pain caused by this mining in that particular region led to three self-immolations. They were Tsering Dhondup, aged 34 and Konchok Tsering, aged 18. Both of them self-immolated on the mining site in 2012. The third self-immolator did it after a year. In a letter that he had left behind he said, “The agony caused by the mining on the sacred mountain is one too much to bear”. It was the main reason for his self-immolation. Now sacred mountains are very important environmentally. There have been many �ield researches which af�irms that Tibetan people’s belief in the sanctity of sacred sites has greatly contributed to the environmental protection of key ecological sensitive areas for the last thousands of years. And we continue to respect Tibetan cultural attitude to sacred mountains. Then we will be able to protect Tibet’s environment for many years to come. That is what scienti�ic papers stated.

In the summer of 2018 there was an article called, ‘ The Litter-collecting Monk of Tibet’ which was published in China Dialogue. In this article they have acknowledged the presence of garbage crisis in Tibet. But they said that the cause of this garbage crisis was primarily the local community. So we wrote another article after a month and clari�ied that the real cause of this crisis was the visits of about 30 million Chinese tourists. When they go back they leave equal proportion of garbage in Tibet with no management to treat, collect and transport this garbage. It is the Tibetan community- sponsored voluntary groups who collect the garbage from the mountain and riversides to clean it up. Ladies and gentlemen! I am very excited that the members of parliament from different parts of the hemisphere are present here and I like to request you to put forward a few actions.

In 2015 we put forward ten points for action and here I have highlighted six: • We ask the United Nations and the international community to make Tibet recognize the global signi�icance of the Tibetan Plateau.

• The world must make Tibet- centred of any global climate change discussion.

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7th World Parliamentarians’ Convention on Tibet, 7-10 May 2019, Riga, Latvia

•

Scienti�ic research must be launched to better understand both the impact of climate change on the Tibetan Plateau and Tibet’s critical role in reversing the effects of the global climate change. These are three issues that I request you to highlight in your parliament, government or wherever you could at international conference.

To the People’s Republic of China: China’s environmental laws should be fairly and rigorously implemented across Tibet.

• Tibetan people’s traditional knowledge and way of life should be respected and incorporated into environmental laws.

• The consent and the views of the local Tibetans should be sought before any developmental project in Tibet. If we are able to do this, then we are able to protect the beautiful plateau of Tibet that we Tibetans, Chinese and millions of people across the globe can enjoy and continue to enjoy.

•

Thank you.

46

Session III- Plenary, Update on Parliamentary Initiatives on Tibet

Session III- Update on Parliamentary Initiatives on Tibet

Chair: Hon. Michael Danby, MP Australia Hon. Csaba Sogor, MEP Romania Hon. Ripun Bora, MP India Hon. Frantisek Kopriva, MP Czech Republic Hon. Bhutila Karpoche, MPP Canada Hon. Consiglio Di Nino, Former MP Canada Hon. Vlado Mirosevic, MP Chile Hon. Tim Loughton, MP UK Hon. Chris Law, MP UK

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7th World Parliamentarians’ Convention on Tibet, 7-10 May 2019, Riga, Latvia

Michael Danby

Good morning everybody. My name is Michael Danby. I am MP from Australia and chairman of the Australia-Tibet Parliamentary Friendship Group. Thanks to my dear friend Lhakpa from His Holiness’ of�ice that is based in Canberra here to chair this session. We heard many interesting presentations from some of the top academic experts in this area at this afternoon and this morning and very wise words from the Sikyong as well. But I thought we would try to involve the audience, involve the parliamentarians in this discussion. So what I propose to do is to have three nationalities come up and answer some similar questions, take question and answer from the �loor and these three go down and bring up another three. We can’t call everyone this afternoon but I want to give people the taste of what is happening on the issue of Tibet around the world. The kinds of issues that were raised by our academic and Tibetan speakers are fascinating when you hear what is happening in some of other countries.

So some of the issues that we are going to look at are attitudes to Tibet and China in the countries that come up here to speak. What are the attitudes of the public, politics and parliament in those countries.? The �irst three countries will be Romania, India and Czech Republic. What are the attitudes as in the U.S to reciprocal visits of parliamentarians to Tibet? Are people from Lithuanian parliament or Czech parliament allowed to go to Lhasa to see the conditions there themselves? Or Does Beijing bar public parliamentary visits to Tibet? And �inally what are the attitudes in all of their countries- in Nepal, in the UK and in all parts of the world to the Dalai Lama, to the Sikyong and to high Tibetan of�icials who come to visit?

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Session III- Plenary, Update on Parliamentary Initiatives on Tibet

Csaba Sogor

As I know there are no visits but coming back to the afternoon lecture, Prof.

Praag mentions very nice Russian Maskirovka Romanians invented a century ago. So regarding Tibet and relations with China, Romanians are still very very- how should say- inventive telling in our case I am a Hungarian from Romania Transylvania. The Transylvania was never a part of Hungary. The Romanian population was always in majority. So you can guess what they think about Tibet. I don’t think that any Romanian MP visited Tibet. I must confess that when I was a senator of the country I once visited China. It was an of�icial delegation to Beijing Boston Conference. At that time there was no possibility to visit Tibet. Coming back to the question, last year His Holiness’ representative from Brussels, Tashi Phuntsok visited our region. We had an exhibition about His Holiness’ 83rd birthday. The Chinese ambassador complained to the regional district president and to my party president and any time when I have conference or meetings with Tibet the Chinese ambassador complained to my party president. I always got the invitation from the Chinese embassy when they tried to convert me. But they never repeated their invitation. But my son was banned. He did not get visa to go to China. This is my experience. But we once tried to invite His Holiness the Dalai Lama to Romania but the Romanian foreign of�icials immediately closed all the doors.

From time to time I am �ighting with my own buddy. I have a colleague. He was a minister of commerce. And of course he is very pro-business and China. I will tell tomorrow how dif�icult it is to convince the members of the European parliament who come from democratic systems to be aware of what is happening in China. It is not an easy task. But in the future I think

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7th World Parliamentarians’ Convention on Tibet, 7-10 May 2019, Riga, Latvia

the Romanian policy will be further pro-China policy so they don’t like politics like about Kosovo and Catalonia issues because then they remember Transylvania and they don’t want to lose it.

Ripun Bora

50

Well, the entire world knows that India is a democratic country. It is the largest democratic country in the world. And we in India believe in nonviolence and we got independence long time back. So we in India boast very bold stand with the cause of the Tibetans since the very beginning and since the aggression of China in 1949. So this is the Indian foreign policy. Because of that we have been consistently supporting the cause of the Tibetans. So far the visit is concerned, of course it is done in a selective way. Earlier we had not very good relation with China. You know in 1962 there was the aggression of China. There after our foreign relationship was not so much cordial.But later on it has become to some extent cordial. But the parliamentary team and other of�icial visits are allowed in China and China gives visa. But for personal visit or other visits it is very very selective. And in many cases China refuses to give visa to our Indian people. As far as visit to Tibet is concerned, it is very rare. China allows our parliamentary team visit to China but not Tibet. This way or that way they always keep our parliamentarians away from visiting Tibet, so that things are not exposed in the country and in the world. Ah yes. There are many examples. His Holiness the Dalai Lama has on many occasions visited our prime minister and other foreign ministers. Any parliamentarian or any minister of India can also meet the Dalai Lama after observing formalities or taking prior approval according to convenience.

Session III- Plenary, Update on Parliamentary Initiatives on Tibet

Some times what happens is that some body applies to meet His Holiness the Dalai Lama, but he is pre-occupied. In that case it is not possible. Otherwise after observing due formalities there is no ban or no restriction in India and the Dalai Lama as you know is very widely respected religious leader in India and cutting across political party lines in India everybody has a very deep respect for the Dalai Lama, his philosophy and his principles.

In order to give momentum to this cause we -most of the parliamentarians have �iled a signed petition to the President of India to confer Bharat Ratna, (The Jewel of India) the highest civilian award of India on His Holiness the Dalai Lama. We have made this demand just to give momentum, just to give credibility, just to give genuiness of the demand of the Tibetan people.

Frantisek Kopriva

Thank you for giving me the �loor. I should probably start with the most like say pessimistic statement or information and that is that the of�icial position of the Czech government has been and still is the single or unitary China and that is how it is and I think it will be really hard to change. Then again we can have the debate that human rights, democracy, rule of law- some sort of ultracommunists in con�lict with this. We don’t have to switch it but we just expand it. But this is like the of�icial position of Czech govt. and the Czech government is responsible for Czech foreign policy. But then of course we can move to thelet us say- personal or executive level of the foreign policy and diplomacy which is pretty diverse in the Czech Republic. It is not a secret that the Czech President Milos Zeman likes the Chinese regime and I think now he is coming

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7th World Parliamentarians’ Convention on Tibet, 7-10 May 2019, Riga, Latvia

back from his 5th visit from China in the last 7 or 8 years. He also invited the Chinese President a few years ago and it was like a big time from his side and it was really like of�icial and posh and it was really big and it was symbol of course that he wants to be closer to China. So this is not very optimistic. But on the other hand we have also parliamentary diplomacy. Currently we have around 50 parliamentarians from the Chamber of Deputies and Senate in the Tibetan Support Group and we invited Lobsang Sangay to Parliament two times already and we are going to do it again. So this is the way we can sort of balance with our President’s position. Lobsang was also at the reception of the Prague mayor this March. So it was like an of�icial welcome by the Prague mayor because Prague as the capital city has its own foreign policy as well.

Regarding His Holiness- he was invited by our former Minister of Culture and it was around that time when Xi Jinping was invited by our President. He got into trouble because the government told him not to do it. But he did it. So it was like non-of�icial reception at the Ministry of Culture.

I would not say the public are getting closer to China because our President with his multiple visits to China promised large Chinese investment like hundreds of billions of Czech crowns but now we can see as the time goes on. We can see that there is parallel investment from China and of course the Czech Cyber Security Of�ice released a report warning against Huawei. So I think the public opinion is again changing back to being more pro-Tibetan and being more critical towards China. It will take some times. But I hope this trend will continue.

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Session III- Plenary, Update on Parliamentary Initiatives on Tibet

Bhutila Karpoche

Before I begin I too would like to take the opportunity to say ‘Thank you’ to India for their support to the Tibetan community in the last 60 years.

With regard to attitude towards Tibet, I think we really need to talk about the attitude to China �irst. Because in the public among Canadians there is a huge support for the Tibetan people and the Tibetan cause. But the governments especially the federal governments that we had has been under a lot of pressure from China and has increasingly been more proChina. And this is a huge departure from, say, even the last government when we had a federal Conservative government. Prime Minister Harper of�icially welcomed His Holiness to the Parliament and had a meeting. In fact the Canadian Parliament also bestowed honorary Canadian citizenship on His Holiness the Dalai Lama. So with the change in government and having now the Trudeau Liberal in power and there was a huge shift. And so the Liberal Party and the federal government really tried hard to sell to Canadian public the importance of forging very close economic ties with China.

Thus you may know they tried very hard to push forward the CanadaChina free trade agreement. In fact one of the conditions of that free trade agreement was to buy the Kinder Morgan pipelines at the cost of 4.5 billion dollars from an American corporation. And so that was happening and increasingly we were seeing Canadian federal government that was very pro-China. However, things have shifted a little bit and as you know right

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7th World Parliamentarians’ Convention on Tibet, 7-10 May 2019, Riga, Latvia

now we are actually struggling-the Canadian government has been struggling when it comes to foreign policy with China. We have two Canadians detained in China in retaliation to the arrest of Huawei executive on Canadian soil and now is undergoing the process of extradition or at least facing court case to see whether she would be extradited or not. And you know China retaliating to that and blocking the imports of canola oil and blocking the import of pork and things like that. So China really is exerting their economic might to Canada. Even going to the extent where for example the Canadian Agriculture Minister tried to set up a trade visit to China but was ignored by the Chinese of�icials. So there is a lot of tension right now which I think also poses an opportunity when it comes to the Tibetan cause.

What we see from the leading opposition party, the Conservatives is talk of inter China basically, although there is a lot of tough talk. I will take with a grain of salt because we are heading towards a federal election this fall.

Generally there is the sentiment that here we are-two Canadians detained simply because Canada was following the rule of law. The general public has seen that despite all of the efforts in the last number of years to try and have a good economic relationship with China things are not working out and in fact China is trying to bully Canada

Consiglio Di Nino 54

I am just going to be brief. Truly in Canada and I am a member of Conservative Party. I have been here for 50 years. Truly in Canada the Conservative Party is the party that is usually seen as the one that has higher standards and hundreds of freedoms and I see that with pride. It was the only two times that

Session III- Plenary, Update on Parliamentary Initiatives on Tibet

the Dalai Lama has been received of�icially have been under the Conservative governments, the only time he has ever been in a Prime Minister’s of�ice as I think it has been three times was the last Conservative government including 2012 when we had the 6th World Parliamentarians’ Convention on Tibet. I am not praising the Conservative unnecessarily and I am not churning the same all over the place. But in Canada only the Conservatives have actually of�icially ever welcomed His Holiness. The other thing that I think is important. Let me just repeat what she says “His Holiness the Dalai Lama is an honorary Canadian citizen” and it was done by my government, the government that I was a part of. And that is Conservative government.

I want to talk very quickly about a couple of other things. The NDP I trust and respect because they believe in something, the Conservatives actually have some values and the Liberals are in the middle,picking up the piece whenever they can.

Vlado Mirosevic

Hello everybody. It is really honour to be here. My English is not good but I try to read a little text about Tibet and Chile. Unfortunately the of�icial position of Chile recognizes the claim of the Chinese regime of Tibet. Chile highly depends on foreign trade on China since our main export commodity is copper. However, I represent a group of young Chilean deputies who do not respond to the economic pressure of China. This group of deputies over the past few years has established a close relationship with the Tibetan government- in- exile. This means for the �irst time in history and �inally the voice of the Tibetans is represented in Congress of Chile. With thanks to TsewangPhuntsok, the Representative of the Tibetan government in Latin

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America and Fernandez Salinus, a strong supporter of Tibet in Chile, we have been able to meet with His Holiness the Dalai Lama in Dharamsala twice. Also we have created in different regions of Chile education centres to promote the integration of the Social, Emotional, and Ethical (SEE) learning programmes in Chilean schools. Last year during my presidency of the parliamentary commission on foreign affairs in Chilean Congress for the �irst time received an of�icial representative of Tibetan government who reported on the human rights situation in Tibet. But the Chinese embassy was not happy about it.

I regret to inform you that Chile currently has no speci�ic policy or law in place to address con�lict. I am therefore committed back in Chile to present a resolution in support of Tibet and international con�lict. Finally I would like to thank my brother Janis and everyone who are involved in the organisation of this convention. We must continue to join force and �ight for Tibet.

Tim Loughton

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I am Tim Loughton. I am a Conservative MP from England and Chris an SNP MP also from the United Kingdom but from Scotland. We are both from the same parliament. We really argue about that but we are not going to talk about Brexit. That is the background. I have been here for 22 years and we have an All-Party Parliamentary Group for Tibet. It has gone back a long way and we are supported by the Tibet Society which is the oldest Tibet support group in the world. We have close link between parliament and Tibet Society and the Tibetans. So we hold debates whenever to raise the subject of Tibet whenever we can and we host visits as well. So in my time the Dalai Lama has been to parliament three times and I think in one of those times he had

Session III- Plenary, Update on Parliamentary Initiatives on Tibet

a meeting I think with Gordon Brown, the Labour Prime Minister but in private. One still photograph was released. He also met David Cameron when he was the Leader of the Opposition and that was all public. Interestingly the last time the Dalai Lama visited in 2012, I was a minister in the Conservative government at that time. The Dalai Lama did not meet David Cameron who was then the Prime Minister but he was hosted by the Speaker of the British Parliament, John Bercow who has many faults but one of them is not because he is very supportive of Tibet. So he invited the Dalai Lama to have lunch in the House of Commons. I was invited and another MP who was very supportive was also invited. And the day when it was supposed to happen, I got a phone call from the Prime Minister saying, “You don’t go to that lunch”. So there was a lot of pressure. In the end the two of us decided we would not go to the lunch. But what we did not tell the prime minister was that we had actually met the Dalai Lama the day before at the Royal Albert Hall. The deed had been done. That shows the amount of pressure the Chinese authorities are trying to put on anybody to Tibet having anything to do with anybody in politics. So on Friday I got a call from the political attaché of Chinese embassy in London saying, “ You don’t want to go to Riga and I said, “I do want to go to Riga. You just really encourage me. Thank you very much”.

Chris Law

Interestingly we come from different political background as well. I come from the SNP which has campaigned for over 80 years for Scotland’s independence and at the moment looking to the second referendum on Scotland’s future.

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When it comes to Brexit, we have different views. But when it comes to Tibet we have been with one voice and in fact in the lunch time we were talking about what can we do next in terms of three parliaments particularly reciprocity bill that has been passed in the US.

Scotland has quite a long history relationship with Tibet. The �irst Tibetan Buddhist centre was opened in the West – Samyeling which is near the river Isk in south Scotland in a remote area. And also something else that was interesting and I was looking many years ago and that I did not know was Centre for World Peace and Health which is set up in Holy Isle which has a spiritual history that goes back to the 6th century and which is in the west coast. It was set up by Lama Yeshe Rinpoche. But to come to the relationship of Scotland and Tibet, the Dalai Lama visited it no less than 5 times. The 4th World Parliamentarians Convention on Tibet was held in Edinburgh, Scotland in 2005 where he also visited and in my schedule done which has a lot of press release as a result of opening the museum. He came there to give a speech in 2012 as well as visiting other major cities.

As already been mentioned we were both in Dharamsala last autumn. My �irst visit to Dharamsala was as a young traveller in India in the early 90s.

So I have built up my interest in Tibet over that time. What I have to say at this convention today I have learnt so much and it is so crucial for all of us from all different parts of the world to learn from each other here and to take that back home. In the next 4-5 weeks we are looking forward to seeing the Sikyong visiting the UK and also visiting Scotland so that something that we are really excited.

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Session IV- Plenary, Tibet Issue in the International Arena

Session IV- Tibet Issue in the International Arena

Chair: Hon. Matteo Mecacci

Former Member of Italian Parliament and Co-Chairperson of INPaT, President of International Campaign for Tibet

Status of US policy on Tibet by Mr. Jonathan N. Stivers Staff Director of Congressional Executive Commission on China

A Strategy for the International Defense of Tibet by Mr. Carl Gershman President of National Endowment for Democracy, U.S.A.

The Issue of Tibet in the European Union by Hon. Csaba Sogor Member of European Parliament from Romania

Policies of European Union on Tibet by Mr. Vincent Metten EU Policy Director of Europe ICT

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Jonathan N. Stiver

Status of US policy on Tibet

My name is Jon Stivers and I serve as the Staff Director for the U.S. Congressional-Executive Commission on China that is Chaired by Rep. Jim McGovern and Senator Marco Rubio.

The China Commission is a bipartisan commission created by the U.S. Congress in 2000. We are tasked with monitoring human rights and the rule of law in China and Tibet and recommending legislative and executive action to the President and Congress.

The China Commission is one part of US government institutions and initiatives that have been built over the last two decades. While members of congress and Presidents come and go, institutions like the China Commission continue to provide education, staff support and expertise to policy makers on human rights in China and Tibet.

In his video statement yesterday, Chairman McGovern outlined key legislative initiatives adopted by the U.S. in recent years including • •

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•

The 2002 Tibet Policy Act invested in Tibet’s economic development, assisted refugees and of�icially made Tibet a national priority for the United States. It created a Special Coordinator at the U.S. State Department to oversee U.S.-Tibet policy.

Building on that support, every year, regardless of the President or which party is in the majority, Congress passes legislation to: Assist the transit process for Tibetan refugees crossing the border;

Session IV- Plenary, Tibet Issue in the International Arena

• • • • • •

Provide democracy and development support for the Tibetan community in Dharmsala including the Tibetan Government in Exile.

Provide development grants to preserve cultural traditions and environmental conservation for Tibetans; and Fully fund a series of initiatives related to education, the National Endowment for Democracy, and Tibetan language broadcasts by Radio Free Asia and Voice of America.

In 2007, the U.S. Congress awarded the Congressional Gold Medal to His Holiness the Dalai Lama. The photos of President George W. Bush, Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and His Holiness sent the strongest possible message of U.S. support for Tibet.

In 2016, the Congress passed Chairman McGovern’s Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act to hold accountable government of�icials responsible for human rights abuses and corruption. and in 2018, Congress passed the Reciprocal Access to Tibet Act that says if American journalists, diplomats and tourists can’t travel to Tibet, Chinese of�icials shouldn’t be allowed to travel freely in the U.S.

This legislation reaf�irms the basic principle of reciprocity in international relations. Implementation is a constant challenge.

The legislation requires the State Department to report to Congress on the level of access that U.S. diplomats, journalists, and American citizens are granted to Tibetan areas of China, and to provide a list of the Chinese of�icials who formulate or execute policies to restrict access to Tibet, who then become ineligible to receive a visa or be admitted to the U.S Robust implementation of the bill would send a strong signal both to Beijing and the international community that the Chinese governments discriminatory practices regarding access to Tibet will not be tolerated.

This was the �irst stand alone bill on Tibet that has ever passed the U.S. Congress and a great victory to supporters of access to Tibet.

Chairman McGovern and many members of Congress believe that for too long Democratic and Republican Administrations have been unwilling to impose any real consequences for China’s bad human rights behavior. And that means Congress needs to step up the pressure.

Congress and the Administration

The dynamic between the Executive and Legislative Branches on China and Tibet issues is a challenge that needs to be carefully navigated. Having worked on both sides, I have an appreciation for the differences and the similarities.

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In short, the Congress been the leader in the U.S. on promotion of human rights in general. Both Republicans and Democrats have worked together in bipartisan ways to advance key initiatives including support for Tibet.

I think partially that is because Congress is closer to the American people and advocates. It also only takes a couple of effective legislators out of 535 to lead.

In the Executive Branch, of�icials are not independent actors and diplomats have to weigh different foreign policy issues in their relations with particular countries.

In recent years I would argue that the Congress has been less risk adverse and more independent when it comes to promotion of democracy and human rights than the Administration.

That said, there has been a fundamental shift in Washington about we should engage with the Chinese government. The U.S. business community, the defense sector, workers, environmental and human rights advocates all seem to be coming together with a consensus that the U.S. is in a strategic competition with China.

Of course, that means different things to different people but one important principle that stands out has to do with “reciprocity.” It’s a principle of fairness that we hold each other to the same standards. I’m told that principle translates well across languages and cultures especially in Asia.

Many in the U.S. believe that the principle of reciprocity should govern not only trade and diplomacy but human rights issues as well.

Where do we go from here?

Moving forward, the U.S. Congress will continue to work to effectively implement our legislative initiatives and provide a bedrock of support for the Tibetan cause.

There are some signi�icant challenges ahead that need global support.

Speaker Pelosi and Chairman McGovern suggest two legislative initiatives that we hope will be included in the Declaration and Action plan for this convention.

First, we are asking for all the world parliamentarians and advocates in

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attendance to consider passing your own versions of the Reciprocal Access to Tibet Act to promote access to Tibet by diplomats, journalists, tourists and others.

Second, we are asking for parliaments to pass their own Global Magnitsky Act. It is my understanding that many of your governments including Latvia have already done so. Thank you for your leadership.

Last, Members of the U.S. Congress including the CECC believe its important for parliamentarians and governments to make strong, clear and unequivocal statements that the decision regarding the Dalai Lama’s succession or reincarnation must be reserved for the current Dalai Lama, Tibetan Buddhists and the Tibetan people.

The international community must get out in front and cannot allow the Chinese government any credibility on this issue, especially when there is a known track record in the detainment of the 11th Panchen Lama.

There are many other issues that we should all be considering related to opening consulates in Lhasa, beginning a genuine dialogue, release of political prisoners, climate change, environmental protection, the role of the private sector, and academic freedom to name a few.

As you well know, the situation is grim in Tibet. We have to be prepared to pursue new and innovative ideas to advocate for the Tibetan people.

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A Strategy for the International Defense of Tibet

Carl Gershman

Just a month ago a memorial meeting sponsored by 17 organizations was held in New Delhi to remember the life and legacy of Lodi Gyari and George Fernandes, two great champions of democracy and Tibetan freedom who died recently within three months of each other – Lodi Gyari on October 29, and George Fernandes on January 29. The organizers called them “Heroes of Freedom, Democracy and Equality,” as indeed they were, and many of the speakers said they were “great souls” who lived for the cause of “humanity, democracy, and freedom,” and they were that, too.

I count myself among those of us here today who knew and admired Lodi and George, and I believe that we would do well to think about the standard they set as we consider how to respond to the continuing and worsening oppression of the people of Tibet.

Lodi Gyari and George Fernandes shared a passion for democracy and justice, and they each regarded the Tibetan cause as a critical focal point in the global struggle for freedom. They were smart and strategic, politically astute, and focused on Tibet, yet also universalist in their vision and commitment. Most of all they were �ighters – freedom �ighters, to be precise - who were driven by core moral values and deep democratic convictions.

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Five years ago Lodi shared with me a letter he had written to George in 1977.

George had just helped lead the resistance to Indira Gandhi’s emergency decree and had been overwhelmingly elected to parliament from a prison cell and then appointed a government minister. He was Tibet’s greatest

Session IV- Plenary, Tibet Issue in the International Arena

friend in India, and Lodi was writing to him to share his concerns about the parlous state of the Tibetan movement. Lodi said that while the Dalai Lama had “an unreserved commitment towards the freedom struggle,” the Tibetan leadership had a “defeatist attitude” and its “apathy and timidity… undermined” the Dalai Lama’s vision and work. The Tibetan movement, he told George, needed to bene�it from the example of India’s democracy, which had “spiritual overtones” that made it “most conducive to the Tibetan political situation” and gave it “much to offer towards the future Tibetan nation.” To that end, he said he wanted to create a democratic studies center that would train a new generation of Tibetan leaders, and he asked George to bless the initiative and to help recruit prominent Indian leaders to associate themselves with it.

In the years that followed Lodi played a central role in strengthening and modernizing the Tibetan movement in accordance with the vision he conveyed to George. In 1990, he brought his vision and political skills to the United States, where he created the International Campaign for Tibet and built a powerful base of support for Tibet in the U.S. Congress – all the while conducting nine rounds of negotiations with Beijing over the status of Tibet.

The position of Tibet on the international stage is vastly stronger today than it was four decades ago when Lodi wrote that letter to George. The Dalai Lama is now a global leader, arguably the world’s pre-eminent moral voice. The 2002 Tibet Policy Act and the recently passed Tibet Reciprocity Act show how broad and deep the support for Tibetan freedom is in the U.S. Congress. That support also exists in many other countries throughout the world, including Latvia, which is hosting this conference.

At a “Thank You, America” event held in the U.S. Congress last February, I said that it was really Americans who should thank Tibet for placing before us the issue of the rights of the Tibetan people – an issue where the distinction between right and wrong, between freedom and oppression, is so clear that it has become a unifying cause bringing together both of our political parties at a time when politics in the United States is otherwise very polarized.

I am aware that China is a rising global power, and that Beijing uses its military and economic muscle to force other countries to bend obsequiously to its will and accept its position on Tibet, even as it destroys the language, culture, identity, and religion of the Tibetan people. These actions constitute a crime against humanity.

As we think about how to respond, we need to bear in mind Beijing’s vulnerabilities. Many China scholars have called attention to the increasing evidence of the regime’s decay, from the collapse of communist ideology in the period after Mao’s death, to the erosion of the regime’s performancebased legitimacy as economic growth has slowed to the lowest rate in thirty

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years, to splits within the party leadership caused by Xi Jinping’s radical centralization of power. Xi told party of�icials earlier this year that the regime “faces major risks on all fronts and must batten down the hatches.”

Nowhere is the regime’s �ixation on survival more apparent than in its battle against what Xi calls “historical nihilism,” which involves forbidding any account of the past that diminishes the prestige of the Communist Party and the legitimacy of its monopoly on power. Examples include the suppression of public commemorations of the sixtieth anniversary of the famine caused by the Great Leap Forward, which killed thirty to forty million people, or of the coming thirtieth anniversary of the Tiananmen massacre. The historian Glenn Tiffert has called Tiananmen a source of “inner trauma” for the regime, which remains �ixated on the demise of the Soviet Union and dreads anything remotely similar to what it fearfully calls a colored revolution.

On no historical issue is the regime more vulnerable than the history of its invasion, occupation, and annexation of Tibet. When it rejected the Dalai Lama’s Middle Way Approach, which Lodi pursued with such patience and persistence in nine rounds of negotiations with Beijing, the regime said that it would not speak with His Holiness until he acknowledges that Tibet has been a part of China since antiquity.

Beijing’s position on this issue is entirely groundless historically. Michael Van Walt and his colleagues at Kreddha have spent almost a decade studying the history of Inner and East Asia. They brought together forty of the world’s leading scholars on the region and international lawyers who speci�ically addressed the question of whether Tibet was ever historically a part of China.

The conclusions of this research that are being presented to this conference are unambiguous, unequivocal, and categorical: Tibet was never a part of China, at any time, before China invaded Tibet in 1950. Beijing has not tried to prove otherwise, and it cannot. It can only make declarations and assertions.

Let us be clear – these statements are groundless. They are total lies.

Beijing’s demand that His Holiness provide a patina of legitimacy for its aggression exposes its own insecurity. Why would the conqueror demand not just the acquiescence of the conquered but also its acknowledgement of the legitimacy of the conquest if it didn’t know that without such an acknowledgement the conquest has no legitimacy whatsoever?

China knows that, yet it has brazenly put the issue of history on the table.

As a result, I believe it is incumbent on all people who believe that respect for international law is a precondition for peaceful relations among states to challenge the Chinese regime’s blatant rewriting of history.

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We should look for every opportunity to raise this issue and to challenge the legitimacy of China’s invasion and annexation of Tibet and its continuing denial of the Tibetan people’s right to self-determination. Scholars and international lawyers have authoritatively rebuked the specious claim that Tibet has always been a part of China. It is now the job of the Tibetan movement and its supporters among parliamentarians and human rights defenders to mobilize an international campaign defending Tibetan rights and identity based on historical truth and international law.

This is a battle that George and Lodi would have loved to �ight. We’ll have to do it now without them, but let their memory be our inspiration and our guide.

When the Soviet dissident and great Russian writer Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn accepted the 1970 Nobel Prize for Literature, he said something profoundly relevant to our discussion today. Violence, he said, “does not and cannot exist by itself: it is invariably intertwined with the lie. They are linked in the most intimate, most organic and profound fashion: violence cannot conceal itself behind anything except lies, and lies have nothing to maintain them save violence. Anyone who has once proclaimed violence as his method must inexorably choose the lie as his principle.”

This is especially true in the modern world, Solzhenitsyn said, because violence “can no longer exist without veiling itself in a mist of lies, without concealing itself behind the sugary words of falsehood. No longer does violence always and necessarily lunge straight for your throat; more often than not it demands of its subjects only that they pledge allegiance to lies, that they participate in falsehood.”

This is what Beijing has demanded of His Holiness, the Dalai Lama. The response, Solzhenitsyn said, should be clear: “to defeat the lie!” This is what we must strive to do. At stake is not just the fate of the people of Tibet but also the future of world peace.

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The Issue of Tibet in the European Union Csaba Sogor

Please allow me to start by saying that I am very honored to be here with you today at this 7th World Parliamentarians’ Convention on Tibet - organizers, speakers and participants committed to support Tibetans in their nonviolent struggle for human rights and democracy.

In my humble contribution to this conference, and more as a general overview before the presentation of Vincent Metten from ICT - I would like to speak �irst as a Hungarian minority member living in a post-communist country in the EU, and second as a member of the European Parliament for twelve years.

As a Hungarian from Romania I would focus on two things: • The motives for which I got close to the issue of Tibet and; • My experiences of member of an autochthonous ethnic minority group within my country, which strives for autonomy in order to ensure the spiritual and economic prosperity of its community.

As a Hungarian, my historical and cultural fondness towards Tibet started with my passion for Hungarian discoverers. One of my most respected travellers and scholars is Sándor Kőrösi de Csoma, the �irst European to have studied the Tibetan language and Buddhism, leaving behind him a cultural history research on Tibet of universal signi�icance.

In 1819 Csoma travelled on foot from Europe to the Himalayas in order to

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look for the ancestral homeland of the Hungarians, which he had supposed was hidden behind the ridges of the Himalayas. Despite his gigantic efforts he never reached the homeland he searched for, but during his short stay in Tibet, in the course of which he studied Tibetan language and literature, he nevertheless succeeded in writing the �irst scienti�ically signi�icant TibetanEnglish dictionary. He was the true example of what seemingly impossible feats we can achieve if we set ourselves to it.

But my af�inity towards Tibetans is also due to another reason: I come from a part of Europe that across history has seen many borders shifting above the heads of people who stayed in the same place. This is also the case of my region, Transylvania, and my Hungarian community, which following the First World War was cut off from historical Hungary and annexed to Romania. As a consequence of history now we are an autochthonous minority community of 1,5 million people, making great efforts to preserve our identity, to use our mother tongue and our symbols in a political climate that is unfavorable - if not outright hostile - to our aspirations.

This is why I have such a great appreciation for the peaceful, decades-long struggle for human rights, democracy, freedom and autonomy of Tibetans.

This relentless commitment to convince the majority through dialogue that autonomy is the instrument that ensures the conditions of peaceful coexistence and mutual respect also serves for us as an example in our struggle.

Despite the geographical distance, and the difference in the degree of hostility and violence towards our minority communities, there are some underlying similarities between our experiences. In my Eastern European experience, there are many common traits in the way countries of the former Soviet bloc - now members of the EU - dealt with their ethnic minorities both during communism as well as after the regime changes. The Romanian communist state has regarded its ethnic Hungarian citizens with suspicion and considered them a threat. As such, its main purpose was to assimilate them on the long term by denying them the rights to speak and learn in their mother tongue, to have their own cultural institutions, basically to be themselves.

The communist authorities also used the country's industrialization programme for ethnic homogenization, settling large groups of majority populations in formerly compact ethnic minority areas – this is just like the case in Tibet, where forced industrialization also goes hand-in-hand with the displacement of the nomadic population and with the governmentsponsored migration of large numbers of Han Chinese.

All post-communist countries argue that the acceptance of multiculturalism

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and diversity may undermine the stability of the state. I would argue that, on the contrary, it is the oppression of diversity that undermines the social and political fabric of a society, not the other way around. Well-functioning, cohesive states can only exist if they are able to deal appropriately with diversity and communities are strengthened when differences are recognized and valued.

As a member of the main representative body of citizens in the European Union, please allow me to make a brief outline of what we did in the Tibet issue during the last years to keep human rights abuses on the agenda and my wishes on what the EU should do in the future.

Of all the bodies of the European Union, the Parliament is one of the most if not the most - sympathetic institution towards the plight of the Tibetans.

There are many MEPs committed to improve the human rights situation in China, including the situation of Tibetans, Uyghurs, political dissidents, and persecuted religious minorities.

However, these MEPs face the same chilling political headwind from China as most governments across the globe, many of which are either silenced through investments or threats to cut economic ties. At any other time or in any other country, the human rights abuses we see today in China would have led to a global outcry. But the relative indifference of the world to the situation of ethnic and religious minorities in China is a sign of the position of power the Beijing government is in to sti�le any criticism.

As a result, there is a strong tendency towards auto-censure and to sweep human rights abuses under the carpet in the European Parliament as well, not to mention that there are also a few MEPs that behave as if acting in the interest of the Chinese government. The latter often organise conferences which paint a rosy picture of Tibet, where China is seen as the civilising empire that educates people left in the dark by their religious leaders and lifts them out of poverty.

I would also assume that it was this fear of Chinese punitive action, which led to the fact that in this parliamentary term we could not get enough support from MEPs to establish the Tibet Intergroup of the European Parliament.

To remind those who are not very familiar with the way in which the European Parliament works : the Intergroups of the European Parliament can be formed by Members from any political group and any committee, with a view to holding informal exchanges of views on particular subjects and promoting contact between Members and civil society. Altough they are not formal Parliament bodies, they get �inancial and technical support

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from the institution, and - most importantly - as their number is limited (28 at present), they area sort of indication of the Parliament’s member’s and ultimately of the Parliament’s priorities.

Newertheless despite this setback, I believe we had some notable achievements in our current 5 year mandate we can be proud of:

The �irst is that interested MEPs from the entire political spectrum still organised regular meetings on Tibetan issues in the form of a so-called Tibet interest group under the leadership of my German colleague, Thomas Mann. With the invaluable support of the Tibet Of�ice and the International Campaign for Tibet we met each month to discuss human rights violations in Tibet and China and held hearings and debates on other matters of serious concern, such as environmental issues on the Tibetan plateau, elections.

In terms of content, on the level of the European Parliament we also managed to pass three speci�ic human rights resolutions concerning China:

The �irst was on the cases of human rights activists Wu Gan, Xie Yang, Lee Ming-che, Tashi Wangchuk and the Tibetan monk Choekyi. It raised the issue of the detention of Tibetan shopkeeper and language rights advocate Tashi Wangchuk, after he appeared in a New York Times video advocating the right of Tibetans to learn and study in their mother tongue and of Tibetan monk Choekyi, who was jailed for celebrating the birthday of the Dalai Lama;

The second human rights resolution was on the cases of the Larung Gar Tibetan Buddhist Academy and of Ilham Tohti. It shed a light on and condemned the extensive demolition of the Larung Gar Institute, the largest Tibetan Buddhist centre in the world, the destruction of around 1.500 dwellings and the forcible enrollment of evictees in so-called ‘patriotic education’ exercises.

The third and last such human rights resolution, adopted just on the last plenary session of this mandate was on the situation of religious and ethnic minorities. It expressed a strong concern about the repressive regime that religious and ethnic minorities, in particular Uyghurs and Kazakhs, Tibetans and Kazakhs face and called on Chinese authorities to respect fundamental freedoms.

Beside these resolutions focused on human rights issues, we also managed to insert concerns about Tibet in both of the two reports on EU-China relations of this mandate. Although these reports were meant to be rather focused on economic relations, we nevertheless succeeded in introducing a strong condemnation of the human rights situation in China, such as the Chinese Communist Party's hardline policies against the Tibetan people, including

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cases of torture, disappearance and arbitrary detention and the forceful resettlement of over 2 million Tibetan nomads and herders.

Tibet also featured in the EP’s annual human rights reports: on several successive occasions the EP called on the EU to rethink its human rights strategy vis-à-vis China, in view of the lack of tangible results of the human rights dialogues.

Such adopted papers were also complemented by individual activities of MEPs, who organized a Large number of conferences and exhibitions on the situation of Tibetans Uighurs and other religious or ethnic minorities.

All these achievements wouldn't have been possible without the devoted work and strong support of the Brussels Tibet Of�ice and the International Campaign for Tibet.

Conclusion And now, as a sort of conclusion I would try to formulate some wishes and recommendations for the new European Parliament that will start its mandate in July after the elections.

Seeing the ever more worrying human rights developments in China, including the use of the most advanced state survaillance techniques in the world to suppress any dissent, raising a strong voice in defense of the oppressed is more important than ever.

When asked about its human rights record, China aims to divert focus to social and economic development, pointing out all the money it pours into Tibet or other regions. Nevertheless, socio-economic rights are no more fundamental or important than civil and political rights. Economic development and human rights go together; it is only if the latter are respected that a human being can enjoy any fruits of social and economic progress.

In general terms I think that we, Europeans should insist on this in our dealings with China. Although China is the second largest economy in the world and Europe’s second largest trading partner, it is still an authoritarian state responsible for serious breaches of fundamental rights, including the freedom of expression, association, assembly and religion.

Europe needs an approach in which the pursuit of its trade and investment interests does not go against the principles it claims to stand for. It should not ignore the serious human right violations in China and the mistreatment of religious or ethnic minorities. Only by dealing with such matters can we build a credible and strong relationship with China; one that is in the interest of both the EU and the population of China.

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This credibility can only be reinforced if it can set the best possible example on fundamental and minority rights on its territory. I am convinced that if the Union wants to be a credible actor for human rights in the world, it has to start at home and show the best possible example abroad, including in the areas of its European autochthonous minorities. It must show to the world that there are models for functional, cohesive and economically developed societies in which minorities are not threats but strong assets.

As what concerns the particular issue of the European Parliament, I think we have the urgent task to pass on the knowledge of and interest for the Tibetan and other human rights issues in China to new incoming MEPs. Almost half of the members of the next European Parliament is estimated to be new.

Outgoing MEPs, the Tibet Of�ice and the ICT have the huge task to sensitivise enough new members, so that in the new mandate we can establish the Tibet Intergroup. This would be a very strong message that here in Europe we care about the plight of Tibetans, and that they can count on us.

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Policies of European Union on Tibet Vincent Metten

This presentation will try to give a helicopter view of EU-China relations and put the Tibet issue in a broader perspective.

My presentation will be divided into three parts: • The EU-China institutional architecture; • The EU’s lack on unity on China vis-a-vis human rights and Tibet; • Recent developments in EU-China relations.

1. The EU-China institutional architecture

The EU’s relationship with China is multi-faceted and complex. The relation is based on three pillars: a political dialogue, an economic and sectorial dialogue, and the people to people’s dialogue (latest one). There are many different actors involved and the decision making processes between the three major institutions (the Commission, the European Parliament and the EU Council) is quite complex.

The most relevant EU-China meetings for Tibet are: • The EU-China Summit (one meeting per year); • The EU-China High Level Strategic Dialogue (one meeting per year); • The EU-China Human Rights dialogue (one meeting per year).

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In 2016, the EU adopted a strategy on China, which provides the policy frame work for the EU’s relationship with China for the coming years, and clearly

Session IV- Plenary, Tibet Issue in the International Arena

states that “the promotion of human rights will continue to be a core part of the EU’s engagement with China”. But one main problem in the EU is that human rights are not mainstreamed in other areas of cooperation between the EU and China.

There have been 37 rounds of the EU-China Human Rights Dialogue so far, and no one can say that this has been an effective mechanism to improve the situation on the ground. Several NGOs including ICT is critical about this process and have asked the EU on several occasions to review this instrument to make it more effective.

The last Human Rights Dialogue took place in Brussels on 1 and 2 April 2019, and seems to have been again a dif�icult one. The new EU Special Representative for Human Rights, Mr Gilmore, a former Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ireland, delivered some opening remarks. Mr. Gilmore succeeds to Mr. Lambrinidis, appointed Head of the EU delegation in Washington. Mr. Lambrinidis went to Lhasa in its of�icial capacity in 2013. This was an important political mission but unfortunately nothing concrete came out of it. Mr. Lambrinidis was willing to push for instance some cooperation project on bilingual education, but this was never implemented. One component of the dialogue is a meeting between Chinese delegates and representatives of the civil society. But China declined to attend the meeting, which was mentioned in the EEAS press statement.

2. The EU’s lack of unity on China vis-a-vis human rights and Tibet

What we notice is that the 28 EU Member States are facing increasing dif�iculties in speaking with one voice to address China’s human rights record. Beijing is skillful at using this European division to amplify it. Let me highlight some examples.

The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI or OBOR) The �irst example concerns the Belt and Road Initiative(BRI), which was launched by President Xi in 2013 and is an open competition for global leadership and a way to reshape the international system, putting China at its centre. There is no of�icial list or comprehensive compilation of countries or organisations that have already signed Memorandums of Understanding (MoU) with China. But according to Xinhua, so far, China has signed 123 cooperation documents with 105 countries. There are two types of agreements: Joint declarations or MoUs, which are not legally binding but a tool that can be used for political or diplomatic objectives within the EU.The following countries have signed MoUs with China on OBOR: Albania, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia(in 2016), Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Italy in 2019. Italy has become the �irst G7 country to sign an MoU with China. This has created tensions with some other EU Member States and also with the US administration. China hosted the Second Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation (BRF) in Beijing on 25-27

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April 2019. 37 Head of States and Governments were represented, including Mr. Orban (Hungary), Mr. Kurz (Austria) Mr. Tspiras (Greece) and Mr. Conte (Italy).

Interestingly, the Handelsblatt published an article in April last year about a report by EU ambassadors criticizing China’s Belt and Road Initiative. The report, which was endorsed by 27 EU Members States – Hungary was the only exception- criticised the BRI, saying it “runs counter to the EU agenda for liberalizing trade and pushes the balance of power in favour of subsidized Chinese companies.”

Another example of European division is the 16+1 initiative between China and 16 Central and Eastern European countries. This platform of cooperation is heavily linked to the BRI. It has now turned into the 17+1 platform as Greece has joined the groups recently. There is certainly a link to the acquisition

by COSCO Company of the controlling share of the Greek port of Piraeus (a 35 year concession).The Belgrade–Budapest Railway is a case in point. The European commission blocked this project as it was going against EU rules (public tender) and EU authorities are waiting for a more transparent bidding process to be adopted. According to some media reports, 89% of projects that are labelled as part of the BRI have been implemented by Chinese companies and China remains reluctant to welcome foreign investments. So it certainly is not a two-way street. The 16+1 is likely to remain a platform for Central and Eastern European countries and Greece to compete for Chinese investments but not much more than this. 16+1 has been successful in constructing political and institutional foundations for future cooperation. But its weight and role should not be over-estimated today.

A 2018 report entitled “Authoritarian Advance: Chinese growing political in�luence in Europe” published by the in�luential think tanks MERICS (Mercator Institute for China Studies) and the Global Public Policy Institute warned that “China’s rapidly increasing political in�luencing efforts in Europe and the self-con�ident promotion of its authoritarian ideals pose a signi�icant challenge to liberal democracy as well as Europe’s values and interests.” What we notice today is that Beijing has traditionally had links with mainstream parties and former communists in Europe; now it’s building ties to right-wing populists or extreme right movements such as the Alternative for Germany (AfD) or anti-immigrant nationalists like Austria’s Freedom Party and others.

China has also stepped up its outreach in recent months, coinciding with the campaign for EU-wide elections to the European Parliament in May. In December 2018, a so called Tibet delegation of the Chinese National People’s Congress (NPC) came to Europe and paid a visit to the European Parliament before going to Denmark.They had several meetings, including with MEP

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Nirj Deva, the Chairman of the unof�icial EU-China Friendship Group in the European Parliament. In Nov 2018, Mr. Nirj Deva travelled again to Beijing for an event on innovation. A media article by Bloomberg has revealed that his economy class airfare was upgraded to business by his Chinese govt. hosts, who also picked up his hotel bills and expenses. Once there, Deva and his group, who have no formal role representing the European Union, were given better access than the EU’s of�icial delegation in Beijing.

Such Chinese delegations have free access to our countries and territories, as it is also the case for Chinese journalists, tourists. but the opposite is not true.

China is limiting or blocking access to Tibet to our citizens. There is a clear lack of reciprocity in terms of access to respective territories. Following the adoption of the US Reciprocal Access to Tibet Act, the issue is more and more taken into consideration at the political level in Europe. ICT has organized a conference on reciprocal access to Tibet in the European Parliament in November last year. The issue has been mentioned in several EU documents in particular resolutions and reports adopted by the European Parliament.

The EU High Representative Ms Mogherini made the following signi�icant statement after the adoption by the European Parliament of a resolution in human rights in China in April this year: “We have called on the Chinese authorities to allow reciprocal access to Tibet for European journalists, diplomats and families” This is certainly an issue on which delegates present today can play an active role.You can introduce of�icial requests to visit Tibet, ask your Ministry of Foreign Affairs to provide information about the number of of�icial requests addressed to the Chinese authorities to visit Tibet and how many were accepted, rejected or not answered to, you can organize debate on reciprocity in your respective countries, adopt legislative acts on this issue.

Another important development on this issue is the adoption by the European Parliament of a resolution on human rights violations sanctions, which “strongly condemns all violations of human rights across the globe” and calls on the EU Council to “swiftly establish an autonomous, �lexible and reactive EU-wide sanctions regime that would allow for the targeting of any individual, state and non-state actors, and other entities responsible for or involved in grave human rights violations.” This is an inspiring development for all delegates today present.

In addition to blocking our citizens to access Tibet, Beijing has adopted a more aggressive diplomatic position on meetings with His Holiness the Dalai Lama, stepping up its pressure on the EU and its Member States to block meetings of heads of government, ministers and members of Parliament with the Tibetan spiritual leader, in some cases even cancelling of�icial visits and delegations as retaliation against the countries who refused to give in to

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this pressure.

China’s second policy paper on the EU released in December 2018 speci�ically tells the EU that “ it should not allow leaders of the Dalai group to visit the EU or its member states in any capacity or under any name to carry out separatist activities, not arrange any form of contact with of�icials from the EU and its member states, and not support or facilitate any anti-China separatist activities for “Tibet independence”

Another way through which China is trying to in�luence the public opinion in Europe is by inserting Chinese of�icial media articles into European media.

Several European newspapers are for instance publishing inserts provided

by Chinese of�icial media such as Xinhua or the China Daily. In Belgium, Le Soir publishes such ads on a regular basis. ICT has introduced a complaint at the “Council for Journalistic Deontology” which was accepted in the name of confusion between ‘information’ and ‘publicity’. We are waiting for the decision of this body, which is not legal binding.

In France, in addition to Le Figaro, Le Monde has published a few weeks ago its �irst Chinese propaganda ads coinciding with the visit of Xi Jinping to France. In Germany, the Suddeutsche Zeitung seems to have decided last year to discontinue supplements from the Chinese Communist Party’s China Daily.

This is certainly another area where we all need to be vigilant and counter any Chinese attempt to use national media to diffuse their narrative and propaganda.

3. Recent developments in EU-China relations

For a few months now, we have been witnessing some interesting developments in Europe in particular since EU Member States started to discuss on how to protect 5G networks from potential security risks such as those attached to Huawei Technologies Co. Several EU Member States are in the process of re-assessing their bilateral relations with China and adapting them to this changing context.

A European Commission review of EU-China relations published on 12 March acknowledges that “China is simultaneously a cooperation partner, with whom the EU has closely aligned objectives… and systemic rival promoting alternative models of governance”. MEP Jo Leinen, who is heading the EUChina Delegation of the European Parliament, recently said of China: From a friendly partner, in a few years it changed to an unfriendly competitor.”

He cited industrial policy as well as human rights violation including the detention of Muslim Uyghurs and called for a ‘rougher tone’ from the EU. “China has lost the battle In the US and is on the way to losing the battle in

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Europe”, he said.

Europe is adopting an increasingly critical stance toward China more in line with the US, Australia and Canada. But Beijing wants to avoid Europe joining with the US and others in an anti-China front.

During the last visit of President Xi to Europe, President Macron was willing to give a more united image of Europe and invited German Chancellor Merkel and President of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker to join the meeting. President Macron wants to give a more united image of Europe and he also asked to set up a more balanced multilateral framework.

Ladies and gentlemen, let me conclude by saying that we witness some growing awareness in Europe about Chinese increased in�luence and by the risks it can represent on some strategic sectors as telecommunication. The risk of cyber attacks and espionage is becoming more apparent. Germany’s domestic intelligence agency has for instance warned of Chinese attempts to in�iltrate political and business circles through LinkedIn. In Feb 2019, Lithuania’s intelligence services are reported to have accused China of recruiting its citizens to engage in espionage activities and in�luence public opinion on issues such as Tibet and Taiwanese independence.

According to some EU of�icials, the idea that the EU and China might get closer as a result of President Trump was always exaggerated, yet there was a real window of opportunity which China has failed to grasp and that Europe’s traditional focus on Russian in�iltration is now shifting to include China.

Nevertheless, despite these developments, we are far away from a 180-degree shift of EU policy on China, in particular when it comes to sensitive issues such as human rights, Taiwan, Hong Kong or Tibet.

We certainly need a change of script. Europe can stand up for its values and interests by ensuring that its engagement with China remains principled. But to do so, the EU must put human rights at the centre stage in its discussions with China, not relegate it to the wings.

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Session V- Brie�ing Session by Honorable Parliamentarians

Chair: Hon. Gareth Hughes, MP New Zealand Hon. Andrus Navickas, MP Lithuania Hon. Michael Danby, MP Canada Hon. Pradeep Tampta, MP India

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Session V- Plenary, Brie�ing Session by Hon. Parliamentarians

Andrius Navickas

I am from Lithuania.Yesterday you were told about the similarities between the Baltic states and Tibet. And I don’t want to repeat. But I want to say that the support of His Holiness the Dalai Lama was very important in the very beginning of independence 30 years ago. The support of His Holiness for Lithuania was very very important for us. But on the other hand the support for Tibet and Lithuania was very strong. As you know there are two things. One thing is to gain independence and another thing is to force independence. And when you are independent, you must �ight for freedom and of course we had ex-communists who returned to of�ice. The ex-communists are always closer to China, not to Tibet. But another problem is that we have populists and in the previous election in 2016, our populists gained of�ice. Our populists won.

It is interesting that we are speaking much about values but in real politics they only speak about politics.

The in�luence of China became very strong in Lithuania. The sign of it, for example, is that from the beginning in Lithuania we had Inter-Parliamentary Group on Tibet in our parliament. But for the �irst time it was banned. I had a lot of quarrels and disputes with the Speaker of the Parliament. After that I was able to form a solidarity group for Tibet but it was not Inter-Parliamentary group. For the �irst time we were banned to create such a group.But I hope the situation is changing.

Yesterday we had a debate of presidential candidates on national radio. We will have election on Sunday. We have nine candidates. It was interesting that they were asked: Would they prefer to meet the Dalai Lama if they were

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elected? Eight of them answered that they may not meet the Dalai Lama as China is a country and of course it is not very good for politicians to meet a religious leader. But I am proud that one of the candidates who has a good chance of winning the election of�icially said that she would meet the Dalai Lama. So I see change in Lithuania too. The next thing is that the Dalai Lama in Lithuania not once but every time he stressed that he looked at us with hope and since that time I always heard that His Holiness is very polite.

Last year we had a lot of important visits. Catholic Pope Francis visited Lithuania. And his message was very interesting. He said that Lithuania has a great mission in the contemporary world. Mission? One small country. We were the spectators of the world history. We were not the actors. It was our �irst reaction. In the beginning of this week, Lobsang Sangay visited Vilnius and Oh My God! He has repeated that he wants to learn something from us and it was too much. I think that if the Dalai Lama, Pope Francis and Lobsang Sangay convinced me that we Lithuanians have an important and great mission. So I began to believe. I dream that this mission is connected to �ight for the freedom of Tibet.

This morning I wrote an of�icial letter to the Lithuanian Foreign Minister Linas Linkevicius and asked him to toughly react to the release of the Chinese ambassador in Vilnius and asked him to warn against the terms of foreign countries to interfere in the inside matters of Lithuania against their terms to persecute the citizens of Lithuania and other cause. I wrote in the press conference that we want to review the fact. If we are wrong, he must show me the evidence. If not, he must warn the Chinese ambassador to behave properly. I wrote to him and said that the best way to solve the problem is to let Lobsang Sangay visit Tibet so that he can see with his own eyes what is the matter in Tibet. I also suggested to the minister about the possibility of holding a Lithuanian international discussion on the human rights situation in Tibet. And I am waiting for the answer.

This letter was not my idea. I have a very good Tibetan friend who gave me this idea. I think one of the most important things in this conference is that we are not seeking new ideas but new friends. Friends in our �ight are more important than ideas. Tibet needs other countries’ support. But we need Tibet much more. You remain as the prices of freedom and the noble way of spiritual non-violent �ight for freedom. I am very happy here because I see a lot of friends. I hope that Lithuania can do many good things for Tibet and I hope that Tibet in the future can do many good things for Lithuania. I hope that the world can become a better place to live in.

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Michael Danby

Let me echo what was said in the previous session. This cause of Tibet among the population and even in parliaments around the world has not been stronger in the past. It has grown. But over the last 15 years no Australian Prime Minister of either political party, no foreign minister will now meet the Dalai Lama despite many people in their own party pushing very hard for them to do that. I traced the change in attitudes to two events.

The most important is the rise of Xi Jinping. Since he became the virtual dictator of China, Beijing’s power has grown all over the region. So we can have popular support in Chile, or Australia, or Canada or USA. But what we face now is not just vastly increased Chinese economic and military power but something Mr. Garches has referred to a sharp power. The Chinese don’t have the kind of soft power -British sense of humour or the French food that appeals to the rest of the world. They have old style Stalinist subversion which they call United Work Department. This is a mixture of propaganda and agitation.

In Australia, they use the 900,000 Chinese Australian communities to act as fronts for the Chinese embassy. Of course most of the Australian Chinese are very loyal to Australia. But a few years ago when the Beijing Olympics were on, tens of thousands of Chinese students with �lags supplied by the embassy picketed the poor Tibetan students who were protesting as the Beijing torch came to Australia. That was symbolically the point at which things got a lot worse. In my view you can’t distinguish the Tibetan issue from the most

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important foreign policy issue of the day in USA, in Canada, in Australia and in the UK and that is the issue of rising Chinese power. Although Tibet is very popular with the liberal and conservative people in all of their countries, the governments take into consideration much more Chinese economic and military power and there is a �ight on so many issues in New Zealand as well as Australia with the Chinese sharp power. The use of propaganda, agitation, newspapers, Confucius Institutes all coordinated by this United Front Department in Beijing.

Gareth Hughes

I will give you very brief New Zealand perspective on those three questions in terms of the Tibetan issue; I think New Zealand has a very warm and popular feeling towards the cause of Tibetan autonomy. I think we have a very able representative in New Zealand for many years, Thupten Kalsang and a very good representative in Canberra. At the parliamentary level we have seen huge turnout when His Holiness the Dalai Lama came to New Zealand in places like Australia, in places line up to meet him. But we have not seen formal response from government and no New Zealand Prime Minister or foreign minister has met him for 15 years as well. We can see this sort of impromptu in formal meeting at the airport but no formal meetings.

However, when I had the honour to host Sikyong two years ago in New Zealand Parliament, it was wonderful that 15% of New Zealand Parliament came out to meet him. At the governmental level I was proud go to see our govt. last year at the Geneva Human Rights Council meeting raise the issue

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of Tibet and human rights and called for dialogue between China and Tibet.

In terms of the relationship with China, New Zealand has a very long and rich history with China. It goes all the way back to mid-19th century with their gold rush and a very high migration in recent decades. We were the �irst country to sign free trade agreement with China. We were the �irst country to acknowledge the market economy of the World Trade Organisation with parallel about the Belt and Road Initiative. We were the �irst nation to join the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank.

But this very close trade relationship has come a dif�icult situation because of the challenges of the human rights of Tibet. We saw my party leader, when the Chinese leader came to New Zeal Parliament, he demonstrated silently in the corner, with a Tibetan �lag, he reached there violently across and the �lag was ripped out of my party leader’s hands because he did wave a Tibetan �lag.

When New Zealand last year banned the use of Huawei, G5 network, we saw a huge response from China. Our Prime Minister’s visit to Beijing was delayed.

The long planned Year of Tourism with China was delayed. We saw our trade out of the border, �light was turned back from the airport. The number of Chinese students in New Zealand came down. Our talk about the free trade agreement has stalled. So we have seen a signi�icant response from China as a response to the G5 decision of foreign in�luence in our politics, in our parliament. Rather belately and slower than Australia is looking at that now.

For me the personal re�lection is that we see these two massive anniversaries -60 years since the Dalai Lama’s �light and 30 years since the Tiananmen and I guess for the Chinese leadership they are struck may be paranoid about what happened with Tiananmen Square, with the downfall of the USSR and with the liberalization. I think the impact there is… how to open up China in terms of Tibet while the leadership is paranoid about what followed the plight of the USSR. Looking brie�ly, what we can do? I have come away from this conference really inspired. I really want to redouble my efforts and strengthen the friendship groups in New Zealand Parliament. I like to move a motion commemorating the 60th anniversary of the �light from Tibet and I personally apply for travel visa. Perhaps there is a suggestion for the whole Congress that if there was a coordinated international efforts to see motions recognizing the 60th anniversary and state national parliament a coordinated effort to apply for travel visa to visit Tibet and the media has got on the back of it and I think they can really raise the pro�ile leading to reciprocal push as well.

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Pradeep Tamta

I will make 2-3 points. What is the relation between India, China and Tibet? We have different position than other states. You are European. You are from the USA. We are a very very neighbouring countries, a long history of India, China and Tibet.

We have cultural relation. We have religious relation. Buddhism went to China through the Tibetan culture and Tibetan language. The Tibetans have visited our country. So we have a unique relation. This is the 60th year of Tibetan uprising and the arrival of the Dalai Lama in India. We have supported them. Our government has supported them. Our people have also supported them. Our parliamentarians have supported them. I am a member of All Party Indian Parliamentary Forum for Tibet. It was constituted by the famous jurist M.C. Chagla. He initiated this forum. Later on the labour leader Mr. George Fernandes revived this forum. He became the first chairman of All Party Indian Parliamentary Forum for Tibet. The first World Parliamentarian’s Convention on Tibet was held in India.

On two occasions the All Party Indian Parliamentary Forum invited His Holiness in 1994 and 2005. His Holiness conveyed his message to the forum. At the moment Mr. Shanta Kumar, one of the members of Parliament from Dharamsala (H.P) is the convenor of the forum. In 2007 we requested the Dalai Lama to address the Indian parliament. I think the new parliament is coming. We will also request the Speaker of the Indian Parliament to invite the Dalai Lama. He may join the Indian parliament and say something about the Tibetan struggle, about IndiaChina relation. As mentioned by my colleague, Mr. Ripun Bora, yesterday, we the parliamentarians and also the signatories of the memorandum have requested the Indian govt. to confer Bharat Ratna, the country’s highest civilian award on His Holiness the Dalai Lama. I think that will become true someday. This is how the All Party Indian Parliamentary Forum for Tibet members are supporting

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the Tibetan group. When the Dalai Lama came to India with his followers, our first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru whole heartedly supported the Dalai Lama and his followers. The Prime Minister asked all states for help. The biggest Tibetan settlement is in Karnataka, south India. So the Indian people and the govt. supported them. Last year when the 30 years of the Nobel Peace Prize given to the Dalai Lama has been completed, I visited Dharamsala on this occasion.

Many parliamentarians on different occasions visited Dharamsala and made their presence felt to support the Tibetan cause. The Chinese govt. claims that Arunachal Pradesh is a part of China. They say that it is southern part of Tibet.

They tell us not to visit it. But our Prime Minister visited it. When His Holiness wished to visit Tawang, despite the protest of the Chinese, the Dalai Lama visited it. The CTA is functioning in India in a democratic manner. There is no objection from the Indian government. From the side of the Indian people, Tibetans are very peaceful and peace loving people. In our country, we never think that they are aliens. We treat them as a part of Indian civilization and culture. The Indian people, Indian govt. and parliamentarians whole heartedly support the Tibetan cause. It is for the Tibetans and Chinese people and govt. to settle their relation, their conflict. Indian govt. is always there. It is up to the Tibetan people who are the stake holders and the Chinese people to settle their differences. But our support is with the Tibetan people. And all the Tibetan people are welcome till they return to their land.

Yesterday Mr. Sikyong and the other fellow spoke about the Tibetan Plateau. They said that it was the ‘Third Pole’. I belong to the Himalayan region – UttaraKhand.

Two major rivers of the Indian civilization – the Ganges and the Yamuna come from the Indian side of the Himalayan regions. I think 2/3 of the entire world population – India, China, Tibet, Nepal, Pakistan and Bhutan reside in this part.

Now a debate is going on – development vs environment. When I was a university student, I was part of the ‘Save the Trees’ movement. In our part of India we say ‘Save the Himalaya’. If you save the Himalayas, you save the Indian civilization.

You will save the rest of the world. When we oppose the construction of dams on India side, Indian govt. gives same logic. They say that they are doing this for development. They are creating employment for the people. Then they say that we are against development. But when the same dams are made on the Tibetan Plateau, they adopt a different stand. When the Tibetan issue will be settled between the Tibetan people and the Chinese. But the entire Himalayan region where we belong and 2/3 of the population belong; they have to cherish the Himalayan regions and the rivers. This is the basic right of thousands and thousands of people living in these areas – India, China, Tibet and Nepal. We have different yard sticks or different measurements but not the govt. perspective, with the perspective of the people save the Himalayas and save the human civilization. Lastly I think that the Tibetan struggle and the pathway shown by the Dalai Lama is important not only to the Tibetans but to the rest of humanity. In the 21st century as someone from Romania said something about the minorities... but I say that the peaceful way of

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struggle for their values. That is the hope for the world. Rest of the group when they are oppressed, when they are suppressed, they react violently, but the path shown by the Dalai Lama – you may suffer, you may be hit, but you will not hit anybody. That is the relevance of the path shown by the Dalai Lama for the rest of the country – how to solve your problems, how to make your presence felt.

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Session IX- Closing Session

Session IX- Closing Session

: Address by Chief Guest Hon. Andrius Navickas MP, Lithuania Vote of Thanks by Hon. Acharya Yeshi Phuntsok Deputy Speaker of Tibetan Parliament-in-Exile

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Andrius Navickas

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Thank you very much. Good morning everybody. Janis said that I have to talk for an hour. He said that I have to talk an hour about how beautiful Latvia is. Of course I think Latvia is very beautiful. This convention was also very good. I feel very adequate. For me it is important that now I have more friends than before the convention. But the problem is that I want to be very much at home. All my thought is about the election in Vilnius. It is more about home. So I will speak very brie�ly. I want to thank everybody for being here. For me it is important that this convention convinced me that we are no small nations who are only spectators of drama of history. Sometimes we think that it is impossible for instance China will accept our demand. Even very small action is very important. Every friendship is very important. I sincerely hope that may be not 8th but the 10th convention will be held in Tibet. We will discuss which nations are in need of our solidarity. As His Holiness said in his video message this convention is about justice. Without justice there is no peace. Without justice there is no normal life. I want to thank you for teaching me what does justice mean. I want to thank you for teaching me how to be consistently �ighting for rights but not by hating other people but by being in the right place.

I want to thank Janis because he did an excellent work. I think without him this convention would not be so good. For me it was the �irst time to meet people from the Tibetan Parliament and from the Tibetan government. You are very �ine people. It was a great pleasure to see you. It was a great pleasure to be with you. It was a great honour to be with you all. I want to �inish my speech and say: Be not so serious. Be joyful because as I said yesterday,

Session IX- Closing Session

every day we are closer to the freedom of Tibet. Today we are closer to Tibet’s freedom than yesterday”. Thank you.

Ven.Acharya Yeshi Phuntsok

Firstly, my sincere gratitude to His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama for blessing the last six WPCTs with his presence and for the video message for this 7th WPCT. We are also privileged to have the messages of Honourable US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Honourable Representative Jim McGovern for this convention. On behalf of Tibetan Parliament-in–Exile, our co-host Latvian Parliamentary Support Group for Tibet, International Network of Parliamentarians for Tibet (INPAT) and all the delegates present here, I would like to offer my sincere gratitude for their blessings with profound messages.

Secondly, I would like to thank Cross-Party group for Tibet-Latvian Parliamentary Support Group for Tibet for co-hosting the 7th WPCT in Riga, Latvia. Although Latvian Parliamentary Support Group for Tibet consented in principle to organize the 7th WPCT in Riga in May last year, it was only after their elections in December that, they were �inally ready to organize the 7th WPCT. Mr. Janis, Coordinator and Chief of Society “Latvia for Tibet, Mr. Sonam Frasi, Representative of London Of�ice of Tibet and our Former Speaker Venerable Khenpo Sonam Tenphel paid a visit to all the venues in Latvia, got in contact with our co-organizer and then we �inalized to organize the 7th WPCT in Riga, Latvia. Thereafter, we took this matter to the Standing Committee of the Tibetan Parliament-in-Exile. In December 2018, we sent invitations through the Of�ices of Tibet and we were able to organize the 7th WPCT here in Riga, Latvia. Thus, on behalf of Tibetan Parliament-in-Exile and

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Tibetans in and outside of Tibet and the delegates, I would like to thank Coorganizer of the 7th WPCT-Latvian Parliamentary Support Group for Tibet.

My sincere thanks to Honorable Members from the cross-political parties of the cross countries. Without your presence in this Convention, we would not be able to hold the 7th WPCT. Many of Honourable Members of the Parliaments have attended WPCTs from the beginning till the 7th WPCT. I am really grateful to you all for your presence, sharing views and experiences, giving suggestions for the adoption of the Riga Declaration and Action Plan.

Once again, I would like to thank you all.

Besides that, I would like to thank the Panelists, Intellectuals, and Scholars who enlightened us on various policies such as US-China Policy, EU- China policy, China and Tibet Relation, Tibet’s Current Environment Situation with lot of experiences and inputs. These are very much helpful and useful for the parliamentarians. The ideas and suggestions of intellectuals and the think tanks are useful for adopting the resolutions and declarations not only in the convention but even in the parliaments. Thus, on behalf of the organizers, my sincere gratitude to all the Panelists, Speakers and Chairs of this convention.

May I also thank the governments and parliamentarians for adopting numbers of resolutions after the 2012 convention of the Ottawa declaration.

Unfortunately, it has been a long gap of 6 years until we were able to organize the 7th WPCT. But anyhow, we have got all the documents, the resolutions and the statements of the dignitaries for the cause of Tibet. And also through the help of Of�ices of Tibet, we were able to bring out the background paper of the 7th WPCT with the updated issues.

I also want to thank Sikyong Dr. Lobsang Sangay, the Kashag, and DIIR Secretary and staff particularly the two staff for showing live telecast on the global level- the 7th WPCT. On behalf of the organizers, Latvian Tibet Support Group and Tibetan Parliament in Exile, Speaker and myself and the parliamentarians, we would also like to thank particularly Of�ices of Tibet, with their support and coordination, we were able to resume the 7th WPCT. Unfortunately, a number of our Representatives of Of�ices of Tibet were unable to attend this convention. Some got the problem of visa and two of our Of�ices of Tibet had their own pre-engagements. Even though Mr. Tsewang Phuntsok was not able to come here because he had prior engagement but the Chile parliamentarian is with us. Even with pressures from the Chinese government and Chinese embassies and ongoing elections, we were able to resume and select parliamentarians who show us sympathy and support.

May I also thank our Tibetan Parliamentarians. Since the last 4th WPCT, we tried to attend and in this 7th WPCT, we have 11 parliamentarians from Tibetan Parliament-in-Exile who contributed in receiving our dignitaries

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and the registration, decoration and the drafting committee. On behalf of the Speaker and myself and all our delegates, thanks to the members of Tibetan Parliament-in-Exile.

May I also thank the ICT particularly Europe based ICT. Ms. Tsering Jampa has initiated with their members for not only this 7th WPCT but also for the visitation program of the members of our Tibetan Parliamentary delegation to various nations in terms of �inancial support along with the CTA.

We are indeed honoured to receive a numbers of parliamentary delegation from various countries in Dharamsala and our Members are privileged to visit many countries, thereby meeting many other parliamentarians, think tanks, of�icials, intellectuals, media and Tibet supporters. As I mentioned yesterday, I was able to meet Mr. Carl Gershman in 1999 and also met Mr. Richard Gere when I was working with Tibet’s movement in 1990.

Since 1994 WPCT till the 7th WPCT, we are privileged to get the support and help from Professor Michael Van Walt Praag in the drafting of Declaration & Action Plan and the background material book, which we brought out before the convention. During the last 5/50 meeting of CTA in Dharamsala, we met and requested him to help with this background papers in the compilation and editing. We got connected on daily basis through emails and �inally, we were able to bring out this background materials. And of course Ms. Christa Meindersma-Advocacy and Communications Director of ICT Europe, who speaks Tibetan �luently and has a long experience. I met Ms. Christa for the �irst time in this convention but really her Tibetan language is very �luent and doing the drafting very fast. Therefore, on behalf of the organizers and Tibetan communities, I would like to sincerely thank both of them. Especially, Prof. Michael Van Walt, thank you so much for helping us for the last 60 years.

I also want to thank the manager and the staff of the Hotel Bellevue for their support and help and sincerity. Even in the convention hall, the Director and our interpreters, I saw they are very simple, very dedicated and very sincere.

Thanks to our volunteers who helped and supported us from the day we reached here on May 3 till today.

Since there is no Of�ice of Tibet and no Tibetan community but few members of Tibet supporters in Latvia, therefore, we brought our of�ice staff of Dharamsala – Ms. Kalsang Youdon, Ms. Tenzin Choeying and Ms. Tseten Kalsang with two staff from the of�ices of Tibet of London and Brussels through the Kashag – Mr. Tenzin Lekshey and Mr. Sonam Tharchin. The number is not necessary but the teamwork is very important. With their help and support, we were able to timely resume the meeting and gathering. On behalf of Honourable Speaker and myself, thank you all for making this convention a success.

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Finally, I have a request, now we have already adopted the Declaration and the Action Plan; I want to tell that this Convention as compared to the last 6 conventions is little different. The motive of this convention is to include very few lectures & talks and introduce more on how to raise Tibet’s issue, how to adopt Tibet’s issue in their respective Parliaments, how to mobilize the issue of Tibet on different platforms. Recently I was in London initiated by the Of�ice of Tibet. We met with the Scottish Parliamentarians and the UK parliamentarians and of�icials. So, therefore, we need more sharing of ideas and suggestions from the parliamentarians for the adoption of the Declaration and the Action Plan.

Now after this convention, everyone will be going back and the copy of Declaration & Action Plan will be sent to your respective emails. We want to request you to please do carry on and Of�ices of Tibet and Tibet Societies also need to be more active. I always keep on saying for the last 60 years, out of 190 countries but we have more than 30 or 40 countries’ Parliamentary Tibet Support Groups. We need to increase. We need more support and constructive support to resume the dialogue and to resolve Tibet’s issue.

Tibet issue is the most important matter. I always say that Tibet issue is not underline with human rights and environment, so, my humble request, on behalf of the Tibetan community, kindly do carry on your support and do visit Dharamsala once again to get more interaction with Tibetan leaders and Tibetan organizations. We hope, we will resume the dialogue after this convention, if we actively mobilized our strategies and thus we will be able to get back to Tibet with His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama. This is our third generations who are leading the Tibetan community in and outside of Tibet’s movement. The �irst generations are those who came into exile in 1959, who are mostly no more alive. The second generations are those, who are becoming 60 years in and outside of Tibet. The third generations are like us who are born in India and who have never seen our native land but because of His Holiness’s blessing, your support, we are able to carry on our Tibet’s movement. Therefore, my utmost gratitude to you all for making our Tibetan issue still alive after 60 years.

My special thanks to Honourable Chief Guest and Master of Ceremony for giving us your precious time despite your hectic schedules. And once again thanks to Mr. Janis and his team who worked so hard day and night – arranging cars, taxis, booking of hotel rooms, informing media and everything. I sincerely apologize if there were any inconveniences in the last 3 days. Lastly, once again, on behalf of the Tibetan Parliament- in -Exile and Tibetan people, thanks to all the delegates for your presence in this important convention and making it successful. Thank You.

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Riga Declaration 2019

Adoption of Riga Declaration 2019

Chairpersons: Hon. Elisabeth Toutut Picard Member of French National Assembly and President of Tibet Study Group at French National Assembly

Prof. Michael Van Walt Praag President of Kreddha and Professor of International Relations and International Law

Ms. Christa Meindersma Advocacy and Communications Director, ICT Europe

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7th World Parliamentarians’ Convention on Tibet, 7-10 May 2019, Riga, Latvia

The Riga Declaration 7th World Parliamentary Convention on Tibet 7-10 May 2019, Riga, Latvia

WHEREAS: We, the delegations to the 7th World Parliamentarians’ Convention on Tibet meeting in Riga, Latvia, from 7-10 May 2019; Recalling the �indings and statements of the previous six Conventions held in New Delhi,Vilnius, Washington D.C., Edinburgh, Rome and Ottawa, and having reviewed the activities and programs that resulted from these meetings and their impact;

Appreciating the strong participation from countries all over the world at the Convention,

Thankful for the participation of those members of Parliament who came to Riga despite having been pressured by the Government of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) not to attend, and deeply concerned at the PRC’s attempt to stop them; Deeply concerned about the reluctance of the PRC to resume the dialogue with representatives of His Holiness the Dalai Lama since 2010; Recognizing the urgency of resolving the international Sino-Tibetan con�lict caused by the invasion of Tibet by the PRC in 1949/50 and its illegal annexation in 1951;

Having reviewed the grave situation in Tibet as well as the policies of the Government of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) in relation to the Tibetan people; Recognizing the critical role played by parliamentarians and parliamentary bodies in raising awareness of the grave situation in Tibet with governments and international institutions and in formulating policies in support of the cause of the Tibetan people; Recognizing that respect for international law is a precondition for peaceful relation between States; Expressing solidarity with all others suffering oppression under the rule of the Government of the PRC;

WE THEREFORE: Reiterate our �irm conviction that the Sino-Tibetan con�lict can be resolved peacefully through negotiations between the government of the PRC and envoys of His Holiness the Dalai Lama;

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Reaf�irm that Tibet has historically never been part of China, that it was invaded in violation of international law and has since been under illegal occupation by the PRC, and that consequently Tibet has not lost its Statehood under international law;

Reject the false claim of the Government of the PRC that Tibet has been a part of China since ancient times and reject as unacceptable its demand that His Holiness publicly accept this claim as a precondition to substantive talks; Recall that it has been 60 years since HH the Dalai Lama �led into exile to India where he reconstituted the Tibetan government, the Central Tibetan Administration, which is currently democratically elected and is the legitimate representative of the Tibetan people; Acknowledge that it has been 60 years since His Holiness the Dalai Lama �led into exile in India where he set up a democratic government representing the Tibetan people; Express solidarity with the Tibetan people in their non-violent struggle for their rights including their right to self-determination;

Deplore the assaults on the Tibetan culture, language, religious practice and way of life of Tibetans, as well as the continued population transfer of Chinese into Tibet, which gravely impacts these and other aspects of the Tibetan identity; Recognise the critical role of the Tibetan Plateau with respect to world climate and climate change, as well as the importance of the Tibetan rivers as the source of water for much of Asia’s population;

Express concern about the environmental degradation on the Tibetan Plateau, which led to an unprecedented number of natural disasters since 2016, primarily caused by excessive resource extraction and dam construction, as well as the accumulation of waste and dumping of toxic waste on the Plateau and in Tibet’s waters; Express concern at the dire situation of nomads who have been forcibly resettled into new towns and who are deprived of the basic necessities of life;

Are deeply concerned and saddened by the 153 Tibetans who have set �ire to themselves in protest against Chinese rule in Tibet and while calling for the return of His Holiness the Dalai Lama to Tibet; Express concern at the increasing security measures taken in Tibet that curtail the freedom of expression, religion and movement of the Tibetans;

Express concern at the PRC government’s harassment of Tibetans living in exile and its in situation of disharmony within Tibetan communities in exile;

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7th World Parliamentarians’ Convention on Tibet, 7-10 May 2019, Riga, Latvia

Recognize that the Middle Way Approach is the most viable approach to peacefully resolve the Sino-Tibetan con�lict; and endorse the principles set out in the Memorandum on Genuine Autonomy for the Tibetan People, which provide the basis for a realistic and sustainable political solution to the issue of Tibet;

Af�irm that the Buddhist practice of identifying and recognising the reincarnation of Dalai Lamas and Tulkus is a religious matter that should not be subject to external political interference by the government of the PRC;

Call on parliaments and governments to challenge and impede the PRC Government’s use of sharp power to manipulate and divide societies and its abuse of cyber space;

Welcome the adoption of the Reciprocal Access to Tibet Act (RATA) by the United States in December 2018 as well as the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act and urge other countries to speedily adopt such legislation; Urge governments to act in ways that more truthfully re�lects the sentiments of the people in their country towards Tibet and its people;

Urge parliaments and governments to receive leaders and other representatives of the Central Tibetan Administration to discuss all issues pertaining to improving the situation in Tibet and resolving the Sino-Tibetan con�lict; Call upon the Government of the PRC: To end the repression of Tibetans, the violation of their fundamental human rights and freedoms.

To end its control of the cultural, religious and social life of Tibetans and to release the Panchen Lama, who has been held captive for the past 24 years.

To give unimpeded access to Tibet to foreign journalists, scholars and researchers, diplomats and other foreign citizens, including those of Tibetan origin.

To cease its policies and practices that harm the natural environment of the Tibetan Plateau.

And to resume the dialogue with envoys of His Holiness the Dalai Lama without preconditions.

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Press Release

Press Release 7th World Parliamentarians’ Convention on Tibet

Riga: Today, the 7th World Parliamentarians’ Convention on Tibet (WPCT) concluded in Riga, Latvia.

The Convention was hosted by the Latvian Parliamentary Support Group for Tibet and supported by the Tibetan Parliament-in-Exile (TPiE), in close association with the International Network of Parliamentarians on Tibet (INPaT). The Convention had strong participation of parliamentarians from all over the world, including members of the Tibetan Parliament-in-Exile.

The WPCT expresses solidarity with the people of Tibet and their cause.

Notwithstanding pressure from the Government of the PRC not to attend, Members of Parliaments (MP) from all over the world attended the 7th WPCT.

The WPCT expresses grave concern about the continuing unacceptable situation in Tibet, particularly the ongoing destruction of Tibet’s culture and language and persistent violations of human rights. The parliamentarians are alarmed at the environmental degradation of the Tibetan Plateau, which impacts the whole world.

The WPCT is also very concerned about the self-immolation of more than 150 Tibetans in protest at China’s repressive rule and who called for the return of His Holiness the Dalai Lama to Tibet.

The conference participants urge the Chinese government to resume talks with representatives of the Dalai Lama, which they have refused to do since 2010, despite urgings from the international community. They also insist that Beijing’s precondition, namely that the Dalai Lama publicly accept China’s claim that “Tibet has been a part of China since ancient times,” is entirely unacceptable. In its Riga Declaration adopted today, the Convention af�irms that in fact Tibet has never been part of China and rejects Beijing’s self-serving historical narrative.

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7th World Parliamentarians’ Convention on Tibet, 7-10 May 2019, Riga, Latvia

The signi�icance of holding the Convention in Riga was particularly noted by everyone, since the Baltic States suffered the same fate as Tibet when they were occupied by the Soviet Union until the recovery of their independence in 1991. Tibet was invaded by Communist China a decade after the invasion of the Baltic States, but still remains under illegal occupation.

Speaker of the US House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi sent a message of solidarity and urged that Chinese of�icials be held accountable for their repressive campaign in Tibet. She encouraged MPs from all over the world to adopt their own versions of the Reciprocal Acces to Tibet Act, an important piece of legislation adopted by the US Congress and signed into law by the US President in December 2018. The Act will result in restrictions on travel of Chinese of�icials and others in the US unless Beijing lifts restrictions on access to Tibet by US citizens, including diplomats, journalists and parliamentarians.

The Convention found it totally unacceptable for the Chinese Communist Government to interfere in the centuries old religious tradition of selecting the reincarnation of His Holiness the Dalai Lama.

The Dalai Lama sent a video message in which he emphasised the importance of saving Tibet’s environment and culture and urged MPs to continue to support a negotiated solution for Tibet.

The WPCT recognises in its Declaration that the Middle Way Approach, a compromise proposal which calls for genuine autonomy within the PRC and which the Dalai Lama and the Central Tibetan Administration (the Tibetan government in exile) have been pursuing for many years, remains the most viable solution to resolve the Sino-Tibetan con�lict.

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7-10 MAY, 2019 Riga , Latvia

PARTICIPANTS OF THE 7TH WORLD PARLIAMENTARIANS’ CONVENTION ON TIBET AT THE HOUSE OF RIGA LATVIAN SOCIETY, RIGA, LATVIA