Dalai Lama Reaches Out For Mediation

Dalai Lama representative wants Japan to mediate

Tokyo, March 27 : A representative of the Dalai Lama called on Japan Thursday to play a mediating role on Tibet.

“I feel if there is a will from the Japanese government side, the Japanese government can play a positive role bringing the Chinese and Tibetan leadership together,” Lhakpa Tshoko, the Tibetan spiritual leader’s official representative in Tokyo, said before Chinese President Hu Jintao is to make a visit to Japan, possibly in May.

Tshoko criticized Japanese reaction to violent unrest in Tibetan areas of China over the past two weeks, saying the government had offered no official help and the media had virtually ignored the problem.

The reason for this reluctance from both sides was Japan‘s deference to its relations with China, he said.

He also urged Japanese government officials to meet the Dalai Lama, noting that the leaders of most other Group of Seven countries had done so and saying he hoped Japan‘s government would one day “better understand our situation.”

On Tuesday, when asked whether international mediators could play a role in ending unrest there, Qin Gang, spokesman for China‘s Foreign Affairs Ministry, said, “Tibet is an internal affair of China and brooks no foreign interference.”

International Tibet Scholars Call on China to End Harsh Repressions in Tibet, Should Stop Tactic of Blaming the Dalai Lama
An international group of Tibet scholars have asked President Hu Jintao and China to take steps to end the harsh repression in Tibet saying “that silence is no longer an option for a group whose members have devoted their professional lives to the study of Tibet’s culture and history.”

In an open letter to President Hu Jintao made public on March 27, 2008, the 75 scholars, who have signed so far, said, “The group furthermore states that the tactic of blaming the unrest on the Dalai Lama masks a refusal, on the part of the Chinese government, to recognize the failures of its own policies.”

China puts pre-condition for talks with Dalai

China has added a new pre-condition for dialogue with exiled Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama, asking him to end activities to ”sabotage” the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.

Hours after US President George W Bush talked on phone with his Chinese counterpart Hu Jintao on the Tibet issue, Tibetan monks embarrassed the Communist regime by staging a protest and voicing support for the Dalai Lama in front of visiting foreign reporters in Lhasa.

The White House claimed that Bush ”pushed very hard” on the need for restraint and the need for substantive dialogue with the representatives of the Dalai Lama.

If the Dalai Lama is keen on talks, he should especially stop activities to ”fan and mastermind” violent crimes in Tibet as well as in some other regions and end activities to ”sabotage” the Beijing Olympics and accept Tibet and Taiwan as inseparable parts of China, Hu told Bush.

LONDON: A day after hinting that he might boycott the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games in Beijing, President Nicolas Sarkozy of France on Wednesday urged China to conduct a “true dialogue” with the Dalai Lama, the spiritual leader of Tibet.

SAN JOSE, Costa Rica: Costa Rican President and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Oscar Arias said Tuesday that the Dalai Lama has asked him to help start talks with China over unrest in Tibet.

TOKYO: Japanese Foreign Minister Masahiko Komura on Sunday appealed for calm in Chinese-controlled Tibet, urging Beijing to bear in mind the potential impact on the Olympics in August, according to a report.

The threat of detention and deportation to China is being used by the government of Nepal to silence peaceful dissent. Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch

The council has not only the right, but the obligation to address the Tibet crisis. It’s scandalous that the council ends up silencing those who are trying to make sure it does its job. Juliette de Rivero, Geneva advocacy director

Either Tibet is open or it’s not. If it is, let independent monitors and the media go there. If it’s not, the torch shouldn’t go there either. Sophie Richardson, Asia advocacy director for Human Rights Watch

Although China claims they have support from many countries regarding their handling of events in Tibet, many countries take a different stand. The bottom line is: 1) allow fair dialog between the Dalai Lama and China leadership, 2) allow the United Nations un inhibited access to Tibetan hotspots for an impartial evaluation. 3) understand that the world measures China by its actions, not just its words.

China has brought material improvement to the Tibetan Plateau, this is very evident. However, there are enough Tibetans who are unhappy with how China implements its regulations. Cultures ultimately blend and morph, but something within the Tibet-China arrangement is not blending. It would serve both China and Tibet to have a serious dialog that includes respect for one another, without rhetoric, without threat of intimidation, and within an open venue with the United Nations mediating and Human Rights Watch as witness.