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Dharamsala welcomes Chinese dissidents' call for self-rule for Tibet
DHARAMSALA, 6 February - "We welcome the latest voices coming out of China in support of granting geniune self-rule for Tibet and for the policy of His Holiness the Dalai Lama to negotiate with the Chinese government to determine the future status of Tibet," said Tempa Tsering of Central Tibetan Administration, Dharamsala
"We admire the courage of these Chinese who at considerable personal risks have urged the Chinese leadership to talk with His Holiness and grant Tibet a degree of autonomy which exists in Hong Kong and which is compatible with the just aspirations of the Tibetan people," the Tibetan official said.
"This is a clear indication that there is a growing number of Chinese in China who feel that it is in the best interest of China to settle the Tibetan issue peacefully and to the satisfaction of the Tibetan people," said Tempa Tsering, the secretary of the Department of Information and International Relations of the exile Tibetan administration based in Dharamsala.
"These expressions of support accord with the wishes of His Holiness the Dalai Lama and we urge the Chinese government to listen to the voices of its own people on the issue of Tibet," the Tibetan official said. "Since 1979 His Holiness the Dalai Lama made a consistent attempt to negotiate with the Chinese leadership, but Beijing has chosen to ignore this. Beijing has also ignored the
longstanding the international community urging to negotiate with His Holiness the Dalai Lama. We now think that it is time for China to listen to its own people."
On 11 January and again on 4 February, two Chinese have called upon the Chinese government to open talks with the Dalai Lama to pave the way for granting of self-rule to the Tibetan people.
Fang Jue, a former deputy director of the planning commission of the coastal city of Fuzhou, called upon the Chinese government to introduce democracy to China and to give Tibet the right to a genuinely autonomous political existence. Fang Jue claimed that his nine-page proposal called "China Needs a Transformation had the backing and support of large number of Chinese officials, including top Chinese leaders.
In an another case, in an open letter addressed to both His Holiness the Dalai Lama and the Chinese government, a veteran Chinese dissident, Xu Wenli, while urging the Chinese government to start negotiations with the Tibetan political and spiritual leader, recommended that Tibet should be given the same sort of autonomy as Hong Kong and its ethnic traditions and religious freedom respected and that Tibet should be declared a nuclear free zone.
On His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Xu said that it was due to his "rational policies and pacifism that we have been able to avoid terrorist activity in Tibet." He said, "We hope that the Dalai Lama will stand by his word and not attempt to restore a theocracy in Tibet, but will introduce a constitutional and democratic system, to produce a new, peaceful Tibet."
"It is the longstanding view of His Holiness that the Tibetan issue can only be solved through negotiations with the Chinese leadership and on this issue His Holiness is willing to discuss the matter anytime, anywhere without pre-conditions," Tempa Tsering reiterated. He said that it has always been His Holiness the Dalai Lama's wish to make future Tibet into a democratic self-governing entity. He said that His Holiness has been on record many times stating that the exile government will be dissolved and a new democratic government of Tibet elected and constituted by the Tibetan people."
Xu was one of the leading pro-democracy figures in the 1978-79 democracy wall movement in Beijing along with Wei Jingsheng. Arrested in 1981 he was sentenced to 15 years in prison for counter-revolutionary activities. He was released in 1993.
In October 1996, two other dissidents, Wanmg Xizhe and Liu Xiaobo, openly called for the independence of two. Liu was immediately arrested, while Wang was able to escape to the United States.
As of today, both Fang and Xu have not been arrested by the Chinese authorities for their expression of support for Tibet, though there are some reports saying that the residences of the two Chinese are surrounded by Chinese policemen.
