Published by: World Tibet Network News, 96/06/05 23:00 GMT

Submitted by: Thubten Samphel, DIIR

DHARAMSALA, June 5, 1996, (DIIR) -- For the Second International Tibet Support Group Conference in Bonn, Germany, we have had tremendous response and unstinted enthusiasm. More than 250 Tibet supporters from 56 countries will be attending.

However, as usual the problem is Chinese official pressure. China is exerting unprecedented pressure on the German government to either ban or cancel the conference.

Because of Chinese pressure, the German government demanded that the Friedrich-Naumann Foundation delete any reference to the Tibetan Government in exile. When this was refused, the German government withdrew its grant of DM 290,000 to the Foundation.

The deputy ambassador of the Chinese embassy in Bonn paid a visit to the office of the Friedrich-Naumann Foundation and gave an ultimatum to the effect to either cancel the conference or risk its office in Beijing being closed down. The Friedrich-Naumann Foundation refused to cancel and its office in China is now shut down. Further, the Foundation officials told the deputy ambassador that the Foundation's support and commitment to Tibet is total and absolute and there was no way that they will cancel the conference.

Earlier, the Secretary Tempa Tsering has written a memo to the representatives of His Holiness the Dalai Lama the world over requesting them to start a fund-raising campaign with the Tibetan communities abroad and to send whatever funds raised directly to the Friedrich-Naumann Foundation as a symbol of the appreciation of the Tibetans for the Foundation's principled stand in the issue of Tibet.