Date: Wed, 4 Jun 1997 11:40:21 -0500

From: "Bhuchung K. Tsering"

To: Multiple recipients of list TSG-L

June 4, 1997

MESSAGE

The massacre of June 4, 1989 at Tiananmen Square was one of the significant turning points in the history of modern China. This tragic outcome of a peaceful movement made the world focus its attention not only on the Chinese people's inherent desire for democracy and human rights but also on the totalitarian Chinese government's intolerance of any open display of people's yearning for freedom.

Today as our Chinese brothers and sisters commemorate the anniversary of the June 4 massacre, I wish to pay my respects to those who died for freedom, democracy and human rights in your great nation. I pray also for those of your compatriots who are imprisoned because of their courageous advocacy of these universal and inherent human values, and for the success of your democracy movement.

I still consider the Tiananmen Square tragedy as only a temporary set-back for the Chinese democracy movement. Brute force, no matter how strongly applied, can never subdue the basic human desire for freedom. People do not like to be bullied, cheated or lied to by either an individual or a system.

As a believer in non-violence, peace and freedom, I have from the beginning supported the non-violent democracy movement in China. Despite the brutality of the Tiananmen Square massacre and the continued suppression of activities related to human rights, I pray that the Chinese democracy movement will always remain non-violent, for that is the human approach to solving problems.

China is presently in transition to a new era. The absence of Mr. Deng Xiaoping provides new opportunities and challenges for the Chinese authorities. On this anniversary of the June 4 massacre at Tiananmen Square. I appeal to the leadership in China to act with wisdom, in a spirit of tolerance, reconciliation, and compromise, to bring an end to the suffering of the Chinese people and those under their rule, including the Tibetans. The fate of China is crucial to peace, freedom, and security in Asia and the world, and is of great concern to the international community.

I therefore also appeal to the freedom loving people of the world to support the movement for freedom and democracy in China.

The Dalai Lama

June 4, 1997