World Tibet Network News Thursday, June 11, 1998

Thursday, June 10, 1998

For Immediate Release

Contact: Bhuchung Tsering Mary Beth Markey 202-785-1515

WASHINGTON - The International Campaign for Tibet is calling on President Clinton to secure a firm agreement from the Chinese government for a timetable to begin negotiations with the Dalai Lama or his representatives. President Clinton is scheduled to begin a state visit to China on June 24.

"It is in China's interest to negotiate with the Dalai Lama and in the interest of the U.S. to facilitate it. Otherwise there will be no peaceful, mutually agreeable solution to this tragedy and it will fester and worsen," says Bhuchung Tsering, Director of the International Campaign for Tibet. A stumbling block to negotiating appears to be China's suspicion that the Dalai Lama is not sincere about his desire for autonomy. The Dalai Lama is "plotting independence for Tibet ... and has no sincerity toward dialogue at all," according to recent official statements.

The Dalai Lama has called on President Clinton to ensure an "active and responsible engagement...with human rights norms at the core of relations with China."

"The current policy of appeasement toward China undermines the U.S. ability to press for systematic improvements in human rights conditions and for changes in Tibet," says Mr. Tsering.

"We also want to make clear that a recent full page ad in the Washington Post using a quote and an image of His Holiness the Dalai Lama was not done with the knowledge or consent of the Dalai Lama. The Dalai Lama supports China becoming part of the family of nations because it is the inherent right of all nations, not because it promotes U.S. trade or Christian evangelism as this paid advertisement implied," Mr. Tsering adds.

ICT is not opposed to President Clinton going to China so long a she works to achieve a break through for Tibet and strongly and publicly speaks up for Tibet and for human rights issues. In the months leading up to the Beijing summit there has been no release of high profile Tibetan prisoners and no easing of the repressionin Tibet. Re-education sessions in Tibetan monasteries and nunneries are leading to hundreds of arrests and expulsions. Among refugees fleeing through the Himalayas, half are now monks and nuns, many of whom are victims of the re-education teams.

ICT also calls upon President Clinton not to visit Tiananmen Square. But if he does go he needs to speak out publicly for the students who were killed in the square in 1989.

(The International Campaign for Tibet is a non-profit membership organization which monitors and promotes internationally recognized human rights in Tibet.) http://www.savetibet.org

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