World Tibet Network News Monday, June 29, 1998

DHARAMSALA, India, 29 June 1998 (DIIR) -- We applaud President Bill Clinton for asking the Chinese government to enter into dialogue and negotiation with His Holiness the Dalai Lama. We also applaud President Jiang Zemin for publicly recognizing the fact that Tibet is an important issue needing a solution and for indicating his willingness to have exchange of views and discussions on this. Just as President Clinton pointed out, we also believe that the question of Tibet is fundamentally political and not religious in nature. This naturally means we have to look for a political solution to resolve the problem of Tibet. Towards this end, His Holiness the Dalai Lama has made a number of overtures to Beijing, proposing unconditional negotiations to find a peacefuland mutually-acceptable solution.

We hope President Jiang Zemin will respond positively to this initiative. On President Jiang Zemin's statement that the door to dialogue and negotiation is open "as long as the Dalai Lama publicly makes a statement and commitment that Tibet is an inalienable part of China, and he must also recognize Taiwan as a province of China", we would like to make the following comments. As far as the question of Tibet's status is concerned, no body can change the past. However, His Holiness feels that we should not be encumbered by the past. What is important is the future, for which he stated very unequivocally that he is not seeking independence. We hope the Chinese leadership will recognize the sincerity of His Holiness' gesture and take a reciprocal step.

Regarding the issue of Taiwan, His Holiness stated during his March 1997 visit to Taiwan that this is a matter which must be discussed and decided between China and the people of Taiwan. Confrontation and use of military force will help neither China, nor Taiwan.

T.C. Tethong Minister, Minister Department of Information and International Relations Central Tibetan Administration