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July 9th, 2008. The Toyako G8 Summit has come to a close with very little in the way of disturbance. With this year’s summit in Japan drawing to a close, Free Tibet Team Japan would like to announce the end of our campaign for dialogue at the summit between China’s premier and the Dalai Lama.

First and foremost, we would like to thank all that participated in the above action for their interest and individual efforts towards trying to facilitate dialog between the Chinese government and the Dalai Lama at the G8 summit. Although ultimately the Dalai Lama was not invited to the summit, this action has contributed significantly to promoting the urgency and importance of international support for the Tibet issue. The campaign has also succeeded in uniting various Tibet support groups world over so that they could urge leaders in their own countries to take action on the Tibet issue.

Since March of 2008 many people have stood up for Tibet. We could no longer ignore what is happening to the people of Tibet. This action united us in compassion for the suffering of the Tibetan people and we spoke out for those who otherwise do not have the liberty to do so. Sadly, despite a large amount of international pressure we were unable to see the Dalai Lama invited to the G8 summit, nor was the Tibet problem pushed to the top of the agenda.

However, some world leaders commented on the situation in Tibet around the time of the summit.

US President George W. Bush:

http://www.phayul.com/news/article.aspx?id=21957
“… the courage of the Dalai Lama and the Buddhists in Tibet ..”
“So long as there are those who want to fight for their liberty, the United States stands with them.”

US Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama

http://blog.studentsforafreetibet.org/2008/07/09/obama-boycotts-beijing-olympics/
“would liked to have seen some more aggressive efforts to encourage progress and talks between the Chinese government and the Dalai Lama.”

The British Foreign & Commonwealth Office on our G8 action:

http://fttj.org/news/from_uk_sherpa.html
“The Prime Minister is determined to work with all parties to encourage reconciliation in Tibet and has expressed his strong commitment to the human rights of the Tibetan people.We believe that the current political difficulties in Tibet can best be resolved through dialogue between the Chinese government and the Dalai Lama. The Prime Minister has passed this message to Premier Wen and the Dalai Lama. The Dalai Lama has publicly stated that he opposes violence, does not seek independence for Tibet or a boycott of the Olympic Games. We believe that this commitment meets the pre-conditions which the Chinese government has set for dialogue to take place with the Dalai Lama and his representatives. We welcome the meeting that took place in Shenzen, China between Chinese officials and representatives of the Dalai Lama on the 4th May as the first step in this process. We hope a further round of talks will be convened as soon as possible and that it will allow genuine progress to be made on the substantive issues involved.”

The European Parliament resolution of 10 April 2008 on Tibet can be read here:

http://www.tibetoffice.org/en/index.php?url_channel_id=1&url_publish_channel_id=2340

The President of the European Parliament Hans-Gert Pöttering :

Announced that he will not be attending the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games in Beijing, due to the lack of progress in talks between Chinese authorities and representatives of the Dalai Lama.
‘deplores the fact that China’s human rights record remains a matter for concern owing to widespread and systematic human rights abuses.’

The House ‘welcomes the resumption of contacts, after the events of March 2008 in Lhasa, between the representatives of the Dalai Lama and the Chinese authorities,’ and calls for an intensification of these contacts. Nevertheless, MEPs also deplore the fact that ‘participants in the protest in Lhasa [are] still being traced, detained and arbitrarily arrested,’ and calls on China to ‘halt its ‘patriotic re-education’ campaign.’

Parliament urges the Chinese authorities to display clemency to all political prisoners and human rights activists who are currently in jail, and to stop practices of discrimination and harassment. It ‘condemns China’s frequent use of the death penalty and calls on the Chinese authorities to establish a moratorium on executions.’

Italy:

http://www.tibet.net/en/flash/2008/0708/10B0708.html
An Italian Parliamentary Group for Tibet has been recently formed in the Parliament of Italy, which consisted of over 120 members of Parliament. The group has also convened its first meeting.

Japan’s PM Fukuda at the Japan-China summit meeting on the 9th of July:

(details of the China/Japan talk are available in Japanese only)

http://www.mofa.go.jp/mofaj/area/china/visit/0807_sk.html
“We welcome actual dialogue with the representatives of the Dalai Lama. We are looking forward to an earnest exchange.”

There are many more diplomatic exchanges between world leaders during the run up to the Beijing Olympics that have not been posted here.

On the 1st and 2nd of July, the seventh round of “dialog between the representatives of the Dalai Lama and the Chinese government” took place. Kelsang Gyaltsen, one of the envoys, commented in his press release on the results of the talk:

http://www.phayul.com/news/article.aspx?id=21972

“We do not see any useful purpose in continuing the dialogue, since there is obviously a lack of political will from the Chinese leadership to seriously address the issue of Tibet . However (our) Chinese counterparts felt the dialogue we had begun in 2002 has been useful for both sides to understand each other better. The Chinese had said it would not be realistic to think a 50-year old issue could be resolved in a few years of meetings. The two sides had agreed to meet again in October.”

While the official Chinese news agency, Xinhua, has published a harsh blast of anti-Dalai Lama rhetoric on its English language website on the eve of the of dialogue between envoys of the Dalai Lama and the Chinese government, the Chinese Ambassador in France, Kong Quan, also warned of “serious consequences” to Sino-French relations if Sarkozy met the exiled Tibetan leader, the Dalai Lama, during a visit to France in August.

The Free Tibet Campaign’s Anne Holmes commented on the recent talks between the two parties saying, “World leaders must demonstrate their commitment to “results-orientated” dialogue by pressing the Chinese authorities for transparency and by setting benchmarks against which results can be measured.” The UK and other governments have been appealed to by the Free Tibet Campaign to not rush to endorse this round of talks.

So, what do we need to do to help Tibet?

Here are some practical suggestions sent by the UK Free Tibet Campaign and other Tibet groups in North America and Australia to their respective governments in order to foster Sino-Tibet dialogue and attempt to make it more substantive.

* The appointment of a third party negotiator (such as Marti Ahtisaari, who recently completed a similar role in Kosovo)

* Agreement on a neutral venue (as Free Tibet Campaign pointed out to Prime Minister Brown, Oslo, home of the Nobel Peace Prize, would be an obvious venue)

* Provision of full debriefings to press and other observers about the progress (if any) of the talks, and

* The establishment of a contact group such as the one formed in response to the Bosnian crisis in the early 1990s. This contact group would monitor talks, provide expertise and advice, offer a “sounding board” to either side as required and assist the third party negotiator in resolving any issues between parties.

http://www.freetibet.org/newsmedia/300608

Once again, FTTJ would like to express our deepest thanks to all who participated in this action by tiressly working through translating the campain into their native language, handing out flyers on the street, following through with protests, making videos and music to go with them, writing and sending campaign mail, and much much more. We hope that this global action will continue as a movement in each host country of future G8 summits until the Tibet issue has been resolved.

The G8 will be held next in Italy. The committed members of this campaign will continue to work towards a free Tibet.

Finally, We would like to to thank Dr. Robert Thurman for his inspirational open letter to the world leaders and his support in this campaign. We would like to close with the words from the dedication of Dr. Robert Thurman’s latest book, “Why the Dalai Lama Matters”.

“To the brave people of Tibet (Böd Kawajen) and their leader, his Holiness the Great Fourteenth Dalai Lama - I dedicate this humble effort to help their heroic efforts for their own freedom, for the freedom of their neighbours in four directions, in China, India, the Turkestans and the Mongolias, and for the peace of our world. May the truth prevail!”

July 2008
Free Tibet Team Japan

For those of us who participated in either signing the UK e-petitions or contacting the UK G8 Sherpa Jonathan Cunliffe (The Prime Minister’s Adviser on International and European Policy, Cabinet Office) have received the following reply from the British Foreign ＆ Commonwealth Office. We welcome such a response from the UK government and are hoping that many other governments will follow.

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G8Correspondence@fco.gov.uk

Thank you for your message requesting the Dalai Lama be invited to the Hokkaido Toyako G8 Summit. As Chair of the G8 Summit, it was for the Japanese Prime Minister to decide on invitations to Toyako.

The Prime Minister is determined to work with all parties to encourage reconciliation in Tibet and has expressed his strong commitment to the human rights of the Tibetan people. That is why he met the Dalai Lama in London in May, and why he has regularly raised the issue of Tibet with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao.

We believe that the current political difficulties in Tibet can best be resolved through dialogue between the Chinese government and the Dalai Lama. The Prime Minister has passed this message to Premier Wen and the Dalai Lama. The Dalai Lama has publicly stated that he opposes violence, does not seek independence for Tibet or a boycott of the Olympic Games. We believe that this commitment meets the pre-conditions which the Chinese government has set for dialogue to take place with the Dalai Lama and his representatives. We welcome the meeting that took place in Shenzen, China between Chinese officials and representatives of the Dalai Lama on the 4th May as the first step in this process. We hope a further round of talks will be convened as soon as possible and that it will allow genuine progress to be made on the substantive issues involved.

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Visit http://www.fco.gov.uk for British foreign policy news and travel advice, http://blogs.fco.gov.uk to read our blogs and http://www.i-uk.com - the essential guide to the UK

We keep and use information in line with the Data Protection Act 1998. We may release this personal information to other UK government departments and public authorities.

Please note that all messages sent and received by members of the Foreign & Commonwealth Office and its
missions overseas may be monitored centrally. This is done to ensure the integrity of the system.

Total petition signatures collected: 7,310

FTTJ would like to announce that submission to the Japanese petition to invite the Dalai Lama to the G8 for talks with China ended today, June 23rd. First of all, we would like to thank all of you who helped us by creating a wave of support from throughout Japan to the world to in order to spread the word and stress the urgent need to stop the brutality in Tibet.

There were countless members of public who worked tirelessly and selflessly to collect the petitions at various gatherings, on the street, and on the internet, etc.

Photo1: With Lhakpa Tshoko, representative of the liaison office of H. H. the Dalai Lama in Japan and East Asia, after counting all 7310 petitions.
Photo2: We filed all petitions with a noticeable G8 action label

The paper petitions collected in Japan were put into three file holders and delivered to House of Representatives member Takeo Hiranuma’s secretary, Mrs. Inubushi. The files were then taken within the same building by Mrs. Inubushi to Prime Minister Fukuda’s policy secretary.

At 12:08 PM, Mrs. Inubushi called to confirm that the petitions had been delivered.

We are delighted to be able to share with you that all of the paper petitions were successfully delivered to Prime Minister Fukuda where they will receive attention by the proper office.

FTTJ would like to express special thanks to The Tibet House of Japan who kindly offered to collect petitions in paper format. FTTJ would also like to thank Takeo Hiranuma the members of the House of Representatives and his secretary Mrs. Inubushi for their understanding in the Tibet issue and for becoming a bridge for us to deliver the petitions directly to Prime Minister Fukuda. A member of the House of Representatives, Mr. Hiranuma was appointed to the position of Minister of Economy, Trade, and Industry in 2001 by former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi of the Liberal Democratic Party during his time in office.

Website: http://www.hiranuma.org/english/

Mr. Hiranuma refused to support the Prime Minister’s plans to privatize the Japanese Postal system and as a result was no longer endorsed by his party during September 11, 2005 election. Nevertheless, he was reelected. Mr. Hiranuma has been an influential political figure who is not afraid to voice his opinions in public on issues such as human rights or abductions by the North Korean’ government. FTTJ had approached him earlier seeking advice on how to deliver the petitions directly to Prime Minister Fukuda. Mr. Hiranuma kindly responded to us the following day and said that he would help arrange delivery to Prime Minister Fukuda’s office via his own secretary.

Photo: Mr. Hiranuma was absent at the time of our visit to his office, so we have taken a photo of an famous political cartoon over looking the Prime Minister’s office (his bold attitude towards challenging the existing political system has earned him the nickname of “the Samurai”).

We were also quite amused at the bizarre cooincidence that the number of petitions delivered and the phone for Mr. Hiranuma’s office shared the same set of digits, 7310.

We at FTTJ will continue to press all of the G8 leaders and sherpas until the summit begins. The UK Government e-petitions are open until the 29th of this month. Please continue to share this information to your friends and families so that Tibet can receive the urgent attention it needs right now.

- Immediately admitting foreign media into Tibet
- Allowing the International Red Cross and other humanitarian
organizations into Tibet
- Permit UN investigators to enter and conduct investigations in Tibet
- Stopping its vilification of the Dalai Lama
- Releasing all who were detained since the 10th of March
- Stopping its crackdown and withdraw armed security forces
- Stopping its forced nationalistic re-education campaign

Thank you !

Hello,

Thank you for supporting this campaign! Among a lot of feedback we have received there was a suggestion that we should reach out to the G8 Sherpas. We need your help to contact and urge your nation’s G8 Sherpa to immediately invite the Dalai Lama to the Summit in Japan. A Sherpa is the personal representative of a head of state of government who as such prepares an international summit like the annual G8.

Please take action now - the G8 Summit is only one month ahead! Thank you.

Below is a sample letter that you can send by email or as a letter to all of the G8 Sherpas. The contact list for the G8 Sherpas is below the letter.

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Attention G8 Sherpa (insert the name of the Sherpa)

I understand that you are the G8 Sherpa for (insert country name). We would like to ask you to urge the G8 Summit leaders, especially the Japanese PM, Fukuda, to invite the Dalai Lama to the Summit this July in Japan. The purpose of the visit is to have a direct dialog with Hu Jintao, mediated by the other G8 members, to resolve the Tibet-China issue.

Despite the talks between the Chinese government and the Dalai Lama’s representative after the unrest in Tibet, the Chinese government has not taken any action to resolve the terrible situation in Tibet. Tibetans are still being arrested, tortured and killed today.

The G8 Summit is a great opportunity to introduce the Dalai Lama to Hu Jintao in a peaceful environment and have a concrete and constructive dialog about resolving the Tibet issue including the following:

- Immediately admitting foreign media into Tibet
- Allowing the International Red Cross and other humanitarian organizations into Tibet
- Permit UN investigators to enter and conduct investigations in Tibet
- Stopping its vilification of the Dalai Lama
- Releasing all who were detained since the 10th of March
- Stopping its crackdown and withdraw armed security forces
- Stopping its forced nationalistic re-education campaign

There are a very large number of people worldwide working to make this happen. Please take a look at this campaign’s website at:

http://fttj.org

The Tibet issue affects everyone. We implore you to act to help make this a reality.

Thank you.

Sincerely,

( Insert your name here)

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Below is the list of the Sherpas of the G8 countries:

JAPAN

[ Summit Sherpa ] Masaharu Kohno (Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs)
Address,Kasumigaseki 2-2-1, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 100-8919 Japan
Tel : +81 3-3580-3311
Fax : +81 3 5501 8430
Fax : +81 3 5501 8128
E-mail: *add his name in the subject : http://www.mofa.go.jp/feedback/note.html

USA

[ Summit Sherpa ] Daniel Price
Address: Council on Environmental Quality
722 Jackson Place, NW
Washington, DC 20503
tel: (202) 395-5750
fax: (202) 456-6546
Direct Fax of his assistant name : Paul Brown
fax: (202) 456-9280

GERMANY

[ Summit Sherpa ] Bernd Pfaffenbach (The undersecretary of state in
the Finance Ministry and Chancellor Merkel’s G8 sherpa)
Address: unknown
FAX; +49 30 1861 55105
E-mail: bernd.pfaffenbach@bmwi.bund.de

FRANCE

[ Summit Sherpa ] Jean-David Levitte
Address : Unknown
E-mail : secretariat.levitte@elysee.fr
Add Jean-David Levitte G8 sherpa in the subject.
Fax : 00 33 1 42 92 86 00.

UK

[ Summit Sherpa ] Jonathan Cunliffe (Prime Minister’s Adviser on
International and European Policy, Cabinet Office)
Address: Cabinet Office
Press Office
22 Whitehall
LONDON SW1A 2WH
Tel: 020 7276 0174
Fax: 020 7276 0618
E-Mail: jon.cunliffe@cabinet-office.x.gsi.gov.uk
http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/

RUSSIA

[ Summit Sherpa ] Arkady Dvorkovich （Head of Presidential Experts Directorate)
Address: Presidential Administration of Russia
Kremlin, Sobornaya Ploshad, Moscow, Russia
E-mail: Dvorkovich_AV@gov.ru
http://www.eerc.ru/details/People.aspx?id=998

EUROPEAN COMMISSION

[ Summit Sherpa ] Joao Vale de Almeida ( Head of Cabinet of European Commission President)
Address : Unknown
Assistant for G8 E-mail: alejandro.ulzurrun@ec.europa.eu
Insert “Att: Joao Vale de Almeida G８sherpa”

CANADA

[ Summit Sherpa ] Leonard Edwards
Adress : 125 Sussex Drive, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada K1A 0G2
E-mail : leonard.edwards@international.gc.ca
Tel : +(613) 944-4911

Italy New!

[ Summit Sherpa ] Amb. Giampiero MASSOLO

Address : Ufficio Sherpa G8
Palazzo Chigi
Piazza Colonna 370
ROMA
E-mail: g8sherpa@palazzochigi.it

Direct E-mail to Mr. Giampiero Massolo
(vice of the Foreign Affairs minister)
segr-co@cert.esteri.it OR cdr@esteri.it
TEL: +39 06 36918899
FAX: ＋39 06 323 6210

Sankei Shinbun News: June 6, 2008

On June 18th sixteen Buddhist priests from different denominations will be officially forming ”Prayer for Peace Association by Buddhist Priests from Various Denominations” to call for a direct dialogue between the Dalai Lama and Hu Jintao at the forthcoming G8 Summit this July in Japan.
Mr. Eisho Kawahara, 56, the chief priest of Tanjou Temple (in Tamana-shi, Kumamoto) and the representative of the association, strongly stated, “We cannot ignore Tibet’s terrible situation as a fellow Buddhist,” at the press conference held at the Japanese Press Club (Uchisaiwaicho, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo) on June 6.
Several hundred Buddhist priests from various denominations such as Tendai and Shingon schools throughout the nation are going to join the association through the Internet online membership system.
The association has already sent a request letter to the prime minister’s official residence and the Chinese embassy in Japan to call for the dialogue at the Summit.
After the Summit is over, the association will continue to work to protect Tibetan Buddhism.
One of the secretaries, Keishi Wakaomi, 48, the chief priest of Zenko-ji Temple Noriyuki Bo (Nagano) said passionately, “We are hoping that this association will be the first step to unite all the denominations together to take action to help.”

Prayer for Peace Association by Buddhist Priests From Various Denominations Has Been Formed

Mainichi Shinbun News, June 6, 2008, Japan
The Japanese Buddhist priests from six denominations in Japan including Rinzai-school have formed “Buddhist Priests’ Prayer for Peace Beyond Denomination Association” (Representative is Eisho Kawahara, the chief abbot of Renge-in Tanjou Temple) and held a press conference on June 6.
The association had previously sent a statement to Mr. Fukuda, the Japanese PM. The statement called on the Japanese government to have a direct dialogue with China in Japan to resolve the Tibet issue with compassion. The association said that they wanted to appeal to world opinion and also that they wanted to cooperate with international support.
The association will hold a memorial service to honor those who lost their lives in the recent unrest. This service will take place in Zoujoji Temple (Shiba, Minato-ku, Tokyo) at 5.00 pm on 18 June. They are asking many monks to participate throughout Japan.
For further information, please contact the representative Kawahara at: artic@uproad.ne.jp