A report on the G8 action as the Toyako G8 Summit ends

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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