Reportage – 2006

Tibetans urged to refrain from protests during Hu's North America visit

MCLEOD GANJ, India, 5 April 2006 — The Prime Minister of the Tibetan government-in-exile, Samdhong Rinpoche, has urged Tibetans and Tibet support groups in the United States and Canada to refrain from any kind of protest three days ahead of the visit of Chinese President Hu Jintao to these two countries.

"Any protest against President Hu will not only jeopardize the ongoing Sino-Tibetan dialogue, but will also cause embarrassment for His Holiness the Dalai Lama, as he is also expected to be in the country at about that time," the Prime Minister said in an appeal letter.

The appeal has come in view of the ongoing process of dialogue between the envoys of the Dalai Lama and officials in Beijing.

In a sign of easing off on the Tibetan issue, Beijing announced as recently as Monday that they may approve a visit by the Dalai Lama to China, as long as he abandons dreams of independence for Tibet.

The exiled Tibetan government welcomed the Chinese statement of a possible consideration to allow the Dalai Lama to visit China but said it should be without any preconditions.

The Dalai Lama has lived in exile in India since 1959 after a failed uprising against the Communist occupation of his country and established a Tibetan government-in-exile in the north Indian hill town of Dharamshala. He is no longer seeking independence but campaigning for autonomy for Tibetans.

The Dalai Lama also supported the Prime Minister’s appeal. "I make the same request to Tibet supporters and those sympathetic to the Tibetan people," he said in March.

"At present our effort to bring about negotiations has reached at a critical stage of whether we are able to sustain it or not," Samdhong Rinpoche said.

Talks between the two sides resumed in 2002 after a decade long deadlock. The fifth round of talks was held in February in China.

Samdhong Rinpoche hopes that the Tibetans and their supporters will "make a wise choice from a wider perspective."

Attempting to create a conducive atmosphere for negotiations between the two sides, the exiled Prime Minister made a similar appeal last year. The appeal remained ineffective as Tibetans and their supporters staged massive demonstrations during Hu's visit to the US and Europe.

As a result of the protests last year, the fifth round of talks was deffered by three months, points out Rinpoche.