Europe has a share in responsibility for the escalation in Tibet

The European Union has in the opinion of the Society for Threatened Peoples (GfbV) in Göttingen with its cautious politics a share in responsibility for the escalation in Tibet. "The European governments have out of deference to China’s leaders ignored all warnings of an outbreak of the conflict to be expected in Tibet”, said the GfbV Asia expert, Ulrich Delius. The last high-ranking representative of the German government to visit Peking, the Minister for the Environment, Sigmar Gabriel, made a shameful kowtow in front of the Chinese government on 31st January 2008. The GfbV charged him with distancing himself publicly from the Dalai Lama because China regards him as a separatist. A few weeks previously the former Bundeskanzler, Gerhard Schröder, made his own propaganda for China. He said that the feelings of the Chinese were hurt by the reception of the Dalai Lama by Bundeskanzler Angela Merkel.

"All the detailed recommendations of national parliaments like the German Bundestag and of the European Parliament for a credible Tibet politics have just not been implemented”, criticised Delius. The governments of the European countries had avoided any consistent solution of the Tibet conflict and with their silence indirectly encouraged the destruction of the Tibetan culture, religion and society by China. The Chinese leaders are continuing their campaign of slander and criminalisation of the Dalai Lama by making him responsible for the latest protests in Lhasa. But the demonstrations have shown that not only the Tibetan exile government in India, but also many people in Tibet are criticising China’s rule over their homeland.

The Tibet conflict will not be ended by European politicians simply asking in Peking for the release of individual persons in custody. Europe must exert express pressure on China’s leaders to stop the Sinicization of Tibet and to begin a credible dialogue with the Dalai Lama. This was also demanded by the German Parliament with a large majority in its well received Tibet resolution in the year 1996. German governments have however not implemented this resolution up to the present day.

The GfbV, like many other human rights organisations, has for years been warning of an escalation of the Tibet conflict. China’s pressure on the Tibetans is steadily increasing. Tibetan schools are being closed and their traditional language is in danger of disappearing. Tibetans are systematically being turned into a minority in their own country and China’s atheist leaders want to take command even in their Buddhist religion.