Sharp criticism of Foreign Minister Steinmeier: Tibet must not be used for pushing one’s own domestic political profile!

The Society for Threatened Peoples (GfbV) called on Friday for Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier not to misuse the cultural genocide against the Tibetans for electioneering squabbles with the CDU. "In view of the enormous wave of arrests in Tibet the Foreign Minister must not look the other way and refuse a meeting with the representative of the persecuted Tibetans for reasons of domestic politics and for fear of hurting China’s leaders”, said the GfbV Asia expert, Ulrich Delius. The Dalai Lama is expected in Germany next week.

"Foreign Minister Steinmeier’s credibility in matters of human rights, international law and the rule of law will not be increased by his refusing once more to talk to the Dalai Lama”, criticised Delius. The persecution of the Tibetans, which has now been escalating in the past two months, has shown that Bundeskanzler Angela Merkel did the right thing in receiving the head of the Tibetans on 23rd September 2007 in Berlin.

The Foreign Minister it was then who gave warning of the danger of exploiting the Tibet question for party-political reasons. "It is now Minister Steinmeier himself who makes this mistake in refusing at the most difficult time for the Tibetans to meet their leader.”

Any credible measures for the respect of international law must also give clear signs against arbitrary raids, arrests and unreasonable sentences for Tibetan demonstrators. Never in the past 20 years has the persecution of the Tibetans been as severe as since the unrest of March 2008. Beforehand some 200 critics of the regime had been held in custody for political reasons, but since March 2008 more than 5,700 Tibetans have been arrested. In the first court cases against demonstrators in April 2008 unfair procedures have been followed by draconian prison sentences. This shows that Chinese law-courts are not prepared to regard the participation of Tibetans in demonstrations in accordance with the proper course of law.