Dharamshala — President of the Central Tibetan Administration Sikyong Dr Lobsang Sangay concluded his five-country international tour in London, telling the BBC on November 24 that the free world, "don't give a free-pass on human rights" to China.
Dharamshala — President of the Central Tibetan Administration Sikyong Dr Lobsang Sangay concluded his five-country international tour in London, telling the BBC on November 24 that the free world, "don't give a free-pass on human rights" to China.
In an interview with BBC, the Tibetan President spoke on how China's growing economic presence has diminished some important international issues, "Not just Tibetan cause. Generally human rights, democracy, environmental rights, all these discourse are diminished or diluted in all the countries where they have free trade agreement. Now in the 19th Party Congress Xi Jinping has said, Xi Jinping’s thought is socialism with Chinese characteristic in new era which means no liberal democracy, no freedom of speech, no election just one party rule. That is what they are bringing to the table.
"In new era means the international frontier, international community. So thats the challenge. And hence I have been to Australia, New Zealand, Denmark, Norway just recently and they all don’t want to talk much about Tibet, human right, democracy. This is you know quiet scary because there is lot of self censorship going on.
"Of course you must have free trade, you must engage with China, but don’t give free-pass on human rights."
Speaking on China and the Middle Way Approach, the President said, "All I am doing is advocating the basic rights of the Tibetan people, genuine autonomy within China within the framework of the Chinese constitution. And what we promote is dialogue between the envoys of Dalai Lama and representative of the Chinese government. So this is a very reasonable, non-violent, peaceful way of solving the issue of Tibet.
"Since January 2010, it has been now more than 7 years there has been no dialogue between the envoys of the Dalai Lama and Chinese representative. And we would like to see that the Issue of Tibet resolve peacefully.
"I don’t think they [China] will meet with me, but at least they should meet with the envoys of The Dalai Lama. You know he is a spiritual leader and he is most revered around the world, and he is very reasonable as well. And I hope President Xi Jinping in his second term will look at Tibet as low hanging fruit because in second term normally they do deal with complicated issues like Barack Obama dealing with Iran and Cuba. Hopefully, President Xi Jinping will you know continue his father’s legacy. His father was very close to the Late Panchen Lama, he was very familiar with the Tibet issue. Hopefully you know, Xi Jinping will be like his father," the Tibetan leader told noted TV journalist Yalda Hakim on her program 'The Impact'.
Regarding His Holiness the Dalai Lama, he said, "His Holiness the Dalai Lama recently told a group of youth who had come from all over that I will be travelling more on his behalf, and I’ll do so. But His Holiness is very healthy, he will be traveling to various countries around the world and he is the best spokesperson and the best face for the Tibetan cause. I won’t be able to fill in his shoes but he is definitely sharing or giving me more responsibilities and I will do the best I can."
