Dharamshala: TibetPost-17-April-2009 - Dutch lawmakers announced Thursday thatTibetan spiritual leader, His Holiness the Dalai Lama will be invited to parliament despite warnings from China that such a visit would harm relations between the two nations. Chinese ambassador, Zhang Jun, sent a letter to Parliament's foreign affairs committee, strongly advising against the invitation of His Holiness to the Netherlands. The ambassador was warned against interfering with Dutch public relations by legislator, Maarten Haverkamp.
A copy of the letter sent was attained by the Dutch national broadcaster, NOS, in which Ambassador Zhang states that he does not want to see "the momentum of our bilateral relations in this challenging time of global economic crisis be severely weakened by this issue."
This recent attack on the Netherlands comes in the wake of many efforts of Chinese Government to push His Holiness out of the global community.
Just last month, the South African government denied His Holiness a visa to enter the country where he had been scheduled to attend a Nobel peace conference. The government was condemned by many who viewed this action as yielding to China's new-found might, and the peace conference was boycotted by several Nobel Peace Prize recipients, including Desmond Tutu, South African cleric and activist.
Last month was commemorated around the world by Tibet supporters as the 50th anniversary of His Holiness' flight into exile, and the first anniversary of the deadly Chinese crackdown in Lhasa last year. Since 1959, thousands of Tibetans have been arrested, killed, or tortured as a direct result of Chinese brutality.