Urgent Campaign - 9 July 2003

(Please contact Free Tibet Campaign if acting after 17 July 2003)

Take Action On-line Now by sending a fax to your MP free of charge.

Free Tibet Campaign has learned that the Prime Minister's delayed trip to China will now take place between 20-23 July 2003. It had originally been planned for late April but was postponed as a result of the Iraq war and the SARS crisis. The Prime Minister will meet with China's new President Hu Jintao. We need your help to ensure that the case for unconditional negotiations on Tibet are at the top of the political agenda during this visit, unlike his last one in 1998.

The Prime Minister's record on Tibet has been poor, both on that occasion and since. For example, during Jiang Zemin's controversial state visit to the UK in 1999 when he was confronted with thousands of Tibet supporters, it was Jiang and not Blair who raised the issue of Tibet. During Hu Jintao's most recent visit to the UK in November 2001, the subject of Tibet was only "touched on" according to a Downing Street spokesperson. It is vital that the UK presses Hu on the issue of progress on Tibet as he was Party Secretary in Tibet during the imposition of martial law in 1989 when thousands were arrested.

As time is of the essence, please contact your MP as soon as possible asking them to write directly to the Prime Minister in advance of his trip (see below for points to raise and how to contact your MP). Please also ask your MP to express their support by signing the new Early Day Motion No. 1551 which was tabled on 8 July to reflect the upcoming trip and the recent visit by envoys of the Dalai Lama to China. You can check the following website for details on which MPs have signed:http://edm.ais.co.uk/weblink/html/motion.html/ref=1551.
The previous EDM (834) referred to his trip in April, to which 70 MPs had signed:http://edm.ais.co.uk/weblink/html/motion.html/ref=834.

Since the last Urgent Campaign on this issue on 5 March, there has been an additional visit to China and Tibet by representatives of the Dalai Lama (25 May - 8 June) for high level discussions with Chinese officials. This was a follow-up to the first official high level meeting in September 2002, the first such contact since 1993. The Tibetan delegation was allowed to visit the traditional Tibetan area of Kham, which is outside the Tibetan Autonomous Region (TAR) and was one of the areas incorporated into other Chinese provinces. This may indicate that discussions on the "Tibet issue" could be extended to areas China does not usually see as "Tibetan". Although it is significant that the Tibetan delegation was invited back for discussions after Hu Jintao became President, a few days after their visit a highly critical article of the Dalai Lama appeared which questioned the need for negotiations. It is as yet unclear how substantive this talks process will become without the support of the international community, as China still insists on impossible preconditions for talks (see Points to Raise).

 

POINTS TO RAISE

Points to ask your MP to raise with the Prime Minister and in your own letter to the Prime Minister.

1. Ask that the Prime Minister secure an agreement from the Chinese Government to drop pre-conditions to negotiations with the Tibetan Government in exile (the four pre-conditions are: pressing the Dalai Lama to concede that Tibet has always been part of China; that Taiwan is an inalienable part of China; that the Dalai Lama stops his "separatist activities" for Tibet; and the Dalai Lama abandons any claims of independence, recognising the Chinese Government as the sole representative of the country.)

2. Press the Prime Minister to raise the case of Tenzin Deleg Rinpoche, a respected religious leader who is under sentence of death following an unfair trial. Ask the Prime Minister to press for his unconditional release or a fair trial at which international trial observers are allowed to attend. Call on the Prime Minister to press for the release of the other men held in connection with this case.

 

DEMANDS

1. Write to your MP asking them to sign EDM 1551 on the Prime Minister's rescheduled visit to China (many thanks to those who asked their MP to sign EDM 834). In addition, request your MP to press the Prime Minister to raise the case of Tenzin Deleg Rinpoche with the Chinese during his visit.

(Your MP)
c/o House of Commons
London SW1A 0AA

You can also write to your MP via his/her constituency office which you can either find in local directories or call the House of Commons Information office on 020 7219 4272 quoting your postcode if you do not know who your MP is.

Or if you have access to the internet, you can also fax your MP via Free Tibet Campaign's website athttp://www.freetibet.org/campaigns/faxyourmp.html. Please raise the points outlined above in your own words, which is more effective with MPs than a "standard letter".

2. Write directly to the Prime Minister raising the points raised above by letter.

Prime Minister Tony Blair
10 Downing Street
London SW1A 1AA
(salutation: Dear Prime Minister)

(Please send copies of any responses to Free Tibet Campaign; this helps us to monitor the situation.)

 

BACKGROUND

At least five other men are currently detained, imprisoned or are missing in connection with Tenzin Deleg Rinpoche's case. Tenzin Deleg Rinpoche is still being held at a secret location and it is feared that he may be subjected to torture and ill-treatment. The other five are:

Tashi Phuntsok - sentenced to 7 years and is in poor health.

Tserang Dhondrup - an elderly Tibetan sentenced to 5 years and in poor health.

Tabo - detained without charge since February 2003 for allegedly passing on information about the case to foreign journalists.

Choetsom and Pasang - two monks who disappeared in April 2002 following their interrogation by the Chinese authorities.

A sixth man, Lobsang Dhondup, was executed on 26 January 2003 following an unfair trial. No evidence has been produced to indicate the guilt of either Lobsang Dhondup or Tenzin Deleg Rinpoche. There are fears that all the men involved in this case have been tortured and ill-treated.

 

EDM No. 1551 Text
TIBET AND THE PRIME MINISTER'S VISIT TO CHINA

08.07.03
Cohen/Harry
"That this House notes that recently, on the eve of the "United Nations Day for Victims of Torture,' now free Tibetan political prisoner Ngawang Sangdrol visited this country to share with members of the Government, Parliament and the British people her first-hand experience of life in occupied Tibet in Chinese prisons since the age of 13; further notes that those who heard her were inspired by her bravery and dignity in the face of the torture she suffered and made aware that Tibetan political prisoners still continue to suffer at the hands of the Chinese authorities in Tibet; is aware that the Tibetans in exile and in the outside world have voiced grave concern about one-sided trials of Tibetan freedom fighters, including of three who were arrested in Tibet's capital Lhasa on 16th June; further notes that the Prime Minister Tony Blair will be visiting China later this month; and urges him directly to discuss the important issues of human rights and Chinese population transfer in Tibet and to make an earnest effort to seek honest commitment from the Chinese leadership that they will enter into meaningful negotiations with the Dalai Lama, who in 1989 was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for leading the non-violent Tibetan struggle for freedom."

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