OTTAWA – A public relations tour to put a positive face on China’s role in Tibet was met by demonstrators and tough questions from Tibetan expatriates during a stop in Ottawa Monday.
About 50 protesters waved signs and chanted slogans outside a building across from Parliament Hill where the Chinese-appointed governor of Tibet was extolling the benefits of China’s presence in the country, which it occupied in 1951.
Chamba Phuntsok, governor of the Tibet Autonomous Region, spoke of now China liberated Tibet from a backward feudal theocracy.
“Very few people understand the true situation in Tibet and because of misleading reports and biases, people have quite a lot of misunderstandings about the region,” Phuntsok said through an interpreter.
His view was challenged by Tbuten Samdep, chairman of the Canada-Tibet Committee, which represents Tibetan exiles and their supporters.
“Given that you have been selected and are employed by the Chinese government, why should we believe that you are providing us with an accurate representation of the situation in Tibet?” Samdep asked Phuntsok.
Samdep questioned why China won’t allow organizations like Amnesty International to travel freely in Tibet and report on the situation.
“Those of us in exile, we don’t do this because we don’t have anything better to do,” he said. “We truly believe things aren’t as kosher, as dandy as you say it is.”
The Canada-Tibet Committee has been pressing the federal government to broker new talks between China and representatives of the Dalai Lama, which have been stalled since 1993.
But Phuntsok poured cold water on that idea.
“We don’t need a foreign country to act as an intermediary…This is an internal affair,” he said.
Phuntsok blamed the stalled talks on the Dalai Lama, Tibet’s exiled spiritual leader whose visit to Canada in April drew record crowds.
“If the Dalai Lama doesn’t stop his separatist actions, talks can’t be successful,” he said.
The Dalai Lama insists he’s not seeking independence but simply freedom of faith, culture and stronger protections for human rights.
The public relations tour, organized by the Chinese embassy in Ottawa, has also stopped in Vancouver, Calgary and Toronto.
