China should identify and punish those responsible for the shooting on Tibetan refugees late September. That is the opinion of Ben Bot, Dutch Minister of Foreign Affairs. He will raise the issue of the shootings in three separate ways. This he said on Thursday upon completing the discussions about his budget for 2007. The video that a crew made of the incident, in his view was horrible and very shocking.
By contacting his European colleagues, Bot arranged for the matter to be on the agenda Thursday during a Human Rights-meeting in Beijing between Chinese officials and their colleagues from the European Union. On that occasion the EU will emphasise that the backgrounds of the incident should be clarifiied, and that those guilty of the shooting need to be punished.
On Friday, in the Hague a meeting will take place of representatives of the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Chinese ambassador in Holland. The meeting, that had already been scheduled, will be dominated by the subject of the shootings on Nangpa La. In December the Dutch envoy for Human Rights issues will again raise the matter during his scheduled visit to China.
The secretly videotaped shooting took place late September, when a group of dozens of Tibetans tried to cross the border with Nepal. Tibet is occupied by China. Many Tibetan refugees are determined to try and find a better life in Nepal or India, where the Tibetan spiritual leader – the Dalai Lama – lives in exile.
