By C Tenam
Paris, Wednesday, 31 October: French Senator and President of Tibet Study Group in the French Senate, Mr. Louis de Broissia has called on the President of France, Nicolas Sarkozy to receive His Holiness the Dalai Lama when he visits France next year.
His Holiness the Dalai Lama is scheduled to be in Nantes, west of France from 15 August till 20 August 2008.
“After his teachings at Nantes the Dalai Lama will consecrate the Kalachakra Mandala at the Senate building and without a doubt there will be some official meetings” the Senator said. The Mandala will be created by monks from Namgyal Monastery.
“I salute the Chancellor of Germany, President of US, and the Prime Minister of Canada for meeting with the Dalai Lama. I would pay respect to my President if he receives His Holiness”, said the French Senator.
At a meeting this morning with media at the French Senate, the Tibet Study Group released an 84-page dossier, documenting their trip China and Tibet in August 2006. Titled “Quelle solution politique pour le Tibet?” (What is the political solution for Tibet?), the booklet contains details of talks between the Senators and Chinese officials. This is the third such report released by the Group after “Tibet: A People in Danger” (Oct 2003) and “Tibet in Exile: A Democracy School” (June 2006).
“With a year before the Olympics and the Shanghai World Expo in 2010, the Chinese authorities cannot ignore the Tibetan question anymore”, said Mr. Broissia. He warned that the Tibet Issue might become a blot on Beijing Olympics.
“As friends of China and people in love with Tibet, the spirit of Tibetans, we have said and repeated, endless and consistently, in Lhasa, in Shigatse, in Chengdu and in Beijing that the present conversations, meetings, negotiations between the Chinese authorities and the Dalai Lama must take a new turn. Nonetheless, the results from the sixth round of meeting in June 2007 in Shanghai remain weak and inconsistent”, the Senator declared.
The Group who also receives Sino-Tibetan delegations from China at the Senate, shared their surprise at “archaic language of diplomacy” that official Chinese use, and still speak of “the Dalai Lama clique” of a return to the “feudalism”.
“In the Dalai Lama, the PRC has a respected interlocutor, who has endorsed “the Middle Way” for genuine autonomy (provided by the Chinese constitution) and firmly imposed absolute non violence on Tibetans in exile and inside Tibet,” the Senator pointed out.
“As friends of China, respectful of her present and of her future, convinced that the democracy is the right path (though full of challenges) for all nations; in love with Tibet that lives on in the eyes of the pilgrims, in the hope of the youth, in the will to return amongst the exiled, we think that France can play an original role in the Sino-Tibetan relations”, declared Mr. Broissia.
“Tibet remains as a treasure of mankind – the world’s eye on the development of China. May the eye stop crying. May it again find that beautiful smile of Tibetan children!” the report concluded.
The Tibet Study Group comprises of around 50 Senators in the French Senate. The complete document released today is available online at http://www.senat.fr/ga/ga77/ga77.html
Tenam can be contacted at tenam@tibetwrites.org
