Dharamsala, May 23 – As US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton begins a week-long trip to Asia including China, Tibet advocates called on her to raise Tibet as a core issue at the US-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue taking place in Beijing from May 24-25. Tibet Advocates also urged her to avoid the controversial ‘Tibet Pavilion’ during her visit to the Shanghai Expo.
Clinton’s China visit comes amidst reports of intensifying clampdown on Tibetan writers, bloggers, and people who openly criticize the government.
“We call on Secretary Clinton to raise Tibet as a core issue in US-China relations and to press for tangible results towards a just and lasting resolution for Tibet,” said Tenzin Dorjee, Executive Director of Students for a Free Tibet, based in New York. “The Obama administration must not shy away from publicly and vigorously raising Tibet and freedom of expression at these meetings. The U.S. will only achieve its foreign policy objectives with China when it stands firm on core American interests.”
“Tibet has become the barometer for this administration’s commitment to engaging China on human rights issues and we urge Secretary Clinton to go beyond the rhetoric by pressing for a results-driven discussion on Tibet at this dialogue,” said Dorjee.
Tibet advocacy groups worldwide are calling on government leaders not to visit the “Heavenly Tibet” pavilion created by China at the Shanghai Expo “to mislead the world about the true situation inside Tibet.”
“For secretary Clinton to visit the Tibet pavilion, especially at a time when Chinese officials are imprisoning Tibetans for doing nothing more than critiquing Chinese policies in Tibet, would send the wrong message about the Obama Administration’s commitment to human rights,” said Kate Woznow of the Students for a |Free Tibet.
