(TibetanReview.net, May08’22) – Castigating him for saying that “Tibet is not part of China,” the Chinese Embassy in Canada has on May 7 expressed “strong disapproval of and firm opposition” to Ottawa for having allowed the Tibetan “government-in-exile” leader Mr Penpa Tsering to visit the country and for having arranged for him to testify before the country’s House of Commons Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development.
Sikyong Penpa Tsering, the executive head of the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA), is visiting Canada from May 2 to 10, with his highlight-event being his testimony on the issue of Tibet in the Canadian parliament on May 5.
Referring especially to the repression of Tibetan language and culture, the Sikyong was stated to have urged Canadian policymakers for more legislation and sanctions on China.
Another person who testified with him was Zeekyab Rinpoche, the abbot of Tashi Lhunpo Monastery in South India to whose parent monastery in Tibet the China-disappeared second most prominent religious figure of Tibet, the Panchen Lama Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, belongs. Beijing abducted him as a six-year-old in 1995 for having been recognized as the reincarnation of the 10th Panchen Lama by Tibet’s exiled spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama. He has remained disappeared ever since.
On the prospects for reaching a settlement on the issue of Tibet, the Sikyong has expressed grave pessimism, noting, “Under President Xi, things look dire that even hope for negotiations in the immediate future seems remote.” He has urged the committee to pass a motion on the resumption of Sino-Tibet dialogue with unanimous consent.
While the Sikyong has made clear the CTA’s decades-long policy of seeking genuine autonomy for an undivided Tibet under China’s existing constitution, the Chinese embassy spokesperson has called the “Tibetan government-in-exile” a separatist political organization with the aim of achieving “Tibet independence.”
“Regarding the so-called Tibet-China Dialogue, what I want to stress is that we do not recognize any Tibetan ‘government-in-exile,’ and the central government will never negotiate with such an illegal organization,” China’s official globaltimes.cn May 8 quoted the spokesperson as saying.
Only the central government and the government of the Tibet Autonomous Region are the representatives of the Tibetan people, and no one else has the right to represent the Tibetan people, the spokesperson has said.
On the issue of the 11th Panchen Lama, the spokesperson has accused the Dalai Lama of having declared a children (sic) as “the reincarnation of the Penchan (sic) Lama while overseas without authorization,” calling it “illegal and invalid.”
The spokesperson has reiterated his government’s oft repeated, patently self-contradictory claim that “the so-called reincarnation of the Penchan (sic) Lama is just a regular Chinese citizen who is living an average life.”
The spokesperson has warned Canada to “immediately stop interfering in China’s domestic affairs over Xizang-related issues, while damaging the stability in Xizang, and to stop providing support and a platform for separatists on which to carry out their anti-China separatist activities, or China will be compelled to respond accordingly.”
The Chinese attack came after the committee unanimously adopted a resolution “supporting the peaceful resolution of Tibet”, as stated by the CTA on its Tibet.net website May 6.