(TibetanReview.net, May09’19) – Defying a directive issued by his government for its citizens to respect Beijing’s demand that countries respect its so-called One-China Policy, former president Ian Khama of the landlocked south African Republic of Botswana has expressed support for the exile Tibetan administration as the latter holds its 7th World Parliamentarians’ Convention on Tibet in Latvia’s capital Riga over May 7-10.
“Just as the progressive world united to end apartheid in South Africa, the former President appeals for united efforts to support the objectives of the Central Tibet Administration (CTA) and the Tibet people they represent,” said a statement issued by his office May 7.
China claims to have peacefully liberated Tibet in May 1950 by coercing it to sign an agreement and then brutally suppressing an uprising in Mar 1959 to effect the latter’s complete takeover.
In March this year, Khama travelled to India to take part in the CTA’s 60th anniversary of that uprising, brushing aside objections from his government as well as from China.
Botswana, a rare example of stable democracy in the African continent, has since called on its citizens to respect the way it relates with other countries, adding that it subscribes to One-China Policy and expects its citizens to tow the line as well, reported journalducameroun.com May 7.
The World Parliamentarians’ Convention on Tibet seeks to reinvigorate and galvanize global support for Tibet through concerted efforts and deliberations on the parliamentary front, said the CTA on its Tibet.net website May 7.
The 1st World Parliamentarians’ Convention on Tibet was held in New Delhi in 1994, followed by those in Vilnius (Lithuania) in 1995, Washington DC in 1997, Edinburgh in 2005, Rome in 2009, and Ottawa in 2012.