(TibetanReview.net, Nov09’24) –A briefing on Tibet was held in a committee room in the Bundestag, the German Parliament, addressed by visiting members Ms Youdon Aukatsang and Ms Tsering Lhamo of the Tibetan Parliament in Exile (TPiE), Dharamshala, India, said the TPiE in a Tibet.net report Nov 7. The duo have described China’s current policies in Tibet, designed to obliterate the Tibetan identity, as genocidal.
The briefing was hosted by Paul-Löbe-Haus, Chair of the German Tibetan Parliamentary Group for Tibet.
Those who attended the briefing were stated to include lawmakers Michael Brand, CDU Party MP and Co-Chair of Inter Parliamentary Alliance on China; Peter Heidt, FDP Party Spokesperson on Human Rights and Humanitarian Aid; Maria Klein-Schmeink, Green Party Spokesperson on Health Policy; and Frank Müller, member of FDP working group on Foreign Policy.
The TPiE members were stated to have made a brief presentation on the current situation in Tibet focusing on China’s genocidal policies aimed at wiping out Tibetan identity, culture and religion.
“Particular concerns were raised on the state controlled residential boarding schools, closure Tibetan private schools and monastic schools, and demolition of monasteries in the name of development,” the report said.
The duo have made a special appeal to German lawmakers to pass a declaration in the Bundestag, endorsing His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s sole authority to determine his reincarnation, particularly on the occasion of the exile Tibetan spiritual leader’s 90th birthday next year.
The reincarnation issue remains one of the most pressing concerns among Tibetans and followers of Tibetan Buddhism, given China’s resolve to appoint its own “reincarnation” of the current Dalai Lama when the time comes.
The TPiE members felt that such legislative action would send a strong signal to the Chinese government to not interfere in the religious sphere of the Tibetan people.