(TibetanReview.net, Nov23’24) –The visit of the executive head, Sikyong Penpa Tsering, of the exile Tibetan administration to Portugal, which included meetings with cross-party parliament members, from Nov 12 to 14 has been hailed as groundbreaking. It was the first visit of an elected exile Tibetan political leader, after the Dalai Lama’s 2001 and 2007 trips, said the Central Tibetan Administration on its Tibet.net website Nov 23.
Calling it a “significant step forward in the 16th Kashag’s outreach strategy towards opening new doors of political engagement with previously untapped nations,” the report said the Tibetan Sikyong met with Members of Parliament from four political parties during his visit to the country’s capital Lisbon.
The meetings were stated to have included those with Regina Bastos and Bruno Ventura from the Social Democrat Party, Rui Tavares from the LIVRE party, Paula Inês Alves de Sousa Real from the People Animals Nature party, and Rodrigo Saraiva from the Liberal Initiative (IL) party.
The Tibetan Sikyong was stated to have delivered a crucial message to European nations through these meetings, urging them to re-evaluate their China policies in light of the EU’s de-risking approach toward Beijing. This was stated to carry special significance as Portugal had recently seen increased Chinese investment, contrary to broader trends in Europe.
Following those meetings, Rodrigo Saraiva of the IL announced a draft parliamentary resolution, calling for self-determination for the Tibetan people. This provoked an angry reaction from the Chinese embassy in Lisbon, which called on the party, without mentioning its name, to cease “support for separatist activities” and “interference in Chinese internal affairs”.
“We urge a certain political party to stop using issues related to Xizang (the Sinicized name for the territory of Tibet) to interfere in China’s internal affairs and not to provide support for anti-China separatist activities,” the expresso.pt Nov13 quoted the Chinese embassy as saying.
The report noted that earlier, in May 2023, the IL had approved a vote of concern in the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Assembly of the Republic (AR), the unicameral parliament of Portugal, regarding the “29 years since the kidnapping of the 11th ‘Panchen Lama’ perpetrated by the People’s Republic of China”.
The Panchen Lama is Tibet’s second most prominent religious figure. China abducted and disappeared him, at the age of 6, and his family just days after he was recognized by the Dalai Lama, Tibet’s exiled spiritual leader, in 1995, and installed another boy in his place.
While in Lisbon, the Tibetan Sikyong has also held discussions with Dr Vera Jardim, the President of the Commission on Religious Liberty and former Minister of Justice. He had previously met the Dalai Lama during the latter’s visits to Portugal in 2001 and 2007.
He has also held talks with Professor Paulo Morais and Dr Batalha, two social and political commentators, based in Porto, Portugal’s second largest city, after Lisbon.
Professor Morais was stated to have been actively involved in organising the Dalai Lama’s above two visits to Portugal.