(Editorial) Taiwan News

Taiwan News, Website Editorial Staff

2008-11-03

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) - Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator 
Tien Chiu-chin (___) led a lineup of 20 Tibetans-in-exile in Taiwan 
and held a press conference yesterday prior to China's Association for 
Relations Across the Taiwan Strait Chairman Chen Yunlin's (___) five-
day cross-strait talks in Taiwan beginning today.

Tien took the signing of the Seventeen Point Agreement for the 
Peaceful Liberation of Tibet with China as an example saying that 
despite the peace agreement between Tibet and China in 1951, Tibet has 
still suffered the painful experience of being invaded by China's arm 
force. Therefore, Tien urged President Ma Ying-jeou (___) not to 
engage in wishful thinking when dealing with China. Also, Tien called 
on the public to heed the Tibetan lessons and, notwithstanding the 
risks, concentrate their efforts on safeguarding Taiwan's sovereignty 
and national integrity.

Taiwan Tibetan Welfare Association Chairman Rinzin Tsering presented a 
photograph showing China's bloody crackdown on Tibetans in March this 
year and recalled China's People's Liberation Army opened fire to 
suppress Tibetan protesters, killing more than 80,000 people. Tsering 
said that Mao Zedong then abolished the local government of Tibet, and 
on March 10, the Kashag Government led by the Dalai Lama, along with 
hundreds of thousands of people, fled Tibet. They established a 
government-in-exile in Dharamsala, a mountainous area in northwest 
India, said Tsering.

Tsering pointed out that Lhasa, the administrative capital of the 
Tibet Autonomous Region in the People's Republic of China, may seen as 
a place making abounding progress, but Tibetans have no real freedom 
nor human rights. He said that Tibetan people's religious freedom has 
also been deprived under China's religious persecution.

A group of Tibetans staged a protest at the Taoyuan International 
Airport this morning to vent their anger at China upon the arrival of 
China's top negotiator.

by Taiwan News, Website Editorial Staff