News and Views on Tibet

Tibetans should not be classified as ‘people from China,’ says Chen

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Taiwan inaugurates exchange foundation to strengthen ties with exiled

By Taijing Wu

The Taiwan Tibet Exchange Foundation was inaugurated yesterday, with Day Sheng-tong at its head as chairman, Joseph Jau-shieh Wu as secretary-general, and Wong Shih-jie as vice secretary-general. This civilian foundation will progressively replace the Mongolian and Tibetan Affairs Commission.

At the inauguration ceremony, President Chen Shui-bian (³¯¤ô«ó) said that Mongolians and the Tibetans should not be classified as “people from China.”

“From now on, we will not define Mongolians or exiled Tibetans as Chinese. In that way, many problems could be resolved,” the president said. “The Taiwan representative bureau of Mongolia will also soon be settled,” he promised.

The president noted that the Dalai Lama’s two visits to Taiwan were symbols of improving relations between the exiled Tibet government in India and Taiwan.

“In the past, there were many pragmatic exchanges between Taiwan and Tibet, but for several reasons, they could not be publicized, Chen said. “Now with the inauguration of this foundation, our relationship could be improved and moved to another level.”

Chen noted that there were some similarities between him and the Dalai Lama.

“Having been involved for a long time in Taiwan’s democratic movement, I can totally understand the Dalai Lama’s ideas on human rights and non-violent endeavors.”

The people and the government have a consensus on strengthening ties between Taiwan and Tibet, the president said. “Taiwan is part of the international community partly because of the friendship that exists between our people and the Tibetans,” he noted.

President Chen urged that the Taiwan Tibet Exchange Foundation could in the future gather civilian and governmental resources to provide all kinds of help to the exiled government of Tibet.

Tashi Wangdi, a representative of the Tibetan government, read a letter written by the Dalai Lama for the occasion. He said, “The creation of this foundation shall promote pragmatic cultural exchanges between Taiwanese and Tibetans, but shall also assist the exiled Tibetans in India and Nepal in terms of health, education, agriculture etc…”

Chairman of the Taiwan Tibet Exchange Foundation Day Sheng-tong emphasized that the foundation will initially accommodate tasks that the Mongolian and Tibetan Affairs Commission is not mandated to perform, such as cultural and economic exchanges.

“The Taiwan Tibet Exchange Foundation is a civilian body, and will not replace the functions of the Mongolian and Tibetan Affairs Commission.”

The foundation’s first mission will be to provide medical assistance, he said. Taiwan might also send an agricultural mission to Tibet, he revealed.

“The foundation will send a delegation to India after the Chinese New Year to invite the Dalai Lama to visit Taiwan again,” he added.

Joseph Jau-shieh Wu, secretary-general of the Taiwan Tibet Exchange Foundation told the Taiwan News that “the foundation has few main goals to achieve. One of the most urgent tasks is to provide medical care to the Tibetans. We will send a delegation to inspect the health care situation in Tibet, and we might ask local Taiwanese medical groups to provide assistance in Tibet.”

Wu also noted that agriculture in Dharmsala is not highly developed.

“We hope to help them by sending some agricultural experts there to pass on rice-growing techniques.” He also noted that academic exchanges might be one of the foundation’s priorities.

“We will arrange for some Tibetan students to pursue higher education in Taiwan, and will arrange for seminars about Tibetan issues to be widely be held in Taiwan and India.”

As for the Mongolian and Tibetan Affairs Commission, its functions will not immediately be closed.

A Taiwan government official, on condition of anonymity, said that because of its official position as a governmental organization under the former Kuomintang government, the commission’s function is not at all flexible.” As the political situation has changed, there should be a change in the role of the commission, the official added.

However, Wu said that Mongolian and Tibetan Affairs Commission and the Taiwan Tibet Exchange Foundation will complement each other.

“They will have different complementary functions,” he said.

When asked by the press if the government intends to cancel or cut the budget to Mongolian and Tibetan Affairs Commission’s, Legislature Speaker Wang Jin-ping said, “this year, we already cut NT$12 million from its budget, which would go towards the new foundation’s expenses.

As for the future of the Mongolian and Tibetan Affairs Commission, it has to be decided under the Executive Yuan’s organizations law, he said.

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