WASHINGTON, August 2 – Chinese authorities have unexpectedly rejected a request from the Tibetan government in exile for a group of prominent exiled Tibetans to visit China, including the Tibetan Autonomous Region (TAR), Radio Free Asia (RFA) reports. The visit was first proposed a year ago by the brother of Tibet’s spiritual leader in exile, the Dalai Lama.
Gyalo Dhondup relayed the request for a visit by a group of notable Tibetans to several areas in China, including the TAR. The visit would have aimed to promote understanding and make contact with Tibetans living under Chinese rule, and Chinese authorities were widely expected to approve the visit.
But sources inside China who are familiar with the arrangements told RFA’s Tibetan service that the central Chinese government had now rejected the planned visit on grounds that some members of the proposed delegation had engaged in “splittist” or separatist activities. “They were afraid of a negative influence from the delegation,” one source said.
One source, an expert on Tibetan affairs, said he believed the move could signal a freeze on high-level contacts between Chinese authorities and Tibetans in exile.
The proposed delegation comprises former Tibetan exile government ministers Sonam Topgyal, Tenzin Namgyal Tenthong, and Alak Jigme, Pema Choejor; former head of Tibet Fund in New York Rinchen Dharlo; former head of the Office of Tibet in Tokyo Pema Gyalpo; Amdo Dhondup and Thinley Paljor from Nepal; Namgyal Tsering from Australia; and Gyurme (eds: one name), formerly of the Library of Tibetan Works and Archives in Dharamsala, India.
The Dalai Lama’s special envoy, Lodi Gyari, led a four-member delegation to China and Tibet in May, after which he expressed optimism for a possible future visit by the Dalai Lama.
