NEW YORK, NY – Rinpo Lama from Minnesota completed his “Bike Ride for Tibet” today, April 25, arriving at the United Nations (UN) in New York City. Rinpo attempted to deliver the letter he wrote to Secretary General Kofi Annan, but he was refused entrance by the UN police who were concerned about the “contents” in the envelope. The police perceived the envelope as potentially dangerous to the welfare of those inside the UN. As a result, Rinpo decided to send the letter by mail. You will find the text of Rinpo’s letter below.
Rinpo ended his bike ride by participating in an evening demonstration in front of the UN designed to bring attention to the missing Panchen Lama.
The Honorable Kofi Annan
Secretary General The United Nations
New York, NY 10017
Dear Secretary Annan,
2006 marks a moment of great potential importance to the Tibetan people. I am writing – and riding; I have this week come from Washington to New York by bicycle – to ask for your help in realizing that historic potential. First, His Holiness the Dalai Lama has asked the Chinese government to authorize a visit by him to Tibet. This return – which would be the first time His Holiness has set foot on Tibetan soil since he fled the Chinese invasion in 1959 – could well mark a turning point on the Tibetan issue. I respectfully ask that you personally encourage the Chinese government to grant His Holiness a visa to reenter Tibet, with the expectation that such a visit may lead to further extensive, constructive interaction between China and the Tibetan community both within and outside of Tibet. Second, with the Beijing Olympics fast approaching, it seems there may be some possibility for progress in the matter of Gedhun Choekyi Nyima – the boy recognized by His Holiness more than a decade ago as the incarnation of the Panchen Lama, Tibet’s second-highest religious figure… only to be spirited away with his family by Chinese authorities, who have to this day given no report of his whereabouts or well-being. As in my letter of last April following my 2005 ride from the nation’s capital, I make the heartfelt request that you do everything in your power to ascertain where the young Panchen Lama is being held, and under what conditions. This date, April 25, marks Gedhun Choekyi Nyima’s seventeenth birthday. It is long past time for the Chinese government to offer the world a full accounting for his disappearance. It also seems a propitious moment for China, as a gesture of goodwill in advance of the Olympics, to welcome the Dalai Lama back to his native country. Please bend every effort on behalf of these outcomes.
Sincerely,
Rinpo Lama
Rider for Tibet
