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Tibetan leadership mourns the death of Japan’s former PM Shinzo Abe

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The Central Tibetan Administration, known also as the exile Tibetan government held a mass prayer for the demise of Japanese PM Shinzo Abe (Photo/CTA)

By Choekyi Lhamo

DHARAMSHALA, July 12: Following the assassination of the former Japanese PM Shinzo Abe, the exiled Tibetan leaders have expressed grief over his death on Friday. Hours after the news of Abe’s assassination surfaced, the exiled leader His Holiness the Dalai wrote to Abe’s wife to express his condolences, “I am deeply saddened to hear that my friend, Mr. Abe Shinzo has passed away following a gunshot attack this morning. . . As you know, your late husband was a steadfast friend of the Tibetan people. I very much appreciated his friendship and support of our efforts to preserve our rich Buddhist cultural heritage and identity.”

His Holiness the Dalai Lama gives a Tibetan khatak to the then MP Shinzo Abe in Tokyo on Nov. 13, 2012 (Photo/Reuters)

The head of the Central Tibetan Administration, President Penpa Tsering took to twitter to express his shock over the death of the Japanese leader, “Today the world has lost a great leader to a senseless act of violence. With the passing of Shinzo Abe, the Tibetan people have lost a long-time friend and supporter of the Tibet cause. We grieve alongside his bereaved family and the people of Japan.” Japan’s longest-serving PM Abe remained critical for a few hours after he was shot during a public event, but ultimately succumbed to his injuries.

The officials and staff of the Dharamshala-based Tibetan government-in-exile held a mass prayer on Monday to mourn the death of the longest serving Japanese PM. At the prayer ceremony, the Sikyong reiterated the loss of such a powerful leader. “With profound gratitude and obeisance, the Tibetan administration and the Tibetans will eternally remember his notable contribution and support to the Tibetan cause, particularly his active involvement in establishing All Party Japanese Parliamentary Support Group of Tibet, comprising one of the largest Tibet supporters,” he added.

The Dalai Lama and Abe last met in November 2012 when he was a member of the Japanese Parliament. “We lawmakers here are in complete agreement that we want to help the suffering Tibetan people and help create a Tibet in which people do not have to kill themselves in a quest for freedom,” Abe had said during the Dalai Lama’s visit to Tokyo in 2012.

Under Abe, the Tibetan issue received a highlighted support from Tokyo with the formation of the All Party Japanese Parliamentary Support Group of Tibet, the largest pro-Tibet legislative body in the world. He was also a vocal supporter of the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan issue despite objections from China.

One Response

  1. The assassination of Former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has been another shocking incident that has shaken the world to the core! He was a leader that foresaw the lurking danger of a rising communist China which is on a warpath of conquest. As it were, he sought to revise the Japanese constitution which stipulated Japan can’t have war potential on land,sea and air. The Japanese constitution was imposed by the US in 1947 after Japan’s capitulation when Hiroshima and Nagasaki were bombed by the US.
    Shinzo Abe attempted to revise the constitution and do away with Article 9 of the Japanese constitution to renounce war as a means to settle international disputes involving States. Unfortunately, he faced stiff resistance from those who feared it might lead Japan down the path of war as it did during the Second Word War. The devastation wrought by the two atomic bombs on Japan was too horrendous even to imagine for many Japanese people.
    Abe however felt that unless Japan frees itself from the shackles of US imposed constitution, its very existence was threatened by communist China which has blamed Japanese militarism but it is itself on a militaristic path. It has the same ambitions imperial Japan had and is even more aggressive than imperial Japan. Abe was concerned about Chinese intentions on Taiwan and the consequences of the conquest of Taiwan by Communist China. If Taiwan is conquered like Tibet, Japan will inevitably face a dire security threat to its island of Okinawa. The Chinese not only claim Senkaku islands of Japan but has designs on Okinawa and Guam which is US territory. Abe therefore cobbled together the US, Australia and India to join together with Japan to deter Chinese aggression in the Indonesia-Pacific. He made friends with Trump who was lukewarm to all US commitments in Europe and Asia. Abe made a point to be the first foreign dignitary to meet Trump to secure Japan’s alliance with the US and also warned Trump of the deceitful ways of the Chinese communists and to be wary of their glib talk. He was very sympathetic to the cause of Taiwan and recently wrote an article pleading the US to shed its ambiguity on the defence of Taiwan.
    He was in fact soon going to visit Taiwan to address the Taiwanese parliament. The Chinese communists hated him and there is suggestion that he may in fact be a victim of a subterfuge by a foreign power. His manoeuvre of befriending democratic nations to deter the machinations of communist China made him enemy number one in China. When he was assassinated, Chinese netizens popped Champaign to celebrate his demise. Restaurants and pubs offered “get one bear to get one free” to “celebrate” Abe’s passing. Only, the Chinese are capable of such repugnant idiocracy.
    Shinzo Abe was equally sympathetic to the Tibetan National cause. He met the Dalai Lama as well as the previous Sikyong Lobsang Sangye. Under his leadership, Japan had the largest Tibet Parliamentary Group in the Japanese National Diet. Abe’s demise is a great lose to the world and especially to the Asia Pacific region. He was a giant who shaped modern Japan from a pacifist and inward looking Japan to a more out looking Japan with robust military preparedness to meet the challenges of expansionist China. Tibet has lost a great friend in Shinzo Abe who deeply felt for the people of Tibet and their plight under ruthless Chinese occupation and did his best by allowing The Dalai Lama to visit Japan freely and meeting Tibetan leaders without fear of communist China’s wrath.

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