Tibet row: Per Stig Møller says Denmark will not support an official EU representative for Tibet
Though top government leaders have indicated that they will meet with Tibet’s exiled Dalai Lama during his visit to Denmark in June, the government will not support the Tibetan government’s request for a special EU representative for the region.
Foreign Minister Per Stig Møller said in a response on Monday to Socialist People’s Party foreign spokesman Villy Søvndal that there is not sufficient international support to appoint a special representative. According to Møller, most EU member nations do not think a representative would contribute significantly to resolving the Chinese-Tibetan dispute.
‘The appointment of a special EU representative for Tibet would risk assuming a purely symbolic character,’ Per Stig Møller wrote.
The Foreign Minister emphasised that ‘the Tibet issue is moving steadily toward positive development,’ after two representatives for the Dalai Lama visited China in the autumn of 2002.
‘By expanding the dialogue, we are better able to promote the possibilities for a solution via compromise: one which will allow the Tibetan culture to endure,’ Møller concluded.
In a dramatic departure from the former Social Democratic government, Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen and Per Stig Møller signaled that they will meet with the controversial spiritual and political leader at Marienborg and the Foreign Ministry, in connection with the Lama’s visit to Copenhagen from 4-9 June. The Dalai Lama is set to lead a five-day Buddhist course at Falconer Center.
