By Ngawang C. Drakmargyapon
Phayul Special Correspondent
Geneva, 6 July : Mr. Josep Borrell from Spain, the President of the European Parliament, will visit China and central Tibet from 8 -14 July which includes a few days stop in the Tibetan capital, Lhasa. According to a press release issued from the Parliament’s office in Strasbourg, before arriving in Lhasa on 9 July from Beijing, Mr. Borrell will participate in a round table on Tibet and social issues with various NGOs on Saturday in the Chinese capital.
“Visiting China was one of the President’s priorities for his mandate, where he intends to see as possible of what the real China is today: the political authorities, the economic transformations, and a province far from both these realities, Tibet,” the press release said.
According to the Parliament’s website, in June at a meeting with the Dalai Lama at the European Parliament in Brussels, Mr. Borrell pledged that he would visit the Tibetan capital Lhasa “to see for myself the situation in Tibet”…He praised the work of the Dalai Lama as “an example of committed and peaceful campaigning”. Mr. Borrell also reiterated that “the European Parliament has continuously raised its concerns about the unresolved political situation in Tibet and on-going human rights issues there,” the website news added.
Informed sources at the Parliament say that the programme of Mr. Borrell’s visit to the Tibetan capital has not been finalized. However, the press release said that while in Lhasa, Mr. Borrell “will visit various religious and cultural sites. He will hold meetings with the provincial parliament and authorities and NGOs.” Mr. Borrell is also expected to visit some projects in Tibet funded by the European Union sources add.
The official Tibet Intergroup of the European Parliament met yesterday in Strasbourg where the European Union-China relation was one of the subjects to have been discussed. On 18 May, the Parliament when adopting a resolution on the Annual Report on Human Rights in the World 2005 and the EU’s policy on the matter, it noted that as regards China there were “continuing reports of a long list of human rights abuses including political imprisonment, particularly members of minorities, allegations of torture, widespread use of forced labour, frequent use of the death penalty and systematic repression of freedom of religion, freedom of speech and express (including in the context of the treatment of people in Tibet…”
The European Parliament has 732 members who are directly elected by citizens of 25 member countries of the European Union which has a population of 457 million people, according to the Parliament’s website.
Ngawang C. Drakmargyapon can be reached at drakgya@yahoo.com
