Dharamsala, November 26 – Reacting to the recent uproar in Tibet’s Qinghai province over replacement of Tibetan language by Chinese language as medium of instruction in Tibetan schools the European Parliament on Thursday has urged the Chinese government to support “a genuine bilingual language policy, in which all subjects can be taught in the Tibetan language.”
The European Parliament currently in session in French city of Strasbourg passed a resolution calling on the Chinese leadership to respect the native language of the Tibetan people. The Members of European Parliament (MEPs) condemned the Chinese authorities’ plan to make Chinese the main language of instruction in Tibet. The resolution condemned the “increased crackdown on the exercise of cultural, linguistic, religious and other fundamental freedoms” of the six million Tibetan people.
The European Parliament also said it deplores the “often discriminatory” treatment of ethnic and religious minorities in China and asked the European Commission to report on how a grant of €1 million to China in 2009 to support Tibetan civil society was spent.
The European Parliament also passed a resolution to welcome the recent release of Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi. However, it expressed concerns about her safety and insisted that her freshly regained freedom must be unconditional and without restriction. It also urged the Burmese regime to engage in discussions with her and representative of the minority peoples.
The MEPs also welcomed the EP’s decision to send a Parliamentary delegation to Burma to hand Aung San Suu Kyi the Sakharov Prize she won in 1990, if she is unable to attend the official Sakharov ceremony in Strasbourg in December.
