By Tenzin Monlam
DHARAMSHALA, June 2: A London-based NGO monitoring human rights in Tibet has urged the US Secretary of State John Kerry and his wife Teresa Heinz to cut their ties with Tibet Water Resources Ltd, a Chinese water bottling company in the ‘oppressed region of Tibet’.
In a letter, Free Tibet’s Director Eleanor Byrne-Rosengren urged Kerry and his wife to ‘end investment’ in the water bottling company since ‘the bottled water industry in Tibet threatens its environment, as well as being fraught with political, commercial and regulatory risks.’ “As you know, China’s human rights abuses in Tibet stem largely from Tibetan opposition to Chinese rule and policies – including Chinese exploitation of Tibet’s resources and damage caused to its environment by Chinese companies,” wrote Eleanor.
The letter also highlighted Chinese dissident website Boxun’s findings on how Tibet 5100, a premium brand of the company, has a strong link with the Chinese Communist Party and the brand becoming the official drinking water.
She also wrote about the corruptions involved and its impact on the local community especially pastoralists, who are relocated since the company has created a ‘water protection zone’ around its bottling plant ranging at 60 square kilometer.
The NGO said it recognizes the US secretary’s personal support for human rights in Tibet and urged him to ‘divest its shares’. “In light of this information, however, and also of your wife Teresa’s decades of work in support of human rights, health and environmental sustainability, I hope you will now recognize that any investment in this company is inappropriate and counterproductive,”
Daily Caller News Foundation last month reported that Kerry and his wife had invested in a dozen companies in China, one of which is headquartered in Tibet and that it exploits and undermines Tibet’s natural resource and ecology of the region.
John Kerry will be visiting Beijing from June 5 to June 7 for the eighth US-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue.
