Hu Jintao lectures Blair on his hardline past in Tibet

Chinese official mouthpiece reiterates opposition to Dalai Lama's 'Middle Way' strategy

Press Release 22 July 2003

[Beijing] Free Tibet Campaign deplores the apparent failure by British Prime Minister Tony Blair to accord Tibet a high priority when he met the Chinese President Hu Jintao last night for dinner in Beijing. In a bewildering lack of transparency, UK government officials seem unable or unwilling to confirm, 24 hours later, whether Mr Blair raised the subject at all. According to the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman, Kong Quan, Tony Blair did not initiate a discussion on Tibet or human rights, but instead 'listened attentively' when Hu Jintao recounted his own experiences as Party Secretary in Tibet (1988 - 92). Free Tibet Campaign had asked Mr Blair to make a public statement of concern about Tibet as well as make a push for Hu Jintao to pursue genuine and unconditional negotiations with the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan government in exile over Tibet's future.

"It's astonishing that Tony Blair seems to have passed up such a rare opportunity to make positive progress on the non-violent resolution to the Tibet issue at such a critical time; this might have been the only good news story of his entire Asia trip, said Alison Reynolds, Director of Free Tibet Campaign, speaking in Beijing. "Mr Blair's record on human rights appears to have gone backwards since he last visited China nearly five years ago."

Mr Blair also failed to make any mention of Tibet or human rights during a Question and Answer session with a handpicked group of Chinese students at Beijing's Qinghua University this morning. Prior to the visit, Free Tibet Campaign had been assured that Blair would raise both issues with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao at the very least.

Formal contact between Beijing and Dharamsala re-opened in September 2002 after a decade of diplomatic stalemate. Two visits by envoys of the Dalai Lama to Beijing and areas in Tibet have taken place in the last ten months but the support of western leaders is understood to have played a significant role in maintaining the momentum of this process. An agreement from Beijing to drop the pre-conditions would demonstrate that the process is genuine, and that China is not merely taking these steps to silence international criticism of its Tibet policy.

"Free Tibet Campaign asked Tony Blair to raise Tibet directly with Hu Jintao, as the commitment to push for genuine dialogue with the exiled Tibetans must come from the very top of the Chinese government; particularly as the President himself has a hardline past in Tibet, " said Ms Reynolds. "It is ironic that instead Tony Blair just 'listened attentively' to Hu Jintao's description of his time in Tibet, during which he imposed martial law; a part of history that surely even the Chinese Communist Party would rather not dwell on."

Significantly, China's official English language newspaper, China Daily chose the second day of Blair's visit to publish an article by Yeu Li called the 'Middle Way doesn't hold water' which criticises the Dalai Lama's strategy for resolving the political status of Tibet. Whilst making the unusual acknowledgement that the Dalai Lama's Middle Way has "become mature in terms of content" the writer reasserts the usual Party position in questioning the Dalai Lama's sincerity in asking for 'genuine autonomy' rather than independence.

The writer also appears to undermine the legitimacy of the Tibetan Government in exile's concerns about the Tibetan areas of Kham and Amdo, which are outside the Tibet Autonomous Region, and are now incorporated into a number of Tibetan Autonomous Prefectures in the provinces of Qinghai, Yunnan, Sichuan and Gansu.

Appearing in China's official English language newspaper, the article is aimed at an international as well as domestic readership.
See: http://www1.chinadaily.com.cn/en/doc/2003-07/22/content_246962.htm