DEMISSION DU PRESIDENT DE LA DELEGATION PE/RPC.
A L'IRRESPONSABILITE S'AJOUTE L'IGNOBLE

Déclaration d'Olivier Dupuis, secrétaire du Parti Radical Transnational et député européen

Bruxelles, le 31 octobre 2000. Les propos tenus par le Président de la Délégation PE/RPC, Per Garhton, à Pékin, et rapportés par l'Agence Xinhua et par l'AFP, selon lesquels le Tibet aurait émergé d' " une sombre société fondée sur la servitude et que cette période d'histoire ne devrait pas se reproduire " ne sont pas seulement ignobles, elles sont également dignes des pires déclarations faites par les pires suppôts des pires régimes communistes. Si ces propos n'étaient le fait que du député Garhton, ils pourraient être rangés, sans autre forme de procès, dans le livre noir des basses et viles complicités que ces régimes ont toujours su susciter. Dans la bouche du Président de la Délégation PE/RPC elles sont une raison de plus pour que M. Per Garhton démissione immédiatement. "

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EUROPEANS IGNORANT OF REALITIES IN TIBET, LI PENG SAYS (AFP)

BEIJING, Oct 30, 2000 -- (Agence France Presse) Europeans are ignorant of the realities and history of Tibet, China's number two Li Peng told a delegation from the European Parliament, according to press reports Monday. "Some European and American personages know little about Tibet's history and reality, and they draw conclusions from one-sided and distorted news reports," Li said, quoted by the People's Daily. Li, who is president of China's parliament, the National People's Congress, reaffirmed Beijing's opposition to the "Dalai Lama's attempts to split the motherland," the paper said. He was talking about the Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, in a meeting Sunday with the European Parliament delegation headed by Per Gahrton.

The Dalai Lama fled to northern India from Tibet in 1959 after a failed uprising against the Chinese who sent troops into the Himalayan region in 1950. Li invited the European deputies to visit Tibet to see the reality for themselves.
The visit comes after Beijing last week blasted the European Parliament's decision to consider awarding the prestigious Sakharov Prize to a Tibetan nun imprisoned for demanding greater freedom. Foreign ministry spokesman Zhu Bangzao called the decision to nominate 24-year-old Ngawang Sangdrol an interference in China's internal affairs.

Sangdrol, who was imprisoned at the age of 13, is set to become the longest serving female political prisoner in Tibet. Her sentence has been extended three times, raising her total sentence to 21 years. She is not due to be released until 2013. The Sakharov Prize was eventually awarded to a Spanish movement opposed to terrorism called "Basta Ya" (That's Enough). The official Xinhua news agency said Gahrton stressed Europe's interest in Tibet while highlighting that the region had emerged from "a dark serf society... and that period of history should not repeat itself." He reportedly added that the European Parliament wanted to learn more about the "actual situation" in Tibet as well as Beijing's policy towards the Dalai Lama. (WTN-L World Tibet Network News)