III° EUROPEAN SEMINAR ON TIBET
FULL AUTONOMY FOR TIBET WITHIN THREE YEARS OR INTERNATIONAL RECOGNITION OF THE TIBETAN GOVERNMENT IN EXILE

European Parliament, Brussels, December 2000

Intervention of Wei Jingsheng

Thank you for welcoming me. It's a pleasure to be here. It's wonderful that everybody is here today, concerned about the problems of Tibet. About 20 years ago I started to pay attention to the problems of Tibet. When I was younger I was totally influenced by the Chinese propaganda about the situation in Tibet. But now that I have my freedom I can see the situation much more clearly. And I understand today that most person in China doesn't understand the situation today. And so when we discuss the problem of Tibet, we must recognise that most of the average Chinese does not see the situation very clearly. And this allows the Chinese government to pressure and restrict the freedom very easily. Most average Chinese citizen when they hear about the situation they do not really believe it. And when they restrict religious freedom they even receive the support from a part of the population because they don't see the situation very clearly. In the three years that I have my freedom I have met the Dalai Lama in a number of occasions and each time we have discussed that the biggest problem today is to find a method to get the Chinese citizens to see the problem. And so for this three years I've been working with the Dalaï Lama trying to inform the Chinese citizens about the terrible action taking by the Chinese government in Tibet.

Many people don't understand why the Dalai Lama does not talk about independence, why he is talking more about freedom. The most important topic I have discussed with the Dalaï Lama is about the freedom of Chinese and Tibetan people, not necessarily independence. If the average Chinese citizen understands the position of the Dalai Lama on Tibet we can have great success and win again Tibet's freedom. In the work I have been doing in this past three years on the Tibetan issue, people within China agreed that we have to co-operate with the Dalai Lama to bring freedom in both places. Many people who have retired from the communist regime, who are now over 80 years old, have been telling me that they believe that the stand of the Dalai Lama is completely correct. And so we have to notify the regime about the Dalai Lama correct positions. If the Chinese average citizen can begin to understand the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan situation I believe that the regime will have to change its position. In the past most Chinese believed that Tibet could never be free. We don't understand that once the Dalai Lama says that Tibet doesn't necessarily have to be independent but it just needs to be free I believe that most average Chinese citizens believe that there is no reason for him to be in exile, he must return to Tibet. The policy issued by the Dalai Lama today can have a great success.

The problems of Tibet are not necessarily the same problems of China today. In China beside the restriction of human rights there are also political restrictions. We need to bring freedom on both sides. We must find the way to bring freedom to all people but first we must find the way to bring freedom to Tibetans, so they can develop their religious institution freely. The most basic problem is to turn the Chinese government in a democratic government otherwise none of those problems can be resolved. So our most important goal today is to have people from China and Tibet united against the authoritarian regime of China.

After China will be democratic, we can discuss if Tibet should become independent or not. Of course I don't believe that Tibet should become independent. But of course I respect and promote the development of Freedom in Tibet. And after the Chinese regime has become democratic we can sit down with Tibetans and Chinese alike as friends and discuss the problem of Tibetan independence.

The problems as I said before in China and Tibet are very different. After the Dalai Lama has the ability to return to Tibet, we can discuss the problem of Tibetan independence and Tibetan freedom. I believe the American government and the European governments should unite and work together for bringing democracy to China. The United Nations should take some very strong stands on this issue. They should not necessarily promote independence, but develop way to provide real solution to bring Tibetans more freedom. We should find method to pressure Chinese government.

Thank you very much.