Only when China stops suppressing human rights in Tibet will it be possible to promote the peaceful and stable development of cross-strait relations
The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) expresses its utmost respect for Tibet’s spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, for his fearless stand in firmly preserving the position of Tibetan autonomy, for his efforts in safeguarding the human rights of the Tibetans, and for being awarded the U.S. Congressional Gold Medal of Honor, despite the ceaseless oppression of the Chinese authorities.
The MAC indicated that China’s suppression of human rights in Tibet has seriously harmed the basic rights of the Tibetan people. The international community has constantly condemned such persecution to which the Chinese authorities have turned a deaf ear. If the Chinese authorities continue to ignore international pressure and refuse to make efforts to improve the human rights record in China, and if, on the contrary, they continue to condone the atrocious suppression of democracy perpetrated by the Myanmar government and the Sudanese regime—both of them are notorious for human rights violations, then the “non-democratic” and “anti-democratic” true face hiding behind China’s repeatedly-proclaimed rhetoric of the so-called “peaceful rise” in the world will soon be laid bare by people on the outside, which will certainly be disdained and scorned at by the international community.
The MAC indicated that based on the series of talks held recently between China and the exiled Tibetan government, it can be observed that the Chinese authorities are only trying to “perfunctorily address the issues” to pacify the Tibetan people’s dissatisfaction with China and to purposely create a false impression that China and the exiled Tibetan government are engaging in peace talks, in order to confuse the international community. Therefore, with regard to the “peace agreement” proposed by the Chinese authorities a few days ago in an attempt to create an international atmosphere in which both sides across the Strait are engaging in peace talks, the MAC solemnly indicates that since China’s proposed “peace agreement” is based on Beijing’s “one China” precondition, Taiwan will neither conduct negotiations nor sign any agreement that resembles surrender under such a precondition.
The MAC indicated that if China were truly sincere in developing permanently peaceful and stable relations with Taiwan, then it must first stop committing various types of freedom and human rights violations, including those against the Tibetan people and improve its own human rights record, so as to create a more suitable atmosphere to enable both sides to engage in negotiations under the principle of parity.