Re USTibet China 25497

[cd@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]

It is hoped many of you will appreciate the following developments.have
a nice weekend.
metta,
dawn star, paris

ps It would be good to send Clinton & Albright  letters of appreciation
and support.
http://www-uvi.eunet.fr/asia/
http://www-uvi.eunet.fr/asia/euro-burma/
http://www-uvi.eunet.fr/asia/euro-burma/TOTAL/



wtn-editors@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:
World Tibet Network News   
>    Published by:     The Canada-Tibet Committee

Friday - April 25, 1997
> -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Contents:
> -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
> 1. President Clinton's Message to the World Parliamentarians Convention on
>    Tibet (ICT)
> 2. Dalai Lama Has Interfaith Meetings (AP)
> 3. Breaking Matzo (WP)
> 4. Dalai Lama Says China May Give In (SFC)
> 5. Dalai Lama, Albright agree on U.S.-China ties (Reuter)
> 6. Dalai Lama Meets Madeleine Albright (AP)
> 7. Greens Senator Calls 2000 Olympic Focus on Tibet (AAP)
> -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
> -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
> 1. President Clinton's Message to the World Parliamentarians Convention on
>    Tibet
> -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
> April 24, 1997
> 
>      [The following message to the World Parliamentarians Convention on Tibet
>      by President Clinton was read on the inaugural session by Congressman
>      Benjamin Gilman on April 23, 1997.  Bhuchung Tsering]
> 
> THE WHITE HOUSE
> WASHINGTON
> April 17, 1997
> 
> Warm greetings to everyone gathered in Washington, D.C., for the Third World
> Parliamentarians Convention on Tibet.  I am pleased to welcome all the
> participants, and especially His Holiness the Dalai Lama, whose devotion to
> the Tibetan people and inspiring advocacy of the nonviolence and dialogue
> have earned the world's lasting admiration.
> 
> All Americans cherish the rights guaranteed to us by our founders in the
> Constitution and the Bill of Rights.  We have worked to extend them not only
> to our own citizens, but also to people everywhere, recognizing that these
> freedoms are the birthright of all humankind.  It is heartening that, with
> the growth and development of the human rights movement, there has been a
> greater awareness and appreciation that such has been a greater awareness and
> appreciation that such rights are universal and not limited by political
> boundaries.
> 
> We must continue to speak out whenever human rights are threatened or denied,
> and I am grateful for the continuing efforts of leaders like you, who have
> done so much to advance democracy, human dignity, and religious freedom
> worldwide.
> 
> Best wishes for a successful convention.
> 
> Bill Clinton
> 
> -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
> 2. Dalai Lama Has Interfaith Meetings
> -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
> 
> WASHINGTON, 24, Apr (AP) -- The Dalai Lama donned a yarmulke, broke matzo and
> compared notes Thursday on the endurance and survival of the Tibetan and
> Jewish peoples.
> 
> Concluding his annual visit to Washington, Tibet's Buddhist leader in exile
> also was participating in an interfaith service for religious freedom
> Thursday evening at the National Cathedral.
> 
> His spiritual activities followed numerous meetings with Clinton
> administration officials. President Clinton and Vice President Gore met him
> at the White House Wednesday and, a spokesman said, "welcomed the Dalai
> Lama's commitment to nonviolence and to negotiations with China."
> 
> On Thursday, Secretary of State Madeleine Albright met with the Dalai Lama to
> underscore U.S. support for Tibetans' human rights and religious freedom.
> 
> The Clinton administration is not calling for independence for Tibet, and the
> Dalai Lama insists he and Tibetans want only genuine self-rule within China's
> borders. But China accuses the exiled leader of using the cover to religious
> freedom to seek support for full independence.
> 
> State Department spokesman Nicholas Burns reiterated longstanding U.S. policy
> of considering Tibet part of China. "What we have encouraged is a direct
> dialogue between the Dalai Lama and his supporters and the Chinese government
> officials. We think that's important."
> 
> The meeting with local Jewish leaders came at a Passover seder on the holiday
> marking the exodus of the Jewish people from Egypt 2,000 years ago and their
> struggle for survival.
> 
> The Dalai Lama thanked his hosts for incorporating into the traditional
> Passover ritual mention of his people's efforts to preserve their culture
> under Chinese rule. To the traditional hope for "Next Year in Jerusalem," the
> words "Next Year in Lhasa," the Tibetan capital, were added.
> 
> "Many of our Jewish brothers and sisters have been outspoken and generous in
> their support and assistance to the Tibetan people," the Dalai Lama said in
> a message to American Jews.
> 
> "In our dialogue with rabbis and Jewish scholars, the Tibetan people have
> learned about the secrets of Jewish spiritual survival in exile ... for 2,000
> years, even in very difficult times, the Jewish people remember their
> liberation from slavery to freedom and this has brought you hope in times of
> difficulty."
> 
> Tibet is being mentioned this year in Passover seders throughout the United
> States, in addition to that participated in by the Dalai Lama for the first
> time, said Rodger Kamenetz, author of "The Jew in the Lotus," a book about a
> Jewish-Buddhist dialogue begun in 1990 at Dharamsala, the Dalai Lama's haven
> in India.
> 
> Wearing a black skullcap with his saffron robes, the often-smiling Buddhist
> leader sat between Kamenetz and Rabbi David Saperstein, director of the
> Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, site of the seder on Washington's
> Embassy Row.
> 
> "People from both the Tibetan community and the Jewish community were deeply
> moved," Saperstein said.
> 
> -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
> 3. Breaking Matzo
> -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
> By Ann Gerhart and Annie Groer
> 
> Friday, April 25 1997; Page G03
> The Washington Post
> 
> At the very moment that the Dalai Lama bowed to greet the rabbis at a
> Passover Seder yesterday, a plaintive cry went up from the far end of the
> table: "Mom, I'm hungry."
> 
> His Holiness grinned at the squirming 4-year-old, and continued smiling
> beatifically for much of the ritual meal that marks the Jews' exodus from
> slavery in Egypt and, at this Embassy Row Seder, was expanded to support
> Tibet's struggle against the Chinese.
> 
> An hour later, the Nobel Peace Prize winner and exiled spiritual leader
> proclaimed the matzo "very tasty," inquired about the sphere in the chicken
> soup (a matzo ball), noted the novelty of wearing "this hat" (a yarmulke) and
> thanked some 60 participants -- from Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer to
> actor Vee ("The King and I") Talmadge -- for providing "a very warm feeling
> and your sense of solidarity."
> 
> Prayers and songs were in English and Hebrew but midway through the ceremony,
> a scratchy tape of a Tibetan song secretly recorded by a jailed nun was
> played. "No matter how hard we are beaten, our linked arms cannot be
> separated," she sang.
> 
> The interfaith Seder was organized by Rabbi David Saperstein, father of the
> famished little boy, Ari, and director of the Religious Action Center of
> Reform Judaism. It was held at the group's Massachusetts Avenue headquarters.
> The Dalai Lama, who has met with President Clinton, Vice President Gore and
> top lawmakers this week, is considered a dangerous political "splittist" by
> the Chinese. He has said he seeks autonomy, not total independence, for
> Tibet, which was invaded by China in 1950.
> 
> His Holiness, who lives in India, wanted to attend a Seder to better
> understand how Jews can remain cohesive despite centuries of oppression and
> exile, Saperstein said.
> 
> Lodi Gyari, who heads the International Campaign for Tibet, said later that
> the Dalai Lama "was able to find another secret of your people. It was a very
> moving experience for him."
> 
> The meal ended with the traditional "next year in Jerusalem" as well as "next
> year in Lhasa," the Tibetan capital.
> 
> -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
> 4. Dalai Lama Says China May Give In
> -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Thursday, April 24, 1997 . Page C3      The San Francisco Chronicle
> 
> WASHINGTON -- The Dalai Lama expressed hope in Washington yesterday for
> winning Tibetan autonomy from a China beset by internal doubts and outside
> pressures. "The self-confidence among Chinese leaders is no longer there,"
> said the Dalai Lama, who spoke to the World Parliamentarians Convention
> before meeting with President Clinton.
> 
> The spiritual leader of Tibet contrasted today's China, with its problems of
> corruption, crime and dissent, to past decades when Communist leaders had
> "genuine conviction that their system could achieve some happy society."
> "I think the Chinese leadership themselves are in some sort of state of
> dilemma," the Dalai Lama said in his speech. "The People's Republic of China
> is in the process of changing."
> 
> At the same time, he added, "The spirit of Tibet is strong. We are really
> determined. We never give up our hope."
> 
> The Dalai Lama, a 1989 Nobel Peace Prize winner who has been in exile since
> 1959, has been accused by China of using religion as a cover for seeking full
> Tibetan independence. He insists that he only wants self-rule for Tibet's 6
> million people after nearly a half-century of Chinese occupation.
> 
> At the White House, Clinton dropped by the Dalai Lama's meeting yesterday
> with Vice President Al Gore, a maneuver meant to honor the religious leader
> without upsetting China too much. The White House did the same thing on three
> of his previous visits.
> 
> In a letter read at the parliamentarian meeting, Clinton praised the Dalai
> Lama, saying his "devotion to the Tibetan people and inspiring advocacy of
> nonviolence and dialogue have earned the world's lasting admiration." China
> objected to the White House meeting, as it has in the past. Beijing warned
> last year that countries whose leaders meet with the Dalai Lama will suffer
> the consequences in trade and business ties with China. The exiled Tibetan
> leader also met privately for an hour yesterday with California Senator
> Dianne Feinstein.
> 
> Feinstein, who has a close relationship with both the Dalai Lama and Chinese
> leaders in Beijing, said there are plenty of opportunities for a
> reconciliation between the two parties. However, until the Chinese leaders
> agree to sit down and talk with the Dalai Lama, she said China will "lose
> credibility."
> 
> "Here is a major world figure, representing about 6 million people -- the
> bulk of them from China -- and China won't talk to him," Feinstein said after
> her meeting. "That is a position that reduces China's credibility among
> freedom-loving countries around the world."
> 
> -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
> 5. Dalai Lama, Albright agree on U.S.-China ties
> -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
> 
> WASHINGTON, April 24 (Reuter) - U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright
> and the Dalai Lama agreed on Thursday on the importance of strong relations
> between the United States and China, the State Department said.
> 
> Albright, the first secretary of state to meet Tibet's exiled political and
> spiritual leader, reiterated the Clinton administration's support "for the
> preservation of Tibetan religion and culture and for dialogue between the
> Chinese government and the Dalai Lama or his representative to resolve
> differences," the department said.
> 
> "The secretary and the Dalai Lama agreed on the importance of strong
> U.S.-China relations," Nicholas Burns, the department's chief spokesman,
> added in a statement.
> 
> The Dalai Lama, who won the 1989 Nobel Peace Prize for his peaceful campaign
> for Tibetan autonomy, has been in exile since an abortive 1959 uprising
> against Chinese rule in Tibet.
> 
> Albright, eager to minimise the risk of angering Beijing over U.S. contacts
> with the Tibetan leader, followed President Bill Clinton's diplomatic lead.
> Rather than scheduling a one-on-one meeting, she joined the Dalai Lama at a
> meeting with members of her advisory panel on religous freedom abroad.
> 
> China said on Thursday it had complained to the United States for allowing
> the Dalai Lama to meet Clinton and other U.S. leaders this week, but stopped
> short of saying the meetings would harm improving ties.
> 
> "We are strongly dissatisfied with the United States for allowing the Dalai
> Lama to carry out splittist activities in the United States, and with U.S.
> leaders for meeting him," Foreign Ministry spokesman Cui Tiankai said.
> 
> "We have already expressed our serious and principled stance to the U.S.
> side," Cui told a regular news briefing.
> 
> Clinton ignored Chinese warnings not to meet the Dalai Lama and told him at
> the White House on Wednesday he would urge China to open a direct dialogue
> with him.
> 
> "We express our adamant opposition to any actions that tolerate or support
> the Dalai Lama's activities to split the motherland," Cui said. Beijing's
> response was muted compared with its reaction to a similar meeting between
> Clinton and the Dalai Lama in September 1995, when China summoned the U.S.
> charge d'affaires to deliver a strong protest.
> 
> Clinton, wary of derailing the new Sino-U.S. rapprochement, stopped short of
> an Oval Office meeting, instead joining talks between the visiting Tibetan
> spiritual leader and Vice President Al Gore.
> 
> Nevertheless, backers of the Dalai Lama were delighted by the latest White
> House reception, not least by the release of pictures with Clinton. In
> previous years the White House kept photographers away.
> 
> Burns said the secretary of state's advisory panel discussed China's
> repression of Tibetan Buddhists and conditions of Moslems, Catholics and
> Evangelicals.
> 
> "Committee members expressed their deep commitment to ending religious
> persecution in Tibet, including incidents of torture and arbitrary arrests of
> Tibetan nuns and monks as well as the destruction of religious sites and
> restrictions on religious expression, education and worship," he said.
> 
> -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
> 6. Dalai Lama Meets Madeleine Albright
> -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
> 
> WASHINGTON, 25, Apr (AP) -- Secretary of State Madeleine Albright met with
> the Dalai Lama to underscore U.S. support for Tibetans' human rights and
> religious freedom.
> 
> The Clinton administration is not calling for independence for Tibet, and the
> Dalai Lama insists he and Tibetans want only genuine self-rule within China's
> borders. But China accuses the exiled leader of using the cover to religious
> freedom to seek support for full independence.
> 
> State Department spokesman Nicholas Burns reiterated longstanding U.S. policy
> of considering Tibet part of China. "What we have encouraged is a direct
> dialogue between the Dalai Lama and his supporters and the Chinese government
> officials. We think that's important," he said Thursday.
> 
> President Clinton and Vice President Gore met him at the White House
> Wednesday and, a spokesman said, "welcomed the Dalai Lama's commitment to
> nonviolence and to negotiations with China."
> 
> Also Thursday, the Dalai Lama donned a yarmulke, broke matzo and compared
> notes Thursday on the endurance and survival of the Tibetan and Jewish
> peoples.
> 
> The meeting with local Jewish leaders came at a Passover seder on the holiday
> marking the exodus of the Jewish people from Egypt 2,000 years ago and their
> struggle for survival.
> 
> The Dalai Lama thanked his hosts for incorporating into the traditional
> Passover ritual mention of his people's efforts to preserve their culture
> under Chinese rule. To the traditional hope for "Next Year in Jerusalem," the
> words "Next Year in Lhasa," the Tibetan capital, were added.
> 
> "Many of our Jewish brothers and sisters have been outspoken and generous in
> their support and assistance to the Tibetan people," the Dalai Lama said in
> a message to American Jews.
> 
> "In our dialogue with rabbis and Jewish scholars, the Tibetan people have
> learned about the secrets of Jewish spiritual survival in exile ... for 2,000
> years, even in very difficult times, the Jewish people remember their
> liberation from slavery to freedom and this has brought you hope in times of
> difficulty."
> 
> Tibet is being mentioned this year in Passover seders throughout the United
> States, in addition to that participated in by the Dalai Lama for the first
> time, said Rodger Kamenetz, author of "The Jew in the Lotus," a book about a
> Jewish-Buddhist dialogue begun in 1990 at Dharamsala, the Dalai Lama's haven
> in India.
> 
> Wearing a black skullcap with his saffron robes, the often-smiling Buddhist
> leader sat between Kamenetz and Rabbi David Saperstein, director of the
> Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, site of the seder on Washington's
> Embassy Row.
> 
> "People from both the Tibetan community and the Jewish community were deeply
> moved," Saperstein said.
> 
> -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
> 7. Greens Senator Calls 2000 Olympic Focus on Tibet (AAP)
> -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
> SYDNEY, April 25 AAP - The Sydney 2000 Olympics presented a real  opportunity
> for peaceful protests on China's involvement in Tibet,  Australian Greens
> Senator Bob Brown said today.
> 
> Senator Brown made his comments in a statement issued from  Washington, where
> he is attending the World Parliamentarians  Convention on Tibet.
> 
> Although he did not favour banning China from competing in the  games,
> Senator Brown said protests highlighting China's military  occupation of
> Tibet would "deservedly take the gloss off China's  anticipated record haul
> of medals".
> 
> He said Tibetan lobbyists were pivotal in tipping the  International Olympics
> Committee's vote against Beijing and in  favour of Sydney for the 2000 Games.
> 
> "Tibet helped win it for Sydney, I hope Sydney can help win it  for Tibet,"
> Senator Brown said.
> 
> The convention has been convened to examine ways of inducing  China to enter
> talks with Tibet's government-in-exile about the  country's future.
> 
> He told convention members earlier this week that Australian  Prime Minister
> John Howard had connived with China to sideline  concerns about human rights
> abuses in Tibet.
> 
> Australia withdrew support for a United Nations Human Rights  Commission
> resolution condemning China for human rights abuses last  week.
> 
> Senator Brown's call for greater pressure on China drew strong  applause from
> the gathering.
> 
> -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
> end WTN 97/04/25 24:00 GMT