Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2000-07-06-Speech-4-204"
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"en.20000706.9.4-204"2
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"Mr President, Commissioner Verheugen, ladies and gentlemen, tomorrow the World Bank will be taking a decision with very serious implications for Tibet. The aim is to provide international support to alleviate the poverty in western China, and surely everyone is prepared in principle to help those who cannot do much to help themselves. In the framework of this project, however, 58 000 people are to be forcibly resettled in Tibet. Resettlement on that scale might well gradually turn the Tibetans into a minority in their own homeland, after decades of destruction of their culture and their monasteries, of persecution and threat to life and limb!
A fortnight ago, the Members of our Intergroup on Tibet and many other MEPs urged the President of the World Bank in Washington not to go against the Bank’s own principles for the protection of endangered peoples. We have written to the national parliaments, to the ministries of finance in Europe, the USA and other continents, and of course to Commissioner Chris Patten. We have urgently requested the members of the Board of the World Bank to study the report drawn by independent inspectors very carefully first. For the inspectors seriously doubt whether the resettlement is environmentally correct or socially acceptable because of an irrigation programme. If public monies are spent, the justification for doing so must be made just as public.
Strengthened by its planned membership of WTO, China, as I myself recently found in Beijing, is becoming increasingly aware of its role as an emerging world power. But that also implies an obligation to act more responsibly than before and, for instance, to apply the concept of “one China – many systems”. The full autonomy granted to Tibet must finally be guaranteed. That includes freedom of religion, freedom of opinion, cultural and social independence. Bilateral talks must be held with authorised leaders. The Dalai Lama is available for this at any time. As my colleague pointed out, this Nobel peace-prize winner, who is accepted worldwide, is celebrating his 65th birthday today and has been the Tibetans’ leader for precisely 50 years. His five-point peace plan, which reflects his profound belief in non-violence, remains as valid as ever. It is high time to hold constructive dialogues on that basis. On behalf of the EPP Group and the Intergroup on Tibet, I call on all the Members of the European Parliament to support our resolution. Only a worldwide protest shortly before the World Bank’s decision, which is in fact due tomorrow, can prevent things from going seriously off course.
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"Tashi delek"1
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