China tries to exclude pro-Tibetan group
China tries to exclude pro-Tibetan group
The Jakarta Post, Nusa Dua, Bali
The People's Republic of China (PRC) has again expressed its strong objection that the Tibetan Center for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD) be allowed to attend the upcoming World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg, South Africa.
The decision of whether the TCHRD will be allowed to attend the meeting will be decided on Friday during the United Nations (UN)'s plenary meeting here, confirmed Pragati J. Pascale, a senior media officer at the UN.
Norzin Dolma, one of TCHRD's activists, said on Wednesday that the Chinese Permanent Representative to the UN had requested the world organization exclude his group from participating at the World Summit slated to be held from August to September this year.
The organization has already registered with the UN on its participation at the upcoming summit.
In a letter sent to the UN Headquarters two weeks ago, the Chinese representative accused members of the TCHRD group of being separatists who support the independence of Tibet, said Dolma.
The PRC representative has also said that the presence of the group was not relevant to the issue of sustainable development, and they merely wanted to slander the PRC government at the event.
It was the third attempt by the Chinese government, after two previous successful moves to kick out two other pro-Tibet organizations, the International Campaign for Tibet (ICT) and the Tibet Justice Center (TJC), from participating in the next World Summit.
In the UN's General Assembly meeting last April, the majority of UN member countries, including Indonesia, rejected the presence of the two pro-Tibetan organizations in the World Summit.
"Their allegations that we would raise political issues is groundless. We are committed to focusing on various environmental problems in Tibet," explained Norzin at the sidelines of the PrepCom meeting.