The Friedrich-Naumann-Stiftung für die Freiheit reaffirms its policy on Tibet

Wolfgang Gerhardt

The Olympic Games should be used to improve the human rights situation of the Tibetans in China, as was promised by the Vice President of the Beijing organization committee, Mr.Wang Wie, before the games were awarded to China in 2001. The Foundation rejects, however, a boycott of the Olympic Games. Nevertheless, the games would offer the opportunity "to be used for wider public attention to highlight the situation of the Tibetans in China." This was said by the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Stiftung für die Freiheit, Dr. Wolfgang Gerhardt.

The Foundation calls upon China to have a dialogue with the Dalai Lama in order to defuse the situation. "The Dalai Lama is the religious and cultural Head of the Tibetans", Dr. Morlok said. "Finally, this must be accepted by Beijing." The Foundation will continue to be on the side of those who demonstrate peacefully for human rights. The Foundation always acts on the basis of decisions of the German Federal Government and does not question the One-China-Policy. It will continue to advocate having the religious and cultural autonomy of Tibet, as a part of the People's Republic of China, acknowledged and completely implemented, as it is laid down in the Chinese constitution.

For more than 15 years, the Foundation has supported the Tibetans-in-Exile in their efforts to obtain cultural and religious rights through dialogue with China. The concrete project work promotes the democratization of the Tibetan Community outside of China and the communication between the representatives of the exiled Tibetans and the various Tibet Support Groups (TSGs) with the aim of finding a peaceful solution to the conflict, as demanded by Dalai Lama. The conference in Brussels in May 2007 was about nothing else. "With this conference we supported the TSGs. That we steer their engagement, is however nonsense", Wolfgang Gerhardt said, commenting such reports.

A conference organised by the Foundation in June 1996, at which the Dalai Lama participated, prompted the Chinese government to close down the Foundation's Beijing office. The request of the European Parliament to Beijing in 2006 to allow the re-opening of the office has had no consequences.