Nick McKim, Greens Member of the Tasmanian House of Assembly, made a speech in parliament to mark the March 10 anniversary and called for support for the Dalai Lama’s Middle Way approach. Read Nick’s speech

Tasmanian House Of Assembly Hansard

Tibet Anniversary

Tuesday 13 March 2007 - Part 2 - Pages 28 - 112

Mr McKIM (Franklin) - On 10 March this year it was the 48th anniversary of the day in 1959 when Tibetan people in their thousands took to the streets of Lhasa, their capital city, to protest against the Chinese occupation of their country. Many of those Tibetans were arrested and thousands were killed on that day. As members will be aware, China invaded Tibet, illegally in my view, in 1949 and on 10 March 1959, for daring to protest against the illegal annexation of their country and the targeted and deliberate destruction of their culture, thousands of Tibetans were killed by Chinese occupying forces.

Since then, 10 March has been marked by peaceful demonstrations and other activities around the world to highlight the ongoing repression of the Tibetan people. Members would be aware that under the repressive and oppressive regime of the Chinese Government in Tibet the Tibetan people have lost many of their human rights, such as the rights to practise their religion and to follow their cultural traditions. Non-violent protests against these repressions within Tibet have been brutally suppressed by the Chinese Government. There are arbitrary arrests, people are sent to labour camps and many have disappeared following arrest. It brings to mind those efforts of Pinochet in Chile.

Buddhist monks and nuns who refused to make written denunciations of the Dalai Lama fill the prisons and are subjected to extreme torture, yet government members of the People’s Republic of China want to be seen as respectable members of the global community. Well, they have a way to go, in my view. Western governments are often prepared to take a softly-softly approach to Beijing in relation to Tibet. Indeed, next year, 59 years since China invaded Tibet, the Olympic Games will be held in Beijing. After more than half a century, China continues to illegally occupy Tibet and promulgate policies designed to erode the Tibetan national identity and to suppress the fundamental freedoms of the Tibetan people.

The Tasmanian Greens join with the Australia Tibet Council in the lead-up to the 2008 Olympics to call for fundamental change in China’s policies in Tibet. We ask the Australian Government to intervene with Beijing to improve Tibetans’ human rights, to offer Australia as a neutral territory for negotiations between the Tibetan Government in exile and China and to directly engage the Dalai Lama and support his middle way approach.

Just to be clear, the Dalai Lama is not asking for independence for Tibet.

What he is asking for is self-rule and genuine autonomy for all Tibetans. This is a just and reasonable demand and is in fact in keeping with the provisions of the Chinese constitution. The Dalai Lama, and the Tasmanian Greens, are asking that the systematic abuse of human rights in China and Tibet be stopped. I would like to place very firmly the record my personal distress that the illegal occupation and deliberate cultural destruction of Tibet has not only occurred but is continuing to occur.