27 Sept 2011

Dear Foreign Minister

Australia Tibet Council would like to first acknowledge your important address to the UN General Assembly this past week, during which you articulated Australia’s vision and the global community’s responsibility to address our common challenges.

Today when the world talks about China, one gets the sense of increasing obsession with China’s economic growth and its rise in a new global order. This preoccupation with the Chinese economy and the rise of China cannot be justified. If we are to take a longer view on the stability of China we must also pay mind to the situation of the Tibetans, Uighurs and thousands of ordinary Chinese citizens who put their lives on the line in the pursuit of freedom and basic human rights.

We wish to draw you attention to a heartbreaking incident which occurred yesterday (26 September) in a Tibetan town in China’s Sichuan province, in which two monks, aged 18 and 19, set themselves on fire after staging a peaceful protest calling for religious freedom in Tibet and shouting slogans including “Long Live the Dalai Lama”.

The two monks, Lobsang Kelsang and Lobsang Kunchok, are from Kirti Monastery in Ngaba county (Chinese: Aba) in Sichuan, a monastic institution active in the 2008 uprising. Tibetan sources reported that one monk has succumbed to his injuries while the Chinese state media reported that both are still alive and are in a hospital. Their whereabouts remain unknown.

Kirti Monastery saw one of its monks Phuntsog, aged 20, burn himself to death in a similar protest earlier this year. Only a month ago, 29-year-old Tsewang Norbu from Nyitso Monastery in Kardze in the same province of Sichuan died after setting fire to himself and calling for freedom in Tibet.

The fact that these monks are driven to take such an extreme action illustrates the desperation of the Tibetan people under China’s current policies. Despite the Chinese government’s claims of bringing development in Tibet, the Tibetans continue to express resentment against China’s policies, which undermine their right to maintain their cultural and political identity.

We are deeply concerned that even more Tibetans will feel that they must take extreme measures to express their true feelings if their concerns continue to be ignored.

Since the immolation of monk Phuntsok in March, the Chinese government has heightened its military crackdown and forced “patriotic education” on the monks of Kirti Monastery.

We fear in the light of yesterday’s incident, China will once again tighten its grip on the monks.

We request that you:

1. Make an immediate representation to the appropriate Chinese authorities
- Enquiring as to the whereabouts and welfare of the two monks;
- Seeking speedy withdrawal of security forces from the monastery town and
- Calling for restraint in the handling of the situation at Ngaba

2. Encourage the Chinese government to give Tibetans the rights to freely practise their culture and religion

4. Send a representative from the Australian embassy in Beijing to visit Kirti Monastery to monitor the situation

Australia Tibet Council is more than happy to assist your ministry, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and the Australian embassy in Beijing by providing further information on the issue.