President Sangay led Tibet delegation appears before Canadian Parliament’s Standing Committee on FAAE

 

DHARAMSALA, June 13: A delegation of Tibet led by the President of the Central Tibetan Administration(CTA) Dr Lobsang Sangay appeared before the Canadian Parliament’s Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development (FAAE) on 12 June.

President Sangay began his opening comments before the FAAE in the House of Commons of Canada; the Lower House of the Parliament of Canada by saying that, “this delegation truly reflects and represents the aspirations of six million Tibetans.”

President Sangay was accompanied by Ngodup Tsering, representative of Office of Tibet, Washington D.C. along with some democratically elected Tibetan Parliamentarians Tenpa Yarphel, Namgyal Dolkar Lhagyari, Migyur Dorjee, Dhondup Tashi Tsaneytsang, Pema Chagzoetsang and Tsewang Rigzin.

The committee held a hearing of Delegation from the so-called ‘Tibet Autonomous Region’ (TAR) earlier last week. Tibet with nearly 2.5 Million Sq Km in Area consists of three Traditional Tibetan provinces; Amdo, Kham and U-Tsang. On the contrary, the so-called TAR comprises less than half of the Tibetan region.

In a sly dig at the delegation from the so-called TAR, President Sangay said, “The previous delegation ‘served as a smokescreen for the grave human rights violations that are going on in Tibet.”

The political head of the Tibetan people further likened the delegation to natives being forced by the colonial masters to parrot their propaganda.

The same hearing committee is said to have received the delegation from the so-called TAR’s remarks with scepticism and criticism

“Back at the Foreign Affairs Committee, today we are hearing from the ACTUAL Tibet representatives (not PRC occupiers),” Canada’s conservative MP Garnett Genuis said in a Facebook post.

Describing the situation inside Tibet under the Chinese regime, President Sangay cited the reports of Freedom House and Reporters without Borders where the former listed Tibet as the least free place on earth after Syria while the latter stated that North Korea is more accessible to reporters that Tibet.

Sikyong Sangay further stated that to completely understand China, one has to know the Tibetan narrative and cautioning the massive Chinese infrastructure program China’s Belt and Road Initiative he said, “for Tibet, the occupation started with one road”.

On dealing with China, President Sangay said that countries have two choices, either to transform China or be transformed by China and concluded by urging that, “It is crucial that ‘money and morals go together and one is not exchanged with the other.”

The Delegation led by President Sangay was in Canada to take part in the ‘Thank You Canada’ event which was held on 12 June at the Parliament Hill, Ottawa.

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