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EU 'will not invite Dalai Lama'
19/04/2008 14:29 - (SA)
Brussels - The European Union's Slovenian presidency said on Saturday that it would not invite the Dalai Lama to Brussels to meet with the bloc's foreign ministers, as Paris had proposed.
Slovenia Foreign Minister Dimitrij Rupel told a special Chinese envoy in Ljubljana that "the Slovenian presidency did not intend to invite the Dalai Lama to the council meeting (of EU foreign ministers) in Brussels", the presidency said in a statement.
However, the Slovenian presidency added that "contacts with him (the Dalai Lama) on other levels were not excluded".
French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said on April 01 that the 27 EU foreign ministers would invite the Dalai Lama once a decision had been made by the Slovenian EU presidency.
At the time, Rupel said that inviting the Dalai Lama to Brussels was "doable", but would need to be discussed by foreign ministers from the other EU nations.
150 people died
China had opposed foreign nations providing support to what it had said was the Dalai Lama's attempts to split Tibet from China, in reaction to reports that he might go to Japan and Europe.
On Friday, Rupel received special Chinese envoy Guan Chengyuan, who had a letter laying out Beijing's position on developments in Tibet and EU nations' reaction to them.
In response, Rupel said that "substantive and open dialogue with the Dalai Lama could form part of the solution" to the problem, according to the statement.
"Slovenia and the EU understand the urgency of restoring stability in China, but at the same time believe that the Chinese authorities could take more positive steps to address the situation in Tibet," the EU presidency said.
Tibet last month saw the biggest protests in years on the anniversary of a 1959 uprising that sent the Dalai Lama fleeing into exile in India.
Exiled Tibetan leaders said more than 150 people had died in the crackdown. China said Tibetan "rioters" had killed 18 civilians and two policemen.
Rupel said that the EU was "concerned" about the lack of information about the events and reports from international non-governmental organisations of harsh measures by the authorities and that many people remained unaccounted for.
"The EU is concerned upon receiving such information. A positive step would be to allow free access to Tibet and to enable full transparency," Rupel said.
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