I move:
That Seanad Éireann, in the light of Ireland's historic support for the people of Tibet at the UN and other international fora, pledges its whole hearted backing for the Minister for Foreign Affairs and our representatives at the UN and on the Security Council in taking every possible measure to secure the human, civil, political and religious rights of the people of Tibet.
I welcome the Minister to the House. It is a pleasure to see him here for what is an important debate. It gives us the opportunity to place on record our congratulations to him and his officials for securing a position on the United Nations Security Council. It is a very significant development and one we welcome. It is a credit to him and those around him. It also places this motion in a particular context. It is significant that there is no amendment to it. This is something on which all parties agree and we support the people of Tibet in seeking their human, civil and political rights.
We, as a people, have an honourable tradition in this matter. It is significant that, in The Irish Times of 14 October, Deputy David Andrews, the Minister's predecessor in the Department of Foreign Affairs, referred twice to Tibet when examining the possible reforming and progressive role Ireland could take at this unique and historic moment in the United Nations. He said:
It is imperative that we use this opportunity to advance the cause of smaller nations. As de Valera spoke out for Abyssinia and as Aiken spoke out for an independent Tibet, we should be willing to adopt an active and independent voice for the rights of small nations.
A few paragraphs later he said:
As we supported the cause of an independent Tibet in the face of strenuous Russian opposition and spoke out on the conduct of the Algerian War, much to the ire of the French, we should be vocal in our support of the smaller, poorer nations.
As the Minister knows, the position in Tibet is not yet resolved – in fact, it is quite tragic. We in this House can get carried away and produce the waffle before the meat. Therefore, at the beginning, I headline two specific suggestions we might consider. We should examine the possibility of urging the European Union to open a consular office in Lhasa or, at the very least, to appoint a rapporteur there. This would be a small degree of recognition of the existence of Tibet which we have historically supported.
Second, the Taoiseach on several occasions but principally in the past 18 months, in meetings with senior Chinese officials, drew their attention to the Good Friday Agreement and the peace process in Northern Ireland as a potential model for the peaceful resolution of the position in Tibet. The fact that the Taoiseach drew attention to this and suggested it as a model indicates that, with our new position on the Security Council, it should be possible for Ireland to consider offering to act as honest broker and host a meeting between the contending parties who are clearly the Chinese occupying power on the one hand and, on the other, the Tibetan Government in exile in Dharamsala, headed by the Dalai Lama.
In that context I wish to put on record two brief items which were put on record in 1965 at the time of this important debate. Mr. Lopez from the Philippines told the UN General Assembly:
Is it any wonder that the people of many emerging countries of Asia, Africa and Latin America have come to look with deep suspicion on whatever has been euphemistically described as "movements of national liberation"? The phrase, sacred in the memory of freedom fighters everywhere, has been abused for selfish ideological reasons. The record of the Chinese Communist occupation of Tibet conforms to the worst type of imperialism and colonialism, past or present.
Mr. Aiken said in the same debate in the 20th session on 14 December 1965:
In the view of my delegation, the terms of the Declaration [on The Granting Of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples] as we stated when it was being adopted are as much applicable to Tibet as to any other Territory, whether in Asia, Africa, Europe or elsewhere.
The sub-committee on human rights of the Committee on Foreign Affairs passed two motions unanimously and they are to be found on the Order Paper today. The first is No. 18, motion 15:
That Seanad Éireann notes:
Whereas governmental and non-government organisations have reported an increase in political repression and restrictions on religious freedoms in Chinese occupied Tibet in 1999;
Recognising that bilateral dialogues on human rights with the Government of the People's Republic of China have failed to produce meaningful improvements in the human rights of the Chinese and Tibetan peoples;
Commending the Government of the United States for introducing a resolution on China at the 56th session of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights;
Calls on the Euroopean Union to co-sponsor a resolution on China at the 56th session of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights;
Expresses strong support for His Holiness the Dalai Lama's Five Point Peace Plan con taining the following components: (1) transformation of the whole of Tibet into a zone of peace; (2) abandonment of China's population transfer policy; (3) respect for the Tibetan people's fundamental human rights and democratic freedoms; (4) restoration and protection of Tibet's natural environment; and (5) commencement of earnest negotiations between the Chinese leadership and the Dalai Lama or his representatives on the future status of Tibet.
This is a very widely and generally held feeling. Coincidentally, I received in my post today an ordinary postcard from west Cork urging me to take up these specific issues. This is something on which the people feel strongly. It is not as widely known as the position in East Timor, but it is parallel to that extraordinary position in which Ireland honourably played a significant and important role.
There is a severe religious clampdown in Tibet although that may not appear to be the case. The Chinese are good at concealing this but I have been there and am a witness to what goes on. One can see Tibetan peasants turning the prayer wheels and one can also see the places where the military type indoctrination of Buddhist monks take place. I have received notes from Tibetan monks, who have given them at the risk of their lives, saying that Tibet is free, that the Dalai Lama is their leader and that we should tell the world. These are the messages which come from this cosmetically organised situation. At present, there are house to house searches by the People's Armed Police and the Public Security Bureau for any evidence of household shrines, altars, incense burners, tankards or pictures of the Dalai Lama. An anonymous telephone line has been set up – a helpline as they call it – which is a hotline where informers are encouraged to tell the authorities about anyone they suspect of practising Buddhism in private. This is religious repression on a scale which must strike a note with the people of Ireland, given our experience of penal laws.
There is also resource exploitation. There is the question of how the Chinese have systematically raped the mineral and water resources of the Tibetan people. We have played a small role in this. I am sure the Minister knows of the controversial Dulan project which involved the resettlement of 58,000 Tibetan people – an enormous population transfer – and the construction of a dam. When the World Bank vice-president was in Ireland, a small number of members of the Committee on Foreign Affairs met him. Afterwards, I wrote to the Minister for Finance, Deputy McCreevy, asking him to have Ireland's member on the board vote against this project. I received a letter from the Minister on 5 September indicating that our representative had voted against it and that the project had been rejected by the World Bank. We can play a role in this matter and it is very important we do so.
At present there are projects to increase oil and gas exploration on the Tibetan plateau. The Tibetan Government in exile has issued a clear, precise statement against this. The representatives of the people of Tibet say the plans for major exploitation of oil and gas reserves in Tibet by PetroChina, in partnership with Western companies such as BP, ENI and AGIP, will cause harm for the Tibetan people. They call for an immediate halt to the construction of the Sebei-Lanzhou pipeline and the increase in exploration for gas and oil on the Tibetan plateau.
Their position with regard to the development in investment in Tibet is clear. The Government in exile supports projects which benefit the Tibetan people and opposes those which cause harm. It does not want projects that facilitate the transfer of Chinese into Tibetan areas and so on. It believes the project will be harmful because it will employ a sizeable disproportion of Chinese and other non-Tibetans, deplete natural resources with little or no benefit to the Tibetan people, consolidate the Chinese control and occupation of Tibet and increase the Chinese Government's reason for maintaining control. It will facilitate the erosion of Tibetan culture and traditions, facilitate the transfer of Chinese settlers or workers to Tibetan areas, negatively affect the sustainability of Tibet's ecosystems and employ only a few Tibetans in skilled positions.
It is very important to recognise the real situation in Tibet. I went there five years ago. The brief I was given by UNPO was to develop criteria and then to test the position there to see if it was a colonial situation. I can give the Minister a copy of the report we produced, which is very clear, rational and lucid. On every point, we ascertained that the situation in Tibet was a colonial one and a form of imperialism.
In the past we had a habit of being practical, of looking at the realpolitik. I remember urging the Government from this side of the House not to get involved in the Iraq beef deals. I was told that while what I was suggesting might be moral, it was not in Ireland's economic interest and we could not afford it. That backfired terribly on the people of Ireland, who were left with a huge bill.
Sometimes, one can do the moral thing and also reap a long-term benefit. I recommend the Minister to look at the works of distinguished economic analysts, such as Gerald Segal and Jonathan Mirsky, who have shown that China, far from being the economic giant that people imagine, is much more comparable to a country like Brazil. There are 250 million migrant agricultural workers travelling around that country. According to Jonathan Mirsky, the highest yield that international investor countries have received from China is about 3%. It does not represent either the economic threat or the golden egg we imagine.
We can confront the Chinese position honourably. We need not antagonise them. We can do it calmly, clearly and coolly. The Minister will be able to do that far better than I could because my passions are engaged in this issue. We can do it without losing the respect of the Chinese – instead, we will gain it. If we use this opportunity we will enhance our standing in the eyes of the world.