Michael Danby (Melbourne Ports, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Last Saturday I had the opportunity of giving a thankyou to His Excellency Mr Samdhong Rinpoche, the Prime Minister of the Tibetan government in exile, in the presence of about 500 people in Sydney who gathered to express their support for Tibetan cultural autonomy within a Chinese federation. This program of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, the Middle Way, is a very moderate program of reconciliation which seeks Tibetan cultural autonomy within the Chinese federation. I would note at this point that the Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity has recently organised a letter from 37 Nobel laureates to China’s President Hu Jintao, supporting cultural autonomy for Tibet. This is a very important issue. The fifth round of Tibetan-Chinese discussions has just been held in Beijing at the moment. At this time, before the Olympics, China should very seriously consider the issue of the Tibetan people and giving them cultural autonomy within a Chinese federation. As I said, the Tibetan proposal to the Chinese is a very moderate program that could easily be granted without influencing the sovereignty of China.