Wednesday, March 19, 2008

An "ethical" foreign policy towards Tibet?

"Scotland needs independence and the freedom to pursue an ethical foreign policy in the world – one which advances the cause of peace and justice, not war and occupation."

Once said Alex Salmond.

Will this proposed visit advance the cause of “peace and justice, not war and occupation”?

So far, the Tibetan authorities in exile have asked visitors to go to China but to raise human rights concerns when they get there.

I actually can’t find anything confirming that statement, but if it’s true I’d guess that “so far" would predate last week’s atrocities.
Last night, a spokesman for Ms Hyslop said that the Scottish Government would listen to the views of the Tibetan government in exile before taking a final decision.


They should not only "listen" to those views, but they should be made public and followed to the letter by Ms Hyslop.

2 comments:

Owen Polley said...

Maybe I haven't been reading the right papers, but has it been confirmed that any 'atrocities' have actually been committed? My impression was that information is pretty sketchy. The trigger for the problems appeared to be a fairly vicious bout of ethnic violence perpetrated by Tibetans on Chinese.

O'Neill said...

Maybe I haven't been reading the right papers, but has it been confirmed that any 'atrocities' have actually been committed?

Both "sides" claim there have, the Chinese say approx 20 ethnic Chinese have been killed, the Tibetan govt in exile say 80 Tibetans- so whatever the true figures, there have quite clearly been killings. Also the fact that the details are sketchy with the Chinese authorities basicaly now sealing off the country would lead you to suspect that they don't want the world's media to:

a) Discover what really went on
b) To publicise what is about to happen.

The Tibetans, in contrast,are calling for the media and international authorities to be let in to record what they see and hear.

Whatever the situation in Tibet however, it is quite clear that the Chinese are an oppressive regime...and as Salmond claims to be practising an ethical foreign policy, that's not the kind of regime the SNP should be dealing with