Dalai Lama urges EU to stand firm

The Dalai Lama is today expected to urge the EU to stand firm on the issue of human rights.

Tibet's spiritual leader is expected to use his appearance before MEPs to repeat his demands for freedom of expression, a free media and the rule of law in China.

The Dalai Lama is due to address parliament’s plenary in Brussels and meet the French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, later this week.

His visit has incensed the Chinese government which cancelled its annual summit with the EU on Monday, warning that today’s event would put relations at risk.

To mark today's occasion and an expression of their support for his campaign, 500 parliamentary staff, including 30 MEPs, are today holding a 24-hour fast.

They include UK Tory MEP Edward McMillan-Scott, an arch-critic of China, who said, “We would like to demonstrate our sympathy for the victims of Chinese repression and for the Tibetan people.”

Centre-right deputy Thomas Mann, president of the Tibet intergroup who is also taking part in the fast, told a news conference, “We strongly condemn China’s uncompromising attitude in national and international affairs.”

Meanwhile, it has emerged that a guest speaker who was due to appear at a conference in parliament this week was unable to do so because he claims he was “intercepted” at Beijing airport.

Kim Sang Hun, a well-known South Korean human rights activist, had been invited to testify at the conference in parliament on Tuesday, organized by ALDE, Human Rights Without Frontiers (HRWF) and the Taiwan Foundation for Democracy.

More than 100 people attended the conference which discussed the situation of North Korean refugees ‘forcibly repatriated by China.’

Willy Fautre, of HRWF, said, “We received harrowing story of how he was stopped as he tried to board a plane at Beijing. This is the true face of China. Nevertheless, the voice of Kim Sang Hun was not silenced and his paper was read at the conference.”

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