A resolution has been submitted to the Althingi urging talks between China and the Tibetan government in exile, supported by all by the Progressive Party.
It calls on the Iceland parliament to encourage peace talks between the Chinese government and the Dalai Lama, hosted in Iceland. It also went further, asking that Iceland take a formal stance and express concerns over oppression of Tibetans by the occupying state, including violent crackdowns, and for the Chinese government to accept a UN Human rights delegation into the province.
“We Icelanders have a moral obligation under our free trade agreement with China, which takes effect in early 2014, to highlight that we will not accept human rights violations of the kind” said the statement.
Many other parliaments around the world have made similar statements, and Iceland’s position comes under the spotlight after inking a trade agreement with China in April, and increasing presence of Chinese companies working in the mid Atlantic region.
From Shimla, Sikyong Dr Lobsang Sangay, the elected leader and political successor to His Holiness the Dalai Lama said, “The situation in Tibet is tragic and unfortunate. Over 122 Tibetans have set themselves on fire to protest against the Chinese government’s policies of political repression, religious persecution, cultural assimilation, economic discrimination, and environmental destruction in Tibet,”