10 July 2006
EP President in PRC
(Phayul; ICT; EP) President Josep Borrell travelled to China for the first visit by a President of the European Parliament (EP) for 13 years. During his six-day visit, he met senior government officials, members of the National People's Congress, business leaders and NGOs. His itinerary included visits to Beijing, Shanghai and Lhasa. The visit to Lhasa comes just weeks after he met the Dalai Lama in Brussels. President Borrell said: "The European Parliament has always taken a keen interest in Tibet and I wish to see for myself the reality on the ground". More generally, he said he wanted "to talk to the Chinese leaders about the opportunities that arise from a strengthened relationship with the EU". The EP has consistently urged the Chinese government to respond to international calls for improvement in the human rights situation and to guarantee democracy and freedom of expression. At the end of his visit, President Borrell said: "I visited Tibet in the first days of my visit. I acknowledged the surprisingly positive economic development of the region and visited the new train station linking Lhasa to Beijing. On the surface, it seems as though religious freedom is respected. But I remain concerned by the Tibetan issue. I raised specific human rights cases (the Panchen Lama, Tenzin Delek Rinpoche). Despite reiterating the Dalai Lama's wishes for a peaceful negotiated solution to the problem of Tibet, based on the principle of One China and within the framework of the Chinese Constitution, which the European Parliament fully supports, it seems that my interlocutors remain unconvinced of his sincerity".