Vilnius: After a successful advocacy endeavour reaching out to state and non-state audiences in Latvia, the Tibetan delegation headed by Sikyong Penpa Tsering reached Vilnius, Lithuania yesterday. Vytis Vildunas, chair of the Lithuanian Tibet Support Group received the Tibetan delegation at the airport.

During his first visit to the Baltic States and Finland – countries which are at the frontiers of Russia’s aggression on Ukraine – Sikyong Penpa Tsering informed the government, politicians and the civil society in these countries about the evidence-based open published sources [Tibet Brief 20/20, Tibet has Never Been a Part of China Since Antiquity, Hidden Agenda] that prove Tibet’s historically independent status and the long term threat from Communist Chinese Government under President Xi Jinping’s reign to Europe, although Russia is the immediate danger.

While seeking support for Tibet and raising awareness about the international implications of the Tibet-China conflict, Sikyong Penpa Tsering stressed the contradiction between the Baltic people’s very public and genuine sympathy for Ukraine while the business relation and trade dealings of these countries indirectly strengthen Russia’s aggression on Ukraine: Baltic Countries’ trade deficit [excess import over export value] vis-a-vis China generate profit and foreign currency revenue for China which is used by PRC to buy gas and other goods from Russia, helping sustain Russian economy [circumventing economic sanctions by US, UK and EU] and thereby providing financial impetus for Russia to continue its aggression on Ukraine.

Honourable Sikyong also dissected the hollowness and naivety, despite first-hand experience with a similar regime of communist USSR, of the recent unofficial private visit of Latvian Parliamentarians on an all-paid-for trip to China hosted by the PRC Government, which plays into China’s narrative of socialist paradise. He claimed that the real litmus test of PRC Government’s confidence of trust between the ‘ruler and the ruled’ in the PRC-controlled regions would be to allow unsupervised open visits to Tibet and East Turkestan, and not just visa-free 15-day trip to China for “friendly countries gradually”. Sikyong’s frank discussions and sharp observations were appreciated by many who talked of a ‘rude awakening’ to China’s motivations after the COVID pandemic, Ukraine-Russia war, debt diplomacy. People also spoke about disdain towards PRC’s officials’ disproportionately aggressive attitude towards any call on their human rights violations and no respect for the rule-of-law and freedom in democratic countries to meet who they want to, be it Tibetans, Uyghurs, Taiwanese, Hongkongers, Southern Mongolians or Manchurians.

In the Vilnius agenda, besides meetings, is a visit to Vilnius’ Tibet Square, which has become a landmark for Tibet-related public events like commemoration of Tibetan National Uprising, His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama’s birthday etc.

–Filed by the Office of Tibet, London