July 12, 2024
TOKYO – Japan will hold an international meeting to discuss support for Tibetans early next June in Tokyo, it has been learned.
Since the first such meeting in 1994, talks on aiding the oppressed ethnic minority in China have mainly been held in the United States and Europe. It will be the first time for Japan to host.
The meeting is being backed by the cross-party Japan-Tibet Parliamentary Association, which is headed by former education minister Hakubun Shimomura and aims to boost support for Tibet.
The legislative body of Tibet’s government in exile will run the meeting, with around 90 people including lawmakers and scholars to come from 26 countries. The Dalai Lama, exiled supreme leader of Tibetan Buddhism, is planned to deliver a speech online.
The parliamentary association includes 105 members of the Diet. Shu Watanabe, a member of the lower house for the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, serves as acting chair and Keiji Furuya, a member of the lower house for the Liberal Democratic Party who previously chaired the National Public Safety Commission, serves as vice chair.
In 2022, both houses of the Diet adopted a resolution expressing concern about human rights abuses in China including in Tibet.