– Statement by Matteo Mecacci, President of the International Campaign for Tibet

After decades of spending billions of dollars on subsidies and pursuing the hyper-securitization of Tibet, China’s 2015 White Paper on Tibet is an acknowledgement that Chinese government policies have failed to win the hearts and minds of the Tibetan people.

The easiest way for the ‘anti-separatist’ bureaucratic power bloc to exonerate themselves from taking responsibility for their policy failures in Tibet is to blame the Dalai Lama and ‘hostile forces’ outside Tibet. The misleading arguments made in this White Paper serve only to underline that failure and the insecurity of the CCP over its legitimacy in Tibet. Ultimately Beijing must realize that the Dalai Lama’s moral and religious authority and message of peace is respected globally, and that no credible solution to the Tibet issue can be there that does not involve him.

The White Paper’s libelous accusation against the Dalai Lama — claiming that he incited self-immolations in Tibet –is outrageous, and it should be challenged by the international community. Over the years the Dalai Lama has publicly responded to these allegations by calling for an international and independent investigation into the underlying causes that have led to the self-immolations.

If the situation of the Tibetan people is as good as the White Paper claims, China should have nothing to fear in providing access to Tibet to independent observers, journalists, and diplomats.