Norway’s government said on Friday that its decision not to meet the Dalai Lama during a three-day trip to Oslo was a “necessary sacrifice” to normalize its relations with China.
Oslo has faced public criticism for its decision to snub the Tibetan spiritual leader, who was in Norway to commemorate the 25th anniversary of his Nobel Peace Prize.
Instead, the spiritual leader was received in parliament by several members of the cross-parliamentary committee for Tibet, which includes the governing right-wing parties.
‘SACRIFICE’
“After four years, we find ourselves in a situation where there is no political contact with Chinese authorities. This makes a dialogue on difficult matters like the climate or human rights impossible,” Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg told public broadcaster NRK.
“It is therefore a necessary sacrifice in order to show China that it’s important for us to have a dialogue with them,” she added.
Beijing stopped all high-level contact with Norway after the Nobel Peace Prize was given to Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo (劉曉波) in 2010.
The Nobel Committee is independent from all political power, although its five members are appointed by the Norwegian parliament.
WARNING
China has warned different countries on multiple occasions about the consequences of meeting the Dalai Lama, who they consider a “separatist.”
No members of Norway’s government — including the minister of foreign affairs and president of the parliament, who have both headed the parliamentary committee for Tibet — are to meet the Dalai Lama during his three-day visit.
‘COWARDICE’
However, Norwegian commentators have slammed the government’s decision not to meet him, accusing it of “cowardice” and putting economic interests before human rights.
The spiritual leader, who said he was “an admirer of the democratic system,” was received at the main entrance of parliament following discussions over whether he should be made to enter through a back door.
The meeting was held in a screening room, rather than an official reception room.
A fire caused by a burst gas pipe yesterday spread to several homes and sent a fireball soaring into the sky outside Malaysia’s largest city, injuring more than 100 people. The towering inferno near a gas station in Putra Heights outside Kuala Lumpur was visible for kilometers and lasted for several hours. It happened during a public holiday as Muslims, who are the majority in Malaysia, celebrate the second day of Eid al-Fitr. National oil company Petronas said the fire started at one of its gas pipelines at 8:10am and the affected pipeline was later isolated. Disaster management officials said shutting the
US Vice President J.D. Vance on Friday accused Denmark of not having done enough to protect Greenland, when he visited the strategically placed and resource-rich Danish territory coveted by US President Donald Trump. Vance made his comment during a trip to the Pituffik Space Base in northwestern Greenland, a visit viewed by Copenhagen and Nuuk as a provocation. “Our message to Denmark is very simple: You have not done a good job by the people of Greenland,” Vance told a news conference. “You have under-invested in the people of Greenland, and you have under-invested in the security architecture of this
Japan unveiled a plan on Thursday to evacuate around 120,000 residents and tourists from its southern islets near Taiwan within six days in the event of an “emergency”. The plan was put together as “the security situation surrounding our nation grows severe” and with an “emergency” in mind, the government’s crisis management office said. Exactly what that emergency might be was left unspecified in the plan but it envisages the evacuation of around 120,000 people in five Japanese islets close to Taiwan. China claims Taiwan as part of its territory and has stepped up military pressure in recent years, including
UNREST: The authorities in Turkey arrested 13 Turkish journalists in five days, deported a BBC correspondent and on Thursday arrested a reporter from Sweden Waving flags and chanting slogans, many hundreds of thousands of anti-government demonstrators on Saturday rallied in Istanbul, Turkey, in defence of democracy after the arrest of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu which sparked Turkey’s worst street unrest in more than a decade. Under a cloudless blue sky, vast crowds gathered in Maltepe on the Asian side of Turkey’s biggest city on the eve of the Eid al-Fitr celebration which started yesterday, marking the end of Ramadan. Ozgur Ozel, chairman of the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), which organized the rally, said there were 2.2 million people in the crowd, but
RSS