Domestic turmoil over Tibet announcement

Thursday, December 17, 2009

The Copenhagen Post Online
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Government’s controversial statement of opposition to Tibetan independence causing ripples within parties

Human rights groups across the globe have slammed Denmark’s government this week for announcing it supports China’s authority over Tibet – a move political analysts believe was aimed at securing Chinese involvement in a climate agreement at the COP15 conference.

But the outcry has also been strong at home, where especially many of the Socialist People’s Party’s (SF) supporters have expressed their displeasure over the party’s decision to go along with the Liberal-Conservative government’s announcement on Sunday.

Several of the party’s PMs have indicated their staunch opposition to the SF leadership’s position, and are angered that the issue was never discussed with them.

‘I can’t understand why the party would agree to support this position,’ said SF’s cultural affairs spokeswoman Pernille Frahm. ‘We’ve never stated that Tibet is an integrated part of China.’

The Red-Green Alliance and Danish People’s Party were the only parties to oppose to the government’s strategy – also aimed at thawing the two countries’ frosty relations after both Prime Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen and his predecessor, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, met with the Dalai Lama against China’s wishes.

But even some of the government-leading Liberal’s own party members were taken aback by this week’s announcement.

‘I’m definitely looking into the fact that the government has made a diplomatic agreement on this issue,’ said Liberal MP Britta Schall Holberg.

Willy Søvndal, SF’s leader, has been under heavy fire from party supporters – not only for his decision to support the government’s Tibet announcement, but also for not speaking out strongly against the mass arrests that have taken place in connection with the climate summit.