Rt Hon Helen Clark
Prime Minister of New Zealand

20th June 2007

An open letter to the Prime Minister of New Zealand

In succumbing to diplomatic pressure from the Peoples Republic of China for you and your government not to meet and welcome His Holiness the Dalai Lama in New Zealand, you have compromised New Zealand’s sovereignty, and also alienated a very large number of New Zealanders who respected your judgement and your appreciation of human values in politics.

In this respect your judgement has failed you.

Your actions were further compounded by your Minister of Foreign Affairs, who extended an invitation to His Holiness on the letterhead of the Minister of Foreign Affairs to meet, and then proceeded to act only in the role of the Leader of New Zealand First. He was poorly briefed. He was so afraid of the meeting that all media and cameras were banned from attendance, with the result that he could not get a photograph of himself with the Dalai Lama.

In 1996 as leader of the Opposition you were obliged with special arrangements to satisfy your request to meet with His Holiness. In 2002 you were out of the country, but your deputy Hon Jim Anderton met His Holiness at the Beehive. Now, in 2007, you cite a chance encounter in Brisbane airport as a justification for failing to uphold the rights of New Zealanders to honour a guest whose message is fundamental to addressing many of the global problems that not only we New Zealanders, but all of humanity face in the years and decades ahead.

Your actions have given the Chinese Government justification in pursuing their policy of interfering in the internal affairs of other nations. We fear not just for the Tibetan people and the insult that your actions have been to them, but for those all over the world who see that relations with a China that respects human rights, that engages in dialogue, not polemic, and that does not use its growing economic strength to intimidate and oppress is absolutely essential to the future peace and prosperity of this world.

David Lange upheld our democratic principles in the face of international pressure. Your actions have failed that legacy.

Sincerely

For and on behalf of the Dalai Lama Visit Trust New Zealand
Simon Harrison
Secretary

ENDS

Copies to:
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Rt Hon Winston Peters, Minister of Foreign Affairs
Mr John Key, leader of the Opposition
HE Mr Zhang Yuanyuan

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