‘China pressed to shut Tibetan offices’

Himalayan News Service

Kathmandu, January 29:

The head of Tibetan Refugee Welfare Office here, which has been closed down by the government since January 21, has told a radio station that the Chinese pressure prompted the decision.

“There is 100 per cent Chinese pressure,” Tsering Wangchuk, representative of the Dalai Lama in Nepal, has been quoted as telling Radio Free Asia’s Tibetan service. “Any Tibetan office or any activity in the name of His Holiness the Dalai Lama is not liked by the Chinese. We know for sure that the Chinese are exercising pressure on the Nepalese government.”

“The Nepalese government told me that I should not be involved in any activity in the name of His Holiness the Dalai Lama which they recognise as a political activity against Chinese interests. They warned that if I do, I will be in trouble. This is clearly the result of Chinese government pressure,” Wangchuk told the radio. However, the Foreign Ministry officials here have already said that the Chinese pressure did not prompt the government to take the decision. The government last week served a notice to the office that it was not legally registered.

The US mission here has already showed concern over the government decision while Chinese and Indian missions refused to comment.