Dr Yang Jianli, President of Initiatives for China, and Vice President Dr Han Lianchao will lead a delegation of Chinese traveling to India to attend the August 8 inauguration of Lobsang Sangay as Prime Minister of the Tibetan Government-in-Exile. Mr. Sangay and Dr Yang, long-time schoolmates, friends, and mutual supporters were together in Washington DC last month for a Conference on China’s Democracy and The Future of Tibet. His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Mr Lobsang Sangay, Dr Yang and Dr Han all attended and spoke at the Conference. During their meeting, Mr. Lobsang Sangay extended the invitation for Initiatives for China to form a delegation of Chinese democracy advocates for his inauguration ceremony.
Every year, with support from the National Endowment for Democracy and His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Initiatives for China also hosts an InterEthnic/ InterFaith Leadership Conference.
The Conference seeks to bring together a variety of diverse peoples living under the Communist Chinese government regime in an effort to promote a mutual dialogue based on universal values in furtherance of a common democratic future. Lobsang Sangay has participated in the Conference on several occasions in the past. News of his election as Prime Minister came in late April while the 2011 Conference was in session.
This trip to India will serve to further strengthen the unity between Chinese and Tibetan democratic forces, and will help bring awareness to the Chinese people of Tibet’s rich historical and religious culture, of the dangerous and precarious situation in which it finds itself today under the rule of the Chinese Communist Party, and of their hope for continued significant achievements in democracy made by the courageous Tibetan community in exile.
Yang Jianli – President
yangjianli@initiativesforchina.org
Daniel Tenzin Jigme – DC Office Director
dcoffice@initiativesforchina.org
Laura Butera – DC Office
lbutera@initiativesforchina.org