I was disappointed, though not surprised, to read that Beijing has dismissed as 'totally untenable' the Dalai Lama's request for greater autonomy for Tibet, like that of Hong Kong and Macau ('Dalai Lama under fire over call for autonomy', May 24).
A white paper issued by the State Council said the situation in Tibet is entirely different from that in those two cities. It said: 'The central government has always exercised effective sovereign jurisdiction over the region of Tibet'. This claim is ridiculous. Historically, Tibet has always been an independent and sovereign nation.
Testimony to this can be found engraved in stone in both Chinese and Tibetan at the Jokhang temple in Tibet. It bears witness to the treaty concluded by Tibet and China, separate states, in 821. Despite this treaty, the Manchus invaded Tibet in 1910 but were driven out in the winter of 1911-1912. This was the last foreign army to be stationed on Tibetan soil until the invasion by China in 1949-1950. Following this invasion, the International Commission of Jurists stated in a report: 'The events of 1911-1912 mark the re-emergence of Tibet as a fully sovereign state, independent in fact, and law, of Chinese control'.
Ever since the occupation, there has been a constant flow of reports of human rights abuses in Tibet from groups such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch.
As a previously sovereign state, Tibet has at least as much right to a high degree of autonomy as Hong Kong and Macau.
BILL BYRNE, Sha Tin
UN for Hong Kong