Brussels: Dr. van Walt started his second day visit by meetings with diplomats of like-minded EU Member States, USA and Canada.
In the afternoon he met with MEP Petras Austrevicius from Lithuania. He was most interested in Dr. van Walt’s presentation and felt that the book should be presented to a larger section of MEPs. He also shared the very serious Chinese deceitful in roads into European politics.
Dr. van Walt later met with Vice-President of the European Parliament, Mr Fabio Massimo Castaldo. A very constructive discussion took place in which the Vice-President shared his deep knowledge of international laws and current China-Tibet conflict. He also shared numerous instances of Chinese aggressive and destructive ways to win over European leadership.
On the third day, Dr. van Walt continued his meetings with EU leaders and diplomats during which he presented the most significant findings of his recently published book Tibet Brief 20/20, the fruit of over ten years of diligent research work and exchanges with numerous Asian scholars. He apprised them of the need to debunk China’s narratives about Tibet. He said it was incorrect to project the modern concept of sovereignty into history where it didn’t have the same significance. “China never had any sovereignty over Tibet, in no time in history”, says Dr. van Walt.
He went on to urge them to refrain from using Chinese terminologies such as referring to Tibetans as minorities and to Tibet as western region of China so on and so forth in their official statements and documents. He put forward valid arguments as to why these were factually incorrect.
Dr. van Walt’s recommendations were well received by the diplomats, EU leaders and lawmakers alike. His briefing definitely provided food for thought to the diplomats and will most certainly generate a discussion in the diplomatic circle.
