The European Parliament adopted by 99 votes to 2, with 7 abstentions, a resolution on Tibet.

The text adopted in plenary had been tabled as a joint resolution by the EPP-ED, PES, ALDE, Greens/EFA, GUE/NGL and UEN groups.

The resolution recalls that, on 2 December 2002, the Kardze Intermediate People's Court in the Kardze Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture of Sichuan Province sentenced Tenzin Delek Rinpoche, an influential and respected Buddhist lama, to death with a two-year suspension and his attendant, Lobsang Dhondup, to death without suspension. Lobsang Dhondup was executed in January 2003.

The Parliament reiterates its support for the rule of law and urges the Chinese government immediately to commute the death sentence handed down to Tenzin Delek Rinpoche. It affirms its call for the abolition of the death penalty and an immediate moratorium on capital punishment in China.

The resolution calls on the Government of the People’s Republic of China to:

stop its continued violation of the human rights of the Tibetan people and other minorities and to ensure that it respects international standards of human rights and humanitarian law, as well as religious rights; step up the ongoing dialogue with the representatives of the Dalai Lama so as to reach a mutually acceptable solution to the Tibet issue without further delay.

The Council and the Member States are called upon to maintain the EU embargo on trade in arms with the People's Republic of China and not to weaken the existing national limitations on such arms sales. MEPs consider that this embargo should be maintained until such time as the EU has adopted a legally binding Code of Conduct on Arms Exports and the People's Republic of China has taken concrete steps towards improving the human rights situation.

The European Parliament adopted by 99 votes to 2, with 7 abstentions, a resolution on Tibet.

The text adopted in plenary had been tabled as a joint resolution by the EPP-ED, PES, ALDE, Greens/EFA, GUE/NGL and UEN groups.

The resolution recalls that, on 2 December 2002, the Kardze Intermediate People's Court in the Kardze Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture of Sichuan Province sentenced Tenzin Delek Rinpoche, an influential and respected Buddhist lama, to death with a two-year suspension and his attendant, Lobsang Dhondup, to death without suspension. Lobsang Dhondup was executed in January 2003.

The Parliament reiterates its support for the rule of law and urges the Chinese government immediately to commute the death sentence handed down to Tenzin Delek Rinpoche. It affirms its call for the abolition of the death penalty and an immediate moratorium on capital punishment in China.

The resolution calls on the Government of the People’s Republic of China to:

stop its continued violation of the human rights of the Tibetan people and other minorities and to ensure that it respects international standards of human rights and humanitarian law, as well as religious rights; step up the ongoing dialogue with the representatives of the Dalai Lama so as to reach a mutually acceptable solution to the Tibet issue without further delay.

The Council and the Member States are called upon to maintain the EU embargo on trade in arms with the People's Republic of China and not to weaken the existing national limitations on such arms sales. MEPs consider that this embargo should be maintained until such time as the EU has adopted a legally binding Code of Conduct on Arms Exports and the People's Republic of China has taken concrete steps towards improving the human rights situation.