Minneapolis City Council members have passed a resolution declaring March 10 as Tibet Day. (Photo : Getty Images)
Despite earning the ire of the Chinese government, the Minneapolis City Council passed on Friday, March 10, a resolution declaring the said date as Tibet Day, in commemoration of the 1959 Tibetan uprising.
The Tibet resolution, according to an article by Star Tribune, was authored by all the 13 members of the council.
Prior to the voting, Hong Lei, China's consul general in Chicago, sent a letter and shared his "deep concerns" about the resolution.
"We firmly oppose the above-mentioned resolution, which completely ignored the basic facts that Tibet has been an inseparable part of China since ancient times and the so-called Tibetan uprising back in 1959 was a full-scale insurrection plotted by a handful of serf owners with the aim to split Tibet from China," Hong stated.
During the uprising, the article noted that around 1.2 million Tibetans have been "killed by the Chinese government." Apart from these Tibetans, the resolution sought to honor the "145 who have died by self-immolation in protest, and laments the destruction of the world's largest Tibetan Buddhist academy, Larung Gar," Star Tribune further wrote.
The Tibet resolution also "urges the government of China to respect Tibetan people's right to self-determination, safeguard their human rights and their pristine environment, and to immediately resume dialogues with His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Central Tibetan Administration."
In his letter, Hong stressed out that Minnesota, one of the states of America in which the city of Minneapolis belongs to, and China have been strong economic, trade and cultural ties.
"We don't want to see the City Council misled by certain groups with ill purposes and support Tibetan separatist activities, which will shadow the friendly relationship between China and Minnesota," Hong remarked.
Amid the warning, Tibetan Americans expressed hope that other cities in the U.S. can pass the same resolution in the future.
