@andrewstroehlein "...and the EU is expected to relaunch its human rights dialogue with China..." and "These bilateral meetings have been a recurring exercise in pointlessness for decades."

Intimately related to this: #EU dialogues and the minor issue of occupied Tibet

I recall reading a convincing magazine piece written around early 2000s by a #Tibetan exile about the #EuropeanUnion's — or specifically the EuropeanParliament's efforts in the 1970s and 1980s at convincing the Tibetan Government-in-exile (#TGIE) to give up struggle for free and *independent* #Tibet in favour of "#autonomy* under the #Chinese #CCP #dictatorship.

The EU's efforts bore fruit and so-called "Middle Way" became TGIE's new policy. The Dalai Lama received the #Nobel Peace Prize in autumn 1989, only months after Tiananmen massacre.

The Tibetans, quite justifiably, expected the EU to stand behind the TGIE's demand for the restoration of Tibetans' indigenous rights and freedoms in Tibet.

What happened instead, now that the wee issue of *occupied* TIbet had been erased from the political map, was that European businesses beelined to ship what industrial base they could muster to the "People's Republic of #China. Business uber alles! #HandelOhneWandel!

And Tibet? <crickets...>

FWIW, it's a veritable dystopia. Has been since the PLA invaded in 1950.

The writer of that article appeared somewhat bitter by this most unexpected of turns — the EU apparently losing the TGIE's phone number and the subsequent CCP-appeasement-through-trade policy.

#history #prc #freedomstruggle #selfdetermination #humanrights