Hon. Andrus Navickas, MP Lithuania

Andrius Navickas

I am from Lithuania.Yesterday you were told about the similarities between the Baltic states and Tibet. And I don’t want to repeat. But I want to say that the support of His Holiness the Dalai Lama was very important in the very beginning of independence 30 years ago. The support of His Holiness for Lithuania was very very important for us. But on the other hand the support for Tibet and Lithuania was very strong. As you know there are two things. One thing is to gain independence and another thing is to force independence. And when you are independent, you must �ight for freedom and of course we had ex-communists who returned to of�ice. The ex-communists are always closer to China, not to Tibet. But another problem is that we have populists and in the previous election in 2016, our populists gained of�ice. Our populists won. It is interesting that we are speaking much about values but in real politics they only speak about politics.

The in�luence of China became very strong in Lithuania. The sign of it, for example, is that from the beginning in Lithuania we had Inter-Parliamentary Group on Tibet in our parliament. But for the �irst time it was banned. I had a lot of quarrels and disputes with the Speaker of the Parliament. After that I was able to form a solidarity group for Tibet but it was not Inter-Parliamentary group. For the �irst time we were banned to create such a group.But I hope the situation is changing.

Yesterday we had a debate of presidential candidates on national radio. We will have election on Sunday. We have nine candidates. It was interesting that they were asked: Would they prefer to meet the Dalai Lama if they were

elected? Eight of them answered that they may not meet the Dalai Lama as China is a country and of course it is not very good for politicians to meet a religious leader. But I am proud that one of the candidates who has a good chance of winning the election of�icially said that she would meet the Dalai Lama. So I see change in Lithuania too. The next thing is that the Dalai Lama in Lithuania not once but every time he stressed that he looked at us with hope and since that time I always heard that His Holiness is very polite.

Last year we had a lot of important visits. Catholic Pope Francis visited Lithuania. And his message was very interesting. He said that Lithuania has a great mission in the contemporary world. Mission? One small country. We were the spectators of the world history. We were not the actors. It was our �irst reaction. In the beginning of this week, Lobsang Sangay visited Vilnius and Oh My God! He has repeated that he wants to learn something from us and it was too much. I think that if the Dalai Lama, Pope Francis and Lobsang Sangay convinced me that we Lithuanians have an important and great mission. So I began to believe. I dream that this mission is connected to �ight for the freedom of Tibet.

This morning I wrote an of�icial letter to the Lithuanian Foreign Minister Linas Linkevicius and asked him to toughly react to the release of the Chinese ambassador in Vilnius and asked him to warn against the terms of foreign countries to interfere in the inside matters of Lithuania against their terms to persecute the citizens of Lithuania and other cause. I wrote in the press conference that we want to review the fact. If we are wrong, he must show me the evidence. If not, he must warn the Chinese ambassador to behave properly. I wrote to him and said that the best way to solve the problem is to let Lobsang Sangay visit Tibet so that he can see with his own eyes what is the matter in Tibet. I also suggested to the minister about the possibility of holding a Lithuanian international discussion on the human rights situation in Tibet. And I am waiting for the answer.

This letter was not my idea. I have a very good Tibetan friend who gave me this idea. I think one of the most important things in this conference is that we are not seeking new ideas but new friends. Friends in our �ight are more important than ideas. Tibet needs other countries’ support. But we need Tibet much more. You remain as the prices of freedom and the noble way of spiritual non-violent �ight for freedom. I am very happy here because I see a lot of friends. I hope that Lithuania can do many good things for Tibet and I hope that Tibet in the future can do many good things for Lithuania. I hope that the world can become a better place to live in.