[Member speaks in Tibetan]
Members might not know, but that was—though badly—the first time the Tibetan language has been used thus far in this meeting. Perhaps it's revealing enough, sir, that you came here and spoke as a representative purportedly of the Tibetan people, but you didn't use the Tibetan language; you spoke Chinese.
Of course, members might know that there is a gentleman, Tashi Wangchuk, who is an advocate for the Tibetan language, who currently faces 15 years in prison as a result of his advocacy and his simple statements on his blog that China's own laws should be followed with respect to the ability to use the Tibetan language.
I'm also struck by how you talk about all these alleged economic improvements, yet Canadian officials tell us that they can't even get basic access to Tibet to check on the status of Canadian development projects. How are we in any way to assess the credibility of the claims you're making when our officials can't even get in to see progress on projects that Canadian tax dollars are funding, and they're told by Chinese officials, after those projects are complete, that they are no longer concerns of Canada even though they're Canadian-funded projects?
All these claims about human rights and about economic development are striking in light of the complete denial of access and in light of the fact that Freedom House says Tibet is the second-least free place in the world, after Syria. We have no ability to assess your claims, because your government doesn't allow us access. That's unfortunate, because I think we would like to assess the veracity of the claims you've made.
I want to ask you a specific question dealing with the whereabouts of the Panchen Lama.
Gedhun Choekyi Nyima is recognized by the Dalai Lama and by the international Tibetan community as the 11th Panchen Lama.
Oh, I'm sorry, the translation—