We are meeting here in Lhasa, the capital of the Autonomous Region of Tibet as intellectuals to discuss opportunities and challenges enjoyed and faced by the People’s Republic of China in the struggle for the development of Tibet.
This invitation by the State Council Information Office of the People’s Republic of China, through its Director-General, Lu Guangjin, to the Fourth Forum on the Development of Tibet, China is highly appreciated. It provides us with the opportunity not only to present and share our views as intellectuals on the theme of the Fourth Forum on the Development of Tibet, “Opportunities and Challenges for the Development of Tibet,” but also with the opportunity to see Tibet and its people.
Edward Said, who best and effectively represented the people of Palestine as an intellectual doing research and lecturing at the universities in the United States of America until he passed away on 25 September 2003 and, as an independent member of the Palestinian National Council from 1977 to 1991, articulated opportunities and challenges enjoyed and faced by intellectuals in representing the people in the strategic area of development. According to Robert Fisk, he was “the most powerful political voice” for Palestinian people.
