Taiwan Tati Cultural and Educational Foundation

DHARAMSHALA, December 13: In what could be seen as a further push for establishing an international mechanism on the crisis in Tibet, US cited Tibet as an area where the EU and US can partner on “common strategic engagement.”

The remarks were made by US Under Secretary Maria Otero in her statement at the European Union's Human Rights Day Event in Washington DC on Tuesday.

Delivering the statement on behalf of Otero, Deputy Assistant Secretary Daniel Baer said the Obama Administration wants Europe to engage more in Asia along with the US, “to see the region not only as a market, but as a focus of common strategic engagement.”

“A head of state being heckled is not a big deal in a democratic society; there is no need to regard it as losing face.”

These were the words of then-Taipei mayor Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) in October 2006, spoken at the time of a campaign by red-clad protesters to oust then-president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) of the Democratic Progressive Party.