On June 26 and 27, 2008, the Chinese Tibetologists delegation headed by Ciwang Jumei, former president of the Tibet Academy of Sciences paid a visit to the European Union.

The delegation met with MEP Mr. Sterckx, Chairman of the Delegation for Relations with the People's Republic of China in the European Parliament and MEP Thomas Mann, member of the Group of the European People's Party and European Democrats (PPE-DE). The delegation called on James Moran, Head of Unit in the European Commission's Directorate-General for External Relations. The delegates conducted a seminar with the scholars and researchers from several well-known European think tank, for instance, the European Policy Centre (EPC), the European Institute for Asian Studies (EIAS) the European Asia Institute, and Friends of Europe (FOE). They also gave an interview to the Brussels-based journalists of the Chinese and foreign media. The delegation also includes Mr. Ma Lin, Director of Institute of Tibetoloty of Qinghai Academy of Social Sciences and Mr. Zha Luo, Assistant to the Head of the Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

During their visit, Tibetologists, as scholars and witnesses of Tibet development, cited large figures and concrete examples which prove Tibet to be part of China since ancient times. They also gave a comprehensive introduction to the achievements made by Tibet autonomous region in recent years in economic and social development as well as the efforts made by China's Central Government to protect traditional culture and religion of Tibet. During the talks and meetings, the delegation also revealed the truth of Lhasa incident on March 14th and the real nature of the so-called "high-degree of autonomy". The delegation also gave a briefing on the current situation of stability in Tibet and the recent contact and consultation between the concerning departments of the Central Government and personal representatives of the Dalai Lama.

In response to EU's question on cultural loss of Tibet due to economic development, Ciwang Jumei said that the cultural identity, as called in the West, refers to the question of preservation of Tibet language and writing systems. On this, many figures can show that Tibet's today is much better than in the past. Before the liberation, Tibet has only two government-run schools, two hospitals, 100 schools and a population of only 1 million whose illiteracy rate was 95 percent. Now, Tibet has more than 830 primary schools, over 100 secondary schools, 7 secondary schools and 6 colleges and universities. Population has grown to over 5 million and the illiteracy rate was only 4.6 percent. In terms of preservation of Tibet language and writing systems, over the 30 years, through practice, a comprehensive teaching and research system for Tibetan language was established running from the secondary, polytechnic schools to undergraduate and postgraduate studies and achieved modern, information-based and digitized teaching. At present, up to 1,300 people in University of Tibet alone are specializing in studies of Tibetan language.

In response to the human rights question from the EU side, Ciwang Jumei said that he had a deep impression during the trip to Europe that Western bias against Tibet prevented them to see the truth of progress in Tibet. Since 1959, the human rights situation of the Tibetan people achieved fundamental improvement, with substantial improvement in the rights of subsistence and development. Tibet's feudal serf system continued until the middle of last century. From the peaceful liberation of Tibet to democratic reform, the development of Tibetan society is obvious to all. China's Central Government has vigorously supported the development of Tibet through residential housing projects for farmers and herdsmen, preservation of ethnic arts and crafts. Tibet has undergone enormous changes and seen constant improvement of people's living standards, social stability, economic development and the Tibetan people enjoy full human rights. Mr. Zha Luo also said that many Westerners assumed the problem is with economic disparity, ethnic strife or religion, but in fact, 80 percent of government officials in Tibet are Tibetans, and "rule of Han" is not the cause for problems. The real problem facing stability in Tibet is that a few people are instigating ethnic hostility and conflicts. The ethnic issue can be found in all parts of the world. According to statistics, over 60 countries or regions are having the problem of ethnic separatist tendencies. Some in the West tend to see only "political aspirations" of only a small number of people for "Tibet independence", but they failed to recognize the political will of more than 5 million Tibetan compatriots in China. Some Tibetans came to Europe not for political reasons but because of economic gap between China and Europe.

The delegation was widely welcomed by political, economic, scholar and press community in Europe. Mr.Sterckx stated that such face-to-face exchanges with the Chinese Tibetologists is of great significance and have first-hand information provided by Tibetologists can enable Europe to understand the real situation in Tibet. Mr. Tomas Mann also said that to strengthen dialogue and communication will promote mutual understanding between China and the EU. European think tanks and media also mentioned that the reason why European views differ so much from China stems from the lack of understanding toward Tibet by many European people. The European participants who exchanged views with the Tibetan scholars believed that these briefings are easily accepted and understood by westerners and will help increase mutual understanding and lessen the chances for misunderstanding.