A group of United States lawmakers, led by former US Congress Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Republican Michael McCaul, met with exiled Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama on Wednesday at his home in Dharmashala’s McLeod Ganj. The visit by the US delegation to discuss its new bill that aims to press China to resolve the Tibet dispute comes as China flagged its concerns, urging the US to honor the commitments the US has made to Beijing.
The US bipartisan group met the Nobel Peace laureate at his monastery in the northern town of Dharamsala, a day after the delegation received a heart-warming welcome from the school children, Buddhist monks, and nuns. The lawmakers are in India to discuss a wide range of issues with Tibet’s Dalai Lama, including the US Bill known as ‘Promoting a Resolution to the Tibet-China Dispute Act’. Notably, the US Senate had last week passed a bill to protect Tibet’s sovereignty from China, challenging Beijing’s claims over Tibet, and seeking to facilitate dialogue between China and the Dalai Lama.
Essentially. In an interview with The Week, Tibet’s Penpa Tsering stated that Tibets wants the world to understand its historical status as an independent state, while also comprehending the present situation of Tibet under the repressive communist government. The historical status of the region has not been pushed much, whereas China, on the other hand, has been asking the world to recognize Tibet as part of the PRC.
Speaking on the US law, Tsering underlined the importance of the law which is that if they keep parroting what the Chinese want them to say then it is against the law because if they support negotiations between Representatives of His Holiness the Dalai Lama and the Chinese government, then they cannot contradict themselves by saying Tibet is part of PRC, because that removes the very ground for negotiation.Nonetheless, China, which considers the Dalai Lama a “separatist”, urged the US to refrain from supporting Xizang, the Chinese name for Tibet, and its independence.
Notably, the US bill on resolving the China-Tibet dispute, which awaits President Joe Biden’s approval to be signed into law, challenges Beijing’s claim that Tibet has always been part of China and calls on China to stop spreading false information about Tibet’s history, people, and institutions, including the Dalai Lama. Several US politicians have frequently visited Dharamsala in the past to support the Dalai Lama’s efforts to gain international support to preserve Tibet’s culture. Pertinently, the Dalai Lama escaped to India in 1959 following an unsuccessful rebellion against Chinese control in Tibet, while the Chinese authorities opposed any meetings held by the Dalai Lama with officials from other nations.
Comments