By Tenzin Nyidon
DHARAMSHALA, Feb. 16: In a display of bipartisan unity, the United States House of Representatives made a historic decision on Thursday, passing the ‘Promoting a Resolution to the Tibet-China Conflict Act’. This landmark legislation not only recognises Tibet’s unresolved political status but also holds China accountable for violating the legitimate right to self-determination of the Tibetan people.
The bill, introduced by long-time Tibet supporters Representative Jim McGovern of Massachusetts and Representative Michael McCaul of Texas, alongside Senators Jeff Merkley of Oregon and Todd Young of Indiana, aims to affirm the United States government’s stance on Tibet’s legal status in the international arena.
Several members of Congress spoke in support of the Resolve Tibet Act. Rep. McGovern, known for his unwavering dedication to human rights, stressed on the importance of standing in solidarity with the Tibetan people. “It has been more than 60 years since the People’s Republic of China forced His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama into exile and took control of Tibet against the will of its people. The dispute between the Chinese and Tibetans over Tibet’s status and governance has persisted ever since. Inspite of the willingness of the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan people to resolve Tibet status in governance through dialogue. With dialogue blocked, the PRC has continued its unceasing efforts to erode Tibetan history, Tibetan language, Tibetan culture and Tibetan religion. A few years ago, I was on delegation with Speaker Pelosi. We went to Tibet and we saw first-hand the PRC’s repression against the people of Tibet essentially trying to erase Tibetans as a people.”
“This bill that we are discussing here today seeks to end that. By explicitly recognising the Tibetan people are a people with a distinct religious, cultural, linguistic and historical identity. By reminding all concerned that people’s and not least the Tibetan people have a right to self-determination under international human rights law and by requiring the US government to actively counter the PRC’s propaganda about Tibet. Like the false claim that Tibet has been a part of China since ancient times. A position that the United States has never accepted and there was no basis for such a claim. Through these measures, we hope to kickstart dialogue between Tibet and China, in keeping with the longstanding US policy,” he emphasised.
“The decades old dispute between Tibet and China started as an armed conflict of invasion, resistance and insurgency. In the long-run, the only guarantee against the resumption of large scale violence is for the PRC to fully respect the human rights and dignity of the Tibetan people. A vote for this bill is a vote to recognise the rights of the Tibetan people and it is a vote to insist on resolving the dispute between Tibet and People’s Republic of China peacefully and in accordance with international law through dialogue and without preconditions. There is still an opportunity to do this but time is running out. And again, I urge my colleagues to support this bill because it is about standing up for human rights. It is about standing up for the Tibetan people who have been repressed for far too long,” he further added.
The bill will recognise Tibet’s unresolved political status and hold China suspect of violating Tibetan people’s legitimate right to self-determination. The bill also aims to counter the narrative propagated by the Chinese government, which asserts that Tibet has been an integral part of China since ancient times. Additionally, the bill also makes clear that Tibet’s land mass does not only include the so-called Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) but also the significant Tibetan-inhabited areas in Gansu, Sichuan, Qinghai, and Yunnan provinces.
Furthermore, the bill faults China for its refusal to engage in discussions with the Dalai Lama or his representatives. The bill also seeks to empower the position of US Special Coordinator for Tibetan Issues, currently held by Under Secretary Uzra Zeya to counter CCP’s propaganda and address Tibet-related concerns effectively.
This unprecedented move by the US House committee under the Biden Administration is followed by two other Acts that work on demanding more access from inside Tibet and reaffirming that the reincarnation of the next Dalai Lama falls strictly in the hands of the Tibetan people; Reciprocal Access to Tibet Act (2018) and Tibetan Policy and Support Act (2020) respectively.
2 Responses
That’s good but thousands of bills had been passed since 1990 to support Tibet but did they really benefit Tibetan people ?
Instead of passing bills, why not increase funding for Tibetan govt in exile to fight Chinese commies ? Why not give $1 billion annually to CTA to train Tibetan govt officials and help refugees to better defeat china ?
USA congress is debating whether to give $90 billion to Ukraine to fight Russia now. At least USA can give $1 billion dollar to Tibetan cta,no ? We don’t need words, we need action and money.
Without funding or money, how can 150,000 Tibetan refugees defeat the 1.4 billion Chinese ? Very hard
Tibet and China are two nations that have had a love and hate relation for centuries. The Chinese have had a tumultuous history of invasion and occupation by the Mongols and Manchus. Tibet never experienced invasion through out its history except some skirmishes with the Gurkhas of Nepal. The Chinese regarded both the Mongols and Manchus as foreigners who invaded and occupied their country. Tibet also conquered some parts of China as far as the imperial capital of Xian and set up a puppet regime there. During the reign of Tibet’s mighty emperor Songtsen Gampo, the Chinese emperor had to give his daughter Princess Wencheng in matrimonial wedlock to the Tibetan emperor which in Tang annals is mentioned as sign of submission. In Indian history, we find that the weaker ruler offers the hand of his daughter to the more powerful ruler to buy peace. Other times, Tibet and China engaged in military conflict for two hundred years until the both sides agreed to a peace treaty during the time of Tibetan emperor Trisong Detsen and Chinese emperor HWANG Te of the Tang empire. Warren Smith in his book-THE TIBETAN NATION states: “In 822 the Chinese and Tibetans finally concluded a peace treaty. Although the Tibetans had suffered reverses, they remained in control of the Kansu corridor, the eastern and southern Tarim, and positions on the frontier in Kansu from which they could constantly threaten Chinese cities. The treaty confirmed Tibetan territorial gains all along the frontier with China; the border agreed upon was essentially the same as that of the treaty of 783. The treaty of 822, acknowledged the military stalemate between Tibet and China. THE TREATY OF 822, WHICH WAS THE CULMINATION OF 200 YEARS OF SINO-TIBETAN CONFLICT, WAS INSCRIBED ON A STONE PILLAR PLACED IN FRONT OF THE JHOKANG IN LHASA AND READS AS FOLLOWS” :”THE SOVEREIGN OF TIBET, THE DIVINE KING OF MIRACLES, AND THE GREAT KING OF CHINA, HWANG TE, THE NEPHEW AND THE MATERNAL UNCLE, HAVE AGREED TO UNITE THEIR KINGDOMS. (Trisong Deutsan also married a Chinese princess it seems. That’s why the Chinese emperor is the maternal uncle and the Tibetan emperor is the nephew which in Tibetan is called ཨ་ཞང་ཚ་བོ་)TIBET AND CHINA SHALL GUARD THE LAND AND FRONTIER OF WHICH THEY HAVE HITHERTO HELD POSSESSION. ALL TO THE EAST OF THE FRONTIER IS THE COUNTRY OF GREAT CHINA. ALL TO THE WEST IS CERTAINLY THE COUNTRY OF GREAT TIBET”. This is an excerpt from Warren Smith’s TIBETAN NATION – A history of Tibetan nationalism and Sino-Tibetan relations. In the translation of the inscription on the stone pillar, I suspect the Tibetan word མཐུན་བསྒྲིལ་ has been mistranslated as “unified”. Translating the Tibetan word མཐུན་སྒྲིལ་ as “unified” does not sit well with me. It should be translated as amicable understanding or amicable solution instead. Otherwise, the Chinese side might misinterpret since the Chinese are very cunning in twisting words and statements to suit their evil designs. Therefore, the Chinese communists outrageous and baseless claims of Tibet “being part of China from ancient times” is a total and utter fabrication.
The sovereign ruler of Tibet, HH The Fourteenth Dalai Lama has said very clearly in His 1988 Strasbourg Declaration: “OUR HISTORY, DATING BACK MORE THAN TWO THOUSAND YEARS, HAS BEEN OF INDEPENDENCE. AT NO TIME, SINCE THE FOUNDING OF OUR NATION IN 127 BC HAVE WE TIBETANS CONCEDED OUR SOVEREIGNTY TO A FOREIGN POWER”!
Communist China’s illegal occupation has been challenged by the Tibetan people for the last seventy years, beginning with the greatest Tibetan revolt in history on March 10th 1959 when whole of Lhasa rose against the fascist Chinese communist occupation and it continues in occupied Tibet by 157 Tibetans self-immolating themselves since 2009, from all walks of life, all ages and social back ground and gender coupled with sporadic demonstrations for the last seven decades. That Tibet is under illegal Chinese occupation in no way legitimises its hold on Tibet. Taiwan was under Japanese occupation for fifty years and so was South Korea. But because they were occupied forcibly by a foreign force against the will of the people, it didn’t in any way legitimise Japanese ownership of Taiwan or South Korea. Nor Nazi Germany’s occupation of France during the Second World War in any way legitimised Nazi ownership of France! Likewise, Chinese illegal military occupation of Tibet doesn’t in anyway legitimises Chinese ownership of Tibet because IT’S AGAINST THE WILL OF THE TIBETAN PEOPLE AND THE TIBETAN PEOPLE HAVE NEVER GIVEN CONSENT TO THE CHINESE OCCUPATION. TIBET IS THEREFORE AN INDEPENDENT NATION ACCORDING TO INTERNATIONAL LAW as stated by Dutch International Lawyer Michael Van Walt Prag.
The goal of the Tibetan people is to regain the independence of Tibet which is the only viable solution to the misery and enslavement of the six million Tibetans. A big Thank you to all the supporters of Tibet in the US Congress!