Sun Lee
Ignoring Chinese threats, a high-level bipartisan U.S. delegation has visited Dharamsala in India to meet Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama and asserted that the Tibetans have the right to self-determination and should be allowed to practice their religion. Their visit came shortly after the U.S. House passed the Resolve Tibet Bill that recognizes the rights of the Tibetan people and calls for resolving the dispute between Tibet and China peacefully and in accordance with international law, through dialogue.
To the chagrin of China, the delegation of the U.S. House of Representatives had among its members Nancy Pelosi, the former Speaker of the U.S. House. In 2022, ignoring threats from China, she visited Taiwan. Nancy Pelosi is a well-known disciple of the Dalai Lama and it is unlikely that threats from China will deter her from visiting the Buddhist spiritual leader.
Ignoring the ire of China, Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi has met members of the bipartisan group of American lawmakers after their meeting with the Dalai. At about the same time, the Canadian House of Commons unanimously passed a resolution supporting the right of self-determination of Tibet; asserting that the Tibetans, as a people and a nation, possess this fundamental right.
With all these developments coming within the span of about 10 days, Beijing has now realized to its dismay that the world will not succumb to its pressure and bullying tactic; nor will it accept the Chinese propaganda about the legitimacy of Chinese occupation of Tibet. Beijing has now been reduced to appealing to U. S. President Joe Biden not to sign the Tibet Support Bill which is now on the latter’s table and is waiting to be signed into law. In a climb down from its earlier stubborn position of refusing to talk to the Dalai Lama, China has called upon the latter to “to have complete reflection on and thoroughly correct its political propositions,” without offering any explanation what these mean.
Beijing even had the audacity to threaten the U.S. lawmakers not to meet the Dalai Lama. “Our delegation received a letter from the Chinese Communist Party warning us not to come here. They repeated their false claim that Tibet is part of China since the 13th Century but we did not let the CCP intimidate us and we are here today,” leader of the delegation U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee chair Michael McCaul has disclosed in a news conference in Dharamsala held under the aegis of the Tibetan government-in-exile which China dismisses as a mere political clique.
“The Tibetan people possess a distinct religion, culture and historic identity and they should have a say in their own future. They should be able to freely practice your religion and that is why we are here in defiance of the CCP warning,” he said.
“They repeated their false claim that Tibet is part of China since the 13th Century but we did not let the CCP intimidate us,” McCaul said. Thus the U.S. lawmakers who represent the people of America have upheld the historical reality that China had never been in full political control of Tibet, that the degree of this control has been a loose suzerainty which is far from sovereign rights, that on several occasions in the past Tibet has been independent of any Chinese control and that between 1912 and 1950 Tibet was an independent country. Thus, the Chinese annexation of Tibet in 1950 was illegal.
The Resolve Tibet Bill was passed in the U.S. House by an overwhelming majority of 391 to 26; with all the Democrats and most of the Republicans voting in its favour and only 26 Republicans voting against.
“The United States has never accepted that Tibet was part of China since ancient times as the CCP falsely claims,” McCaul, who was one of the movers of the Bill, said. “This legislation clarified U.S. policy and highlights the unique language, religion and culture of the Tibetan people. It directs U.S. diplomacy to push back against Chinese propaganda, ensures Tibetans have a say in their own future and stresses on the need for dialogue between the CCP and other democratically elected leaders of Tibet. Any resolution must include the wishes and voices of the Tibetan people.”
Earlier, former U.S. President Donald Trump signed the Tibet Policy and Support Act in 2020 to block the interference by China in the choice of the next Dalai Lama by the Tibetan people.
The motion adopted in the Canadian House of Commons has opposed China’s systematic cultural assimilation of Tibetans and affirmed the rights of Tibetan people to freely choose their economic, social, cultural and religious policies without interference from external powers; including the selection of the reincarnation of the 14th Dalai Lama.
The text of the motion in the Canadian House asserts that “China is carrying out a policy of systematic cultural assimilation against Tibetans,” that “Tibetans, as a people and a nation, can claim the right to self-determination, they are empowered to freely choose their economic, social, cultural and religious policies without interference from any external power” and that “this empowerment prohibits China from interfering in the choice of the next Tibetan spiritual leader, the eventual successor of the 14th Dalai Lama.”
Thus the Canadian resolution is in tune with the present stand of the Dalai Lama of real autonomy for the Tibetan people; though the assertion of the right to self-determination implies political freedom as well.
In this context, the meeting between Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the delegation of the U.S. lawmakers carries a significant message of Indian support for the cause of the Tibetan people, say observers.
Indian support is most important for the world to advance the cause of the Tibetan people; India being the closest neighbour of Tibet and offering shelter to the largest number of Tibetan refugees in the world; nearly 100,000 of them. The Dalai Lama has been a guest of honour of India since 1959, with ‘head of the state’ status.
A strategic partnership between the U.S. and India is important to defeat the Chinese designs in the Tibet plateau, they say. “Together we can send a powerful message of deterrence to the Chinese Communist Party because when the world’s two largest democracies stand together, freedom and liberty win over tyranny and oppression,” McCaul said in a statement after the meeting.
Sun Lee is a pseudonym for a writer who reports on developments in Asia.
