US House bill aims to press China to restart Tibet talks with Dalai Lama
- The bipartisan legislation would make it official US policy that Tibetans have the right to ‘self-determination’
- The measure rejects as ‘historically false’ the Chinese claims that Tibet has belonged to China since ancient times
A bipartisan bill introduced by US lawmakers on Wednesday would make it official government policy that Tibetans have the right to “self-determination” and that the dispute over Tibet’s status remains “unresolved”.
In the latest effort by Congress to challenge the Chinese government on its human rights record, the bill’s backers hope that the hardening of language around Washington’s position on Tibet could pressure Beijing into resuming long-stalled negotiations with the Dalai Lama, the region’s exiled spiritual leader.
Representative Jim McGovern, Democrat of Massachusetts and one of the bill’s authors, said past appeals by the US for negotiations between Beijing and the Dalai Lama “without preconditions” had failed.
“The Chinese continue to turn their backs on the Dalai Lama,” said McGovern, who introduced the bill with Representative Michael McCaul, Republican of Texas. “Our bipartisan legislation seeks to strengthen US policy by grounding it in international law and countering Chinese disinformation, with the aim of getting the two sides to negotiate a durable solution.”
The bill rejects as “historically false” China’s claims that Tibet has belonged to China since ancient times, and directs the State Department to bolster efforts to challenge the Chinese government’s messaging about the region.
