A Bill that aims to counter China’s position that it has controlled Tibet since ‘ancient times’ and to promote dialogue between Beijing and exiled Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, was passed by US lawmakers and went to President Joe Biden’s desk last week.
The House of Representatives, the lower chamber of the US Congress, voted 391-26 on June 12 to approve the Promoting a Resolution to the Tibet-China Dispute Act, which had passed the Senate, the upper chamber, last month.
A press release on the website of Jeff Merkley, the Democratic senator from the US state of Oregon who had introduced the Bill in the Senate, said that the US Congress had passed the “bipartisan Bill to enhance US support for Tibet and promote dialogue between the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and the Dalai Lama towards a peaceful resolution of the long-standing dispute between Tibet and China”.
The release added, “The Promoting a Resolution to the Tibet-China Dispute Act now goes to President Biden, who is expected to sign it into law.”
In essence, the Bill aims to harden Washington’s position on Tibet and pressure Beijing into resuming negotiations with the Dalai Lama.
No formal dialogue between Chinese and Tibetan authorities has happened since 2010.
The Bill aims to direct funds to counter what it describes as “disinformation” from China about Tibet’s history, people and institutions.
The Bill also refutes Beijing’s claim that Tibet has been part of China since ancient times. And, going a step further, it would make it official US policy that the dispute over Tibet’s status is unresolved.
It would also make it policy that Tibet refers not only to the Tibet autonomous region, as defined by Beijing, but also Tibetan areas of the Chinese provinces of Qinghai, Gansu, Yunnan, and Sichuan.
The Act aims to enhance US support for Tibet. It would empower US State Department officials to “actively and directly counter disinformation about Tibet from the Chinese government, rejecting false claims that Tibet has been part of China since ‘ancient times’,” said the release from Merkley’s website.
The Act will also push for negotiations “without preconditions” between the Chinese government and the Dalai Lama or his representatives or the democratically elected leaders of the Tibetan community.