(TibetanReview.net, Apr05, 2018) – A delegation from the US congress visiting Dharamshala over Apr 4-6 has vowed to continue to work with the exile Tibetan administration and related organizations to carry forward the Tibet issue with a sense of solidarity.
Meeting with top officials of the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA) and addressing a reception in their honour on Apr 4, the delegation, made up of Representatives Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and Claudia Tenney, has referred to Tibet as an issue of human rights and preservation of a national identity and the urgency for it to be solved through dialogue with the government of China with the United States having a significant role to play in it.
Referring to her own family’s experience of living under a communist regime in Cuba, Representative Lehniten has said she knew what it was like to be bullied by a communist regime like the one in Beijing. “And this experience has made fighting back against these oppressive regimes one of my highest priorities,” she was quoted as saying.
She has said the US congress understood the issue of Tibet and that it was working side by side with the CTA and other organisations in a cooperative manner to formulate a US policy in support of the people of Tibet.
She has condemned China’s repressive restriction on the Tibetan people’s right to travel, a restriction which is also imposed on US citizens who want to travel to Tibet to help the Tibetan people. And she has rebuked China’s attempts to censor Tibetan language, religion and the destruction of Tibetan monastic centers. She has called China’s interference in the Tibetan reincarnation system, particularly in the case of the Dalai Lama, ‘insulting’ and ‘illogical’.
In further remarks, Lehniten has promised to propose a bill in the congress to pressurize China to resume dialogue with the Dalai Lama for a resolution of the Tibet issue and the release of all political and religious prisoners. She has further promised to exert effort for the appointment of a special coordinator for Tibetan issues in the state department and for the passage of the Reciprocal access to Tibet bill earlier sponsored by Congressman Jim McGovern.
She has expressed solidarity with and support for the Tibetan people in their struggle.
In her remarks Representative Tenney has called on the younger generation of Tibetans to move forward with pride and dignity to fulfill their destiny of freedom and respect for human rights while promising to continue to support the Tibet issue in the US Congress.
The delegation called on the Dalai Lama the following day.
