(TibetanReview.net, Dec30’22) – The $1.7 trillion budget for 2023 that was recently passed by the US Congress also contained a provision to fund programmes for the preservation of Tibetan culture and strengthening the capacity of the exile Tibetan administration based in northern India, reported the wionews.com Dec 28.
The US budget 2023 or spending bill passed by the US Congress last week made a provision of $11 million for the Tibetan government in exile and Tibetan communities in India and Nepal. The budget made available “not less than $8,000,000” for programmes to promote and preserve Tibetan culture, language for Tibetan communities in India and Nepal and “not less than $3,000,000” for programmes to strengthen the capacity of the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA), the report said.
The support for the CTA will be administered by the United States Agency for international development (USAID).
The spending bill was also stated to suggest that USAID should consider supporting a project to provide housing for Tibetan refugee families in India.
India is home to around 75,000 Tibetans who have been fleeing their Chinese occupied homeland since 1959 and their offspring, with most of them hoping to return to their homeland and therefore refusing to avail Indian citizenship.
China recently carried out massive military exercises near Taiwan, including with 71 fighter planes, of which 47 crossed the median line, the unofficial border in the Taiwan Strait, with some of them entering Taiwan’s southwest air defence identification zone (ADIZ), in protest against the spending bill’s provision of $10 billion arms sales and funding for the self-ruled island.
China considers Taiwan a renegade province and has vowed to annex it, by armed invasion, if necessary. The US has committed to help Taiwan defend itself, with the possibility of coming to its aid should China invade, while not extending de jure recognition to it.