(TibetanReview.net, Mar13’21) – Apart from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Congressman and Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC) Chairman Jim McGovern also issued a statement to commemorate the 62nd Tibetan National Uprising Day on Mar 10. Also, the mayors of five cities in the US had declared Mar 10 as Tibet Day.
McGovern played a key role in introducing both the Reciprocal Access to Tibet Act and the Tibetan Policy and Support Act, landmark legislations on Tibet enacted by the United States over the past two years.
In his message, McGovern has decried the human rights abuses and environmental degradations in Tibet that had continued over the past more than 60 years of Chinese occupation rule. “Make no mistake; the Chinese government is engaged in a systematic effort to eliminate the distinct religious, linguistic and cultural identity of Tibetan people,” he has said in his statement.
Following the passage of the Tibetan Policy and Support Act, McGovern wanted the Joe Biden Administration to make it clear that Chinese officials who interfere in the Dalai Lama succession or reincarnation process will be subjected to targeted sanctions including those contained in the Global Magnitsky Act. No new Chinese consulates should be established in the United States until a US consulate is established in Tibet, as provide in that Act, he has said.
He has also hoped that when it is safe to do so, His Holiness will have an opportunity to return to US and meet with President Biden and Vice President Harris.
“We must remember the people of Tibet and their ongoing struggle. We must continue to reaffirm America’s commitment to the idea that human rights matter,” he has said.
Across the United States, five cities had made gestures of solidarity with and support for the Tibetan cause by declaring Mar 10 as Tibet Day.
The Mayors of the City of Saint Paul, Columbia Heights, City of Northampton, Minneapolis and St Louis Park had each issued proclamations, declaring Mar 10 as “Tibet Day”.
Besides, the Tibetan national flag was raised at Burlington City Hall, Vermont; Boston City Hall, Boston, Massachusetts; and Madison City-County Building, Wisconsin, said the Office of Tibet, Washington, DC, Mar 12.
