(TibetanReview.net, Apr04’22) – Accusing China of being engaged in efforts to dilute or destroy Tibetan culture and identity, including its religious and linguistic diversity, the US Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC) has asked the Joe Biden Administration to use existing Tibet-related laws to address the issue in its 2021 Annual Report released on Mar 31.
The report accuses China of acting contrary to Tibetan Buddhist practice and teachings by insisting on its own authority to select the next reincarnation of the Dalai Lama, Tibet’s exiled spiritual leader and until 2011 its temporal leader as well.
It also accuses China of enforcing heavy restrictions on communications into and out of Tibetan areas, with particularly harsh treatment for those who correspond with Tibetans living outside China.
The report says China had developed and deployed advanced technology, including DNA data collection, and of exporting such measures globally, thereby “enabling other authoritarian states.”
The report also says China’s existing dams – much of them in Tibet – had given rise to regional water scarcity while also contributing, with the potential for more projects, “to flooding, drought, lack of access to freshwater, destruction of fish populations, and loss of sediment in South and Southeast Asian countries.”
The CECC has recommended that the Biden Administration and Congress ask the Chinese government to allow representatives of international organizations to meet with the missing 11th Panchen Lama who was taken away by it shortly after being recognized by the Dalai Lama in 1995.
The CECC has also called on the Biden Administration to issue robust annual reports on the Reciprocal Access to Tibet Act for the purpose of its effective implementation while imposing sanctions on officials responsible for closing access to Tibetan areas to diplomats, journalists, academics, and tourists. It called on members of Congress to encourage parliamentarian colleagues globally to pass legislation seeking greater access to Tibet.
Another significant CECC recommendation is that members of Congress and Administration officials should interact regularly with the leaders of the Central Tibetan Administration and with parliamentarians globally to build international coalitions to protect Tibetan human rights.