New Delhi: Tibetans must have a say in their future and have the ability to freely practice their religion, said the leader of a bipartisan group of US legislators who met the Dalai Lama in Dharamsala on Wednesday (June 19), PTI reported.
Michael McCaul, who is a legislator in the US House of Representatives and led the seven-member delegation, also said his government would not allow China to influence the selection of the Dalai Lama’s successor, according to Reuters.
“The Tibetan people possess a distinct religion, culture and historic identity and they should have a say in their own future. You should be able to freely practice your religion,” PTI quoted McCaul as saying.
He added that the group of legislators had come to Dharamsala in defiance of a warning from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), which helms China’s one-party state.
“Just this week our delegation received a letter from the [CCP], warning us not to come here … but we did not let the CCP intimidate us for we are here today,” McCaul said according to the Associated Press.
China has expressed its displeasure over the group’s visit, saying it was “gravely concerned” and insisting the US have no contact with the “Dalai group”, while describing the Dalai Lama as an anti-China separatist.
The Dalai Lama for his part said that all human beings had the same rights and that “we should take care [of] this world … irrespective of what religion [or] what tradition”.
“People of the world should be peaceful, happy … that’s our goal,” the spiritual leader and Nobel peace prize winner said during a meeting with the American legislators.
Later on Wednesday evening, the bipartisan congressional delegation was hosted for dinner by Indian external affairs minister S. Jaishankar at the Hyderabad House in New Delhi.
Jaishankar with the congressional delegation. Photo: Ministry of External Affairs.
Their visit to Dharamsala, which is home to the Tibetan government-in-exile, came soon after a Bill that pushes for negotiations between Tibet and China cleared the US federal legislature.
Titled the ‘Promoting a Resolution to the Tibet-China Dispute Act’, it reportedly received broad support across party lines and now awaits sanction from US President Joe Biden, which McCaul claimed yesterday he would provide soon.
Nancy Pelosi, who was former speaker of the House of Representatives – the lower chamber of the US federal legislature – and who was part of the seven-member group, said the Bill sent a message to China about the US government’s clarity on the Tibet issue.
“This Bill says to the Chinese government: things have changed now, get ready for that,” she was quoted as saying by Reuters, which also cited analysts as saying that the Bill appeared to question the US’s stance that Tibet is part of China and that any change in this regard would “be a major shock to Beijing”.
The Bill seeks to empower officials of the US state department to “actively and directly counter” disinformation about Tibet from China’s government, as well as to reject “false claims that Tibet has been part of China since ‘ancient times’.”
China continues to insist otherwise, with foreign ministry spokesperson Lin Jian reiterating his government’s stance yesterday and saying the US “must not sign the Bill into law”.
“Xizang’s affairs are purely China’s domestic affairs and no external interference will ever be allowed,” he also said, referring to China’s name for Tibet.
