By Choekyi Lhamo
DHARAMSHALA, May 13: The US Senate Foreign Relations Committee’s meeting is set to deliberate on the Tibetan Policy and Support Act (TPSA) on May 14. The legislation was passed with an overwhelming majority of 392-22 votes by the House of Representatives in January.
The act seeks to update the landmark Tibetan Policy Act of 2002 which addresses major issues on Tibet including reincarnation of His Holiness the Dalai lama, climate change, assistance to Tibetans, pushing for negotiations between China and Tibetan leaders. Once the committee approves the bill, the act can move on the floor of the Senate for a vote by the full chamber.
The bipartisan TPSA, which Congressmen Jim McGovern and Marco Rubio introduced in Congress in the fall of 2019. One of the key inclusions in the Act is to support the provision that only the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan Buddhist community can decide on his succession and that US will sanction any Chinese officials who attempt to appoint their own Dalai Lama in the future. It will also address water security and climate change, formalize assistance to Tibetans, push for negotiations between China and Dalai Lama and Tibetan leaders, and to open a new US consulate in Lhasa.
“The Tibetan Policy and Support Act is urgent legislation for defending Tibetans’ rights, opposing the Chinese government’s hostile and authoritarian agenda, and protecting the legacy of His Holiness the Dalai Lama . . . We are thrilled that the Senate Foreign Relations Committee will take up the TPSA next week, and we know our members across the United States will continue to advocate tirelessly for this bill to become law this year,” remarked Matteo Meccaci, President of the International Campaign for Tibet.
Advocacy groups like International Campaign for Tibet (ICT) and Students for a Free Tibet (SFT) have campaigned to garner support for the bill by making sure that Tibet supporters call or write to their Senators to help pass the bill in the coming meeting. Congressman Jim McGovern spoke in support of TPSA on Mar. 10, “Once again, we all can commemorate this 61st anniversary to encourage the Senate to pass the bill. Last Congress, with your support, we passed into Law the Reciprocal Access to Tibet Act. Now let’s get the Tibetan Policy and Support Act passed into law as well.”
The legislation has seen severe opposition since its introduction from China. Beijing’s mouthpiece Global Times said last year that the bill violates international law and the basic principles of international relations, and sends a wrong signal to secessionist forces. “China urges the US side to fully understand the high sensitivity of the Tibet question, keep its promise over the matter, stop exploiting it as a tool to interfere in China’s internal affairs, and suspend pushing forward related bills,” said Geng Shuang, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson in Dec 2019. Another spokesperson, Hua Chunying, announced their disagreement with the bill in Feb., “China expresses strong indignation over and firm opposition to this [TPSA]. Tibetan affairs are purely China’s internal affairs and allow no foreign interference.”
2 Responses
American senators have shown appalling lack of compassion of taking care of their own constituents, so expecting them to do anything for Tibet should be a lesson in the last 61 years. Tibetans need to figure out how take care of themselves–whether in Tibet or by becoming citizens of other countries. That choice is ultimately up to Tibetans.
As they say, if the Mitt fits? Between fish tacos, ophthalmologists and husbands of actors, how much historical knowledge is there of stolen military documents? A little bit of education regarding Inmarsat may be of help. The British have been in the region a lot longer.