By Choekyi Lhamo
DHARAMSHALA, Dec. 18: US Representative Scott Perry on Wednesday introduced a bill to authorize the president to recognize Tibet as an independent nation and noted that many former presidents made the ‘erroneous position’ of marking Tibet as part of China. He urged President Donald Trump to accord such recognition to Tibet as his administration has always highlighted CCP’s “roguish behaviour” during this term.
“We either concede that we are not willing to challenge the CCP’s grotesque violation of basic international norms- and give up all pretense to that end – or else we can proceed with the logical conclusion of Congress’ historical support of Tibet: after many decades, the Tibetan people deserve our support for a country that is still theirs,” he further added. The Republican MP appealed the president to protect those who struggle under the subjugation of Xi Jinping.
The lawmaker also remarked that the US’ ambiguity in their approach to Tibet has been on “default view”. He wrote that it is well past time to take a more “definitive stance”. The letter stated that Tibet was a de-facto independent country until the PRC chose to illegally occupy the country in 1951. Representative Perry urged Donald Trump to use the exalted position of the US presidency to “secure a brighter, independent future for millions of Tibetans.”
Rep. Scott Perry has been a long-term Tibet supporter among many other lawmakers in the US parliament. Earlier this year, he had introduced a bill recognizing the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) as a separate and independent country. He was among the 32 members of Congress who signed the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission’s bipartisan letter to the US Secretary of State last year urging the Trump administration to implement key legislations including Tibet Policy Act (2002) and Reciprocal Access to Tibet Act (2018) passed by the Congress.
