US Ambassador to China Terry Branstad speaks at an event to celebrate the re-introduction of American beef imports to China in Beijing, China, on 30 June 2017. File photo/Reuters/Pool/Mark Schiefelbein
Reuters
BEIJING, China, 20 May 2019
US Ambassador to China Terry Branstad was scheduled to visit Tibet this week, a US embassy spokesperson said, the first visit to the region by a US ambassador since 2015, amid escalating trade tensions between Washington and Beijing.
The visit follows passage of a law in December that requires the United States to deny visas to Chinese officials in charge of implementing policies that restrict access to Tibet for foreigners, legislation that was denounced by China.
“This visit is a chance for the ambassador to engage with local leaders to raise longstanding concerns about restrictions on religious freedom and the preservation of Tibetan culture and language,” the spokesperson said in an emailed statement.
Branstad was traveling to Qinghai and neighboring Tibet from 19 to 25 May on a trip that will include official meetings as well as visits to religious and cultural heritage sites, the spokesperson said.
In December, China criticized the United States for passing the Reciprocal Access to Tibet Act, saying it was “resolutely opposed” to the US legislation on what China considers an internal affair, and it risked causing “serious harm” to their relations.
The US government is required to begin denying visas by the end of this year.
The visit comes as tensions have been running high between the two countries over trade. China struck a more aggressive tone in its trade war with the United States on Friday, suggesting a resumption of talks between the world’s two largest economies would be meaningless unless Washington changed course.
On Saturday, China’s senior diplomat Wang Yi told US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo that recent US words and actions had harmed the interests of China and its enterprises, and that Washington should show restraint.
While the Trump administration has taken a tough stance towards China on trade and highlighted the security rivalry with Beijing, it has so far not acted on congressional calls for it to impose sanctions on China’s former Communist Party chief in Tibet, Chen Quanguo, for the treatment of minority Muslims in the Xinjiang region, where he is currently party chief.
A State Department report in March said Chen had replicated in Xinjiang policies similar to those credited with reducing opposition to Chinese rule in Tibet.
Beijing sent troops into remote, mountainous Tibet in 1950 in what it officially terms a peaceful liberation and has ruled there with an iron fist ever since.
The Chinese have bulked after Trump has been squeezing them with his trade war. Threatened with the monumental 3 billion trade tariff hanging in the balance, allowing the US Ambassador to occupied Tibet is a carrot from the Chinese side for the US to “meet half way” in the trade talks. Politburo member Wang Yang has revealed that in the “worst case scenario”, It will do long term damage and wipe out one percent of China’s growth. China’s growth slowed considerably and there is a flight of capital. Beijing’s unwillingness to respect property rights have fueled wealthy Chinese to find ways to evade restrictions and move their capital abroad. Another reason for the capital flight is the yuan has lost value against the US dollar and Yen and it may be further devalued to make Chinese commodities more attractive to other countries. Under these circumstances, there is growing weariness about the future of the CCP. After all, it’s only legitimacy is it’s economic credentials. As the 30th anniversary of the Tiananmen massacre approaches and the proposed meeting of Trump and Xi in Osaka next month, the Chinese have swallowed the bitter pill by allowing the visit in spite of the fact that initially they said, they would “resolutely oppose” such US demands. The US must not be satisfied with such window dressing by the CCP but must show real teeth by holding responsible the likes of Chen Quanguo, who is a racist Chinese Han chauvinist who has used his position to incarcerate, execute, disappear and torture hundreds if not thousands of innocent Tibetans and Uyghur people in his reign of terror both in Tibet and now in East Turkistan. The concentration camps are his brain child and this Chinese Nazi must be brought to justice so that such evil is not repeated by the CCP thugs.