The US Capitol is seen behind melting snow in Washington, DC, US, on 17 December 2020. File photo/Reuters/Erin Scott
Tibet Sun Newsroom
McLEOD GANJ, India, 22 December 2020
The United States Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Monday passed the Tibetan Policy and Support Act of 2020 (TPSA), which has remained pending since May 2020 due to the Coronavirus pandemic.
The bill was rolled into the 5,593-page government funding bill that includes the Coronavirus pandemic stimulus legislation of approximately $900 billion.
With a strong bipartisan approval in the Senate, the TPSA will now go to the White House to be signed into law by President Donald Trump. The US House of Representatives had passed the bill by an overwhelming margin in January this year.
Due to the unprecedented challenges posed by the pandemic this year, senators were not able to bring the legislation to the floor in time for a vote. It was because of this that the TPSA was attached to the government spending bill.
The TPSA is an upgrade of the Tibet Policy Act of 2002, addressing the fundamental rights of the Tibetan people, including human rights, environmental protection, religious freedom, and democracy.
It demands that Beijing grant Washington a US consulate in Tibet, and paves the way for sanctions against Chinese officials who interfere in the succession of the Dalai Lama. It also strengthens funding for Tibetans inside and outside Tibet.
Section 342 of the bill outlines a “statement of policy regarding the succession or reincarnation of the Dalai Lama.” China has made new laws to choose its own Dalai Lama, whereas Tibetans say atheist China has no role to play in his succession, which is a religious and traditional matter of the Tibetan people.
The 85-year-old 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, has lived in exile in India after escaping from Tibet in 1959 following the Chinese invasion. He has set up his exile base in McLeod Ganj, from where he rallies for a negotiated settlement seeking autonomy for Tibet rather than independence.
“Tibetan Buddhism is practiced in many countries including Bhutan, India, Mongolia, Nepal, the People’s Republic of China, the Russian Federation, and the United States, yet the Government of the People’s Republic of China has repeatedly insisted on its role in managing the selection of Tibet’s next spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, through actions such as those described in the ‘Measures on the Management of the Reincarnation of Living Buddhas’ in 2007,” the bill explains.
The bill directs the US government to issue economic and visa sanctions against any Chinese official deemed “complicit in identifying or installing a government-approved candidate” to succeed the Dalai Lama.
Too little too late US Representative, Scott Perry’s bill to authorize Tibet as an independent nation. China is already a superpower within a very short period of 50 years germinated by the USA started in 1970s during the President Richard Nixon’s establishment of an important strategic and diplomatic relations. Henry Kissinger, Secretary of State as well the National Security Advisor to President, a Jewish refugee himself from Germany, ignored Tibetan refugees, and played a prominent role in pioneering the opening of relations with CCP. Moreover, the 40th President, Ronald Reagan visited China in 1984 to improve growing economic relationship between the two countries, and declared Tibet as an integral part of China, at Washington DC. In 2014 President Obama visited China and declared, “We recognize Tibet as a part of the People’s Republic of China, and we are not in favour of an independent Tibet”. There is no genuine political support from the US to Tibet’s fight for independence. We should not have ecstatic feeling on this bill.
Millions of Americans respect, admire, and support His Holiness the Dalai Lama, amongst the most ardent supporters are International Campaign for Tibet members. Mostly with their campaign and support and with additional help from Tibetans Associations in the US, this legislation could pass in the US Congress. The US Congress members supported this and earlier Tibet legislations for they need support from their constituencies during the elections. Of course, Office of Tibet in Washington DC and CTA worked on it too. And it is a part and parcel of their duty.
But this is not a feat by Lobsang Sangay alone as he falsely makes it to be. He was triumphantly taking credit and doing media rounds even before the US Congress reported the news. It is very sad to find a Tibetan Sikyong who has no decency and feeling of guilt in taking undue credit for an achievement in which his contribution was minimal. In sum, Tibetans should be most grateful to His Holiness the Dalai Lama and the members of ICT for this spectacular legislative feat.
This is yet another reminder to the Tibetans how we have failed miserably in these last 2 election cycles in electing a decent and cultured Tibetan Sikyong.
Hope the Tibetans would not elect some one similar to this type of bogus, brash and boisterous Sikyong in the upcoming elections.