WASHINGTON, November 17 – US lawmakers backed the Dalai Lama’s drive to gain greater autonomy for Tibet and condemned alleged human rights abuses by Beijing in the Himalayan territory.
Winding up a 10-day visit to Washington, the spiritual leader of Tibet held separate meetings with top legislators from the House of Representatives and Senate, during which he sought their backing for “meaningful” autonomy and recognition for Tibetan culture and beliefs from China.
The Dalai Lama wanted to ensure “that the culture, religion and spiritual values of that region are not lost like they were lost in Manchuria and I think it was a very important and provocative point his Holiness made today,” Raul Grijalva, a representative from Arizona, told reporters.
The Dalai Lama also briefed the legislators on the framework of his government-in-exile in the northern Indian hilltop town of Dharamsala, which he set up after fleeing Tibet in 1959 when Beijing crushed an anti-Chinese uprising in the land-locked country, officials said.
Chris Smith, the representative from New Jersey who heads a Congressional human rights panel, said “the time has come for all the governments of the world to insist with the Beijing government that they treat Tibet with respect.”
He charged that the Chinese were using torture to suppress Tibetans, calling the practice “endemic, routine and pervasive” and cited as an example “forced abortions and forced sterilization as a tool of repression to reduce the number of Tibetans.”
Smith said a Tibetan Buddhist monk he had once called to testify at a hearing had brought along so many dangerous instruments allegedly used for torture by Chinese authorities that he could not be cleared by Congressional security personnel.
“They were horrible, barbaric instruments that he couldn’t even get past security in the US Capitol. So that kind of mistreatment by the Chinese on monks and nuns in Tibet should stop,” he said.
Senator Barack Obama of Illinois said, “obviously we are all concerned about the human rights situation in Tibet and hopefully while the President is there in China, this will be an issue he brings up.”
The Dalai Lama held talks last week with US
President George W. Bush, who reportedly gave an assurance that the Tibetan issue would be raised during his meeting with Chinese President Hu Jintao in Beijing on November 19.
Representative Steve Chabot (news, bio, voting record) of Ohio said he found the Dalai Lama “a very inspirational leader, and I wish that China treated him with more respect and dignity, which they really should.
“We certainly think that he is working in the best interest of the people of Tibet and we hope that he continues for many years to do so,” Chabot said.
The meetings at Congress Wednesday “couldn’t have been a more fulsome expression of support for the Dalai Lama,” said Kate Saunders, spokeswoman for the International Campaign for Tibet.
US legislators, she said, were also curious to know about the state of direct negotiations between Beijing and the Dalai Lama’s envoys, as well as concerns relating to the influx of Chinese into Tibet.
Four rounds of direct talks have been held since 2002 with no breakthrough.
Beijing formally established a Tibetan Autonomous Region in 1965 but the Dalai Lama says there is no genuine autonomy and has been waging a non-violent campaign to press China to provide greater rights for his six million people.
China sees its occupation of Tibet since 1950 as a liberation of the region that has saved the Tibetan people from feudal oppression.
