Dharamsala, March 13: US president Barack Obama Thursday raised the Tibet issue with visiting Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jieche during their meeting in the Oval office.
Obama expressed hope that there would be progress in the talks between the Chinese government and representatives of His Holiness the Dalai Lama to resolve the issue of Tibet.
“The President expressed his hope there would be progress in the dialogue between the Chinese government and the Dalai Lama’s representatives,” said the White House in a statement issued after the meeting.
During the meeting, Obama noted that promotion of human rights is an essential aspect of US global foreign policy.
“On human rights, the president noted that the promotion of human rights is an essential aspect of US global foreign policy,” the White House statement said.
Earlier this week, on the 50th anniversary of the Tibetan Uprising Day, the United States asked China to reconsider its Tibet policy, which it said had “created tensions due to their harmful impact on Tibetan religion, culture, and livelihoods”.
Expressing concern over human rights situation in Tibet, Robert Wood, acting spokesman of the U.S. State Department, on Tuesday said only “a substantive dialogue” with the Dalai Lama’s representative could bring a “true and lasting stability in Tibet”.
Wood further added that his government had “concluded that China’s Government has acted against global human rights standards by significantly increasing cultural and religious repression in Tibetan areas.”
On Thursday U.S. Congress also passed a nonbinding resolution recognizing the plight of Tibet’s people and their exiled spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama.
The resolution, approved nearly unanimously by the U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday, called for a sustained multilateral effort to bring about a durable and peaceful solution to the Tibet issue.
The resolution further calls upon China to “cease its repression of the Tibetan people and to lift immediately the harsh policies imposed on Tibetans,” including patriotic education campaigns, detention and abuses of those freely expressing political views or relaying news about local conditions.
It also urges Beijing to lift the limitations on travel and communications.
The House of Representatives voted an overwhelming 422 to 1 to approve the resolution, which marks 50 years since a failed uprising in Tibet that forced the Dalai Lama into exile. Nine House members did not vote.
At the time of approving the resolution, Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi was holding talks in Washington and was to meet President Barack Obama the next day.
“I hope the foreign minister who’s in town today hears it — it is cultural genocide, systematically destroying the framework of Tibetan society,” Congressman Frank Wolf, a sponsor of the resolution, reportedly said
