United States Congressional Delegation Briefs Press On Dharamsala Visit
Source: http://tibet.net/2017/05/united-states-congressional-delegation-briefs-press-on-dharamsala-visit/
Dharamshala: The U.S. Democratic House Leader, Nancy Pelosi and members of the recent bipartisan congressional delegation to India and Nepal held a press conference today at HVC Studio A in Washington D.C. to reiterate support for His Holiness the Dalai Lama and his efforts to ensure Tibetan religion, culture, language and human rights.
Leader Nancy Pelosi said the chief concern of the delegation was “the brutal conduct of the Chinese government to erase the culture, language and the religion of the Tibetan people and the challenges facing Tibetans in other countries.”
“Our delegation provided us with the wonderful opportunity to see the aspirations of the Tibetan people first hand, especially the eyes of the Tibetan school children in Dharamshala.”
“The situation in Tibet is a challenge to the conscience of the world,” she said.
“China weighs more heavily on any country, corporation or personality who speaks out for the Tibetan people. It uses its economic status or any leverage to silence the voices of friends of Tibet. If we do not speak out against repression in China and Tibet, because of their economic power, we lose all moral authority to speak about human rights anywhere in the world.”
Representative Eliot Engel said, “I deeply appreciate India’s hosting more than 150,000 Tibetans refugees in India since 1959, including His Holiness the Dalai Lama who has been an inspiration for people all around the world. This refugee Tibetan community who is central Tibetan authority has really become moral, democratic, self governance holding elections and working for the interest of its people even in the most aggressive circumstances. We also have a situation where many of these Tibetan people are also in Nepal. We urged government of Nepal to give these people certain rights. Unfortunately, many of them are stateless and caught between the two borders.”
Representative Engel further said that United States support the one-China policy and that there’s no contradiction between the one china policy and the asks of Tibetan people for genuine autonomy.
“There’s no contradiction in its strategy; the Chinese government should fulfill its promise for the people of Tibet for genuine autonomy and resume its dialogue with the representatives of the Dalai Lama at the earliest opportunity.”
“Tibetans should be free to practice and preserve a very distinct religious cultural linguistic heritage without the fear of persecution. If you stay with them as long as we did, you will realize that its distinct, very much distinct from the people running China from Beijing,” he said.
The eight-member bipartisan delegation led by Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi of the U.S. House of Representatives visited Dharamshala on a two-day official visit from 10-11 May. Central Tibetan Administration organised a public felicitation in honor of the congressional delegation’s visit to Dharamshala. The ceremony was graced by His Holiness the Dalai Lama and attended by Tibetans and supporters in droves.