The US Congress on Wednesday urged China to end “repression” in Tibet, ignoring Beijing’s warnings just as Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi (楊潔箎) prepared to meet US President Barack Obama.
The House of Representatives voted an overwhelming 422 to 1 to approve the resolution, which marks 50 years since a failed uprising in Tibet and the Dalai Lama’s flight into exile.
Nine House members did not vote.
The resolution urges China to “cease its repression of the Tibetan people, and to lift immediately the harsh policies imposed on Tibetans.”
The resolution came amid heightened tensions between China and the US, after navy vessels from the two countries clashed in the South China Sea.
To ease the simmering spat, Obama on Wednesday invited Yang to the White House — ignoring protocol, which normally sees diplomatic meetings take place between representatives of similar rank.
But in language expected to anger Beijing, the congressional resolution also called on China to resume dialogue with the Dalai Lama and to “find a lasting solution to the Tibetan issue.”
It also saluted India for hosting tens of thousands of Tibetan refugees.
China had warned that US criticism on Tibet would harm ties between the two countries.
Yang was holding talks in Washington on Wednesday and was to meet Obama yesterday.
“I hope the foreign minister, who’s in town today, hears it — it is cultural genocide, systematically destroying the framework of Tibetan society,” said Representative Frank Wolf, a sponsor of the resolution.
The Republican lawmaker sneaked undercover into Tibet in 1997 and said he heard accounts of torture from monks and nuns who had merely expressed support for the Dalai Lama.
During last year’s anniversary of the 1959 uprising, China broke up another round of protests. Rights groups say more than 200 people died and 1,200 remain unaccounted for a year later.
“Where are they? Let’s ask the foreign minister when he goes to the State Department — where are they?” Wolf asked.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a longtime supporter of Tibet, took to the floor of the chamber to seek support for the resolution, which does not threaten any action against China if it does not comply.
“I so had wished decades ago that we wouldn’t be standing here now still pleading the case for the people of Tibet,” Pelosi said.
“It is long past time — 50 years — for Beijing to respect the human rights of every Tibetan and indeed every Chinese,” she said.
The sole ‘no’ vote came from Ron Paul, a maverick libertarian from Texas who last year unsuccessfully sought the Republican presidential nomination. He often rejects such resolutions as inappropriately interventionist.
“I don’t think the United States would like it too much if China postured in a similar way on our affairs, and there is really no benefit to these types of actions for us,” said Rachel Mills, a spokeswoman for Paul.
The White House and State Department on Tuesday also voiced concern about human rights in Tibet and urged dialogue with the Dalai Lama.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, meeting with Yang, said the White House was “absolutely committed” to defending human rights.
Clinton has come under fire from rights groups for not speaking out more loudly on China.
China’s foreign ministry had urged Congress to drop the Tibet bill, saying the measure proposed by “a few anti-China representatives disregards the history and reality of Tibet.”
One sponsor of the resolution, Representative Howard Berman, said “our friends in China” should consider the resolution not as an attack but as a call to re-engage with the Dalai Lama.
“We have deep, deep respect for both peoples” of China and Tibet, Berman said.
“But after eight rounds of fruitless meetings between the Chinese government and representatives of the Dalai Lama, it appears to many of us that China is not serious about achieving a resolution of this difficult issue,” he said.
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