US panel’s visit special: Tibetan minister

Ajay Banerjee

Dharamsala, June 17

As a US Congressional delegation is slated to meet the 14th Dalai Lama here, a minister in the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA) has termed the visit as ‘special’.

Minister for Information and International Relations Norzin Dolma has said Tibetans are looking forward to the visit which was “special”. The CTA is an elected body of the Tibetan government-in-exile headquartered here.

Dolma referred to the Bill okayed in the US Senate which now awaits the final approval of US President Joe Biden. “Passage of the Bill is a tremendous achievement,” Dolma added. The Bill called the ‘Tibet China Dispute Act’ also referred to as ‘Resolve Tibet Act’ seeks to strengthen to resolve the Tibet issue as per international norms under the negotiated settlement. Michael McCaul, Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the US Congress, who will lead the delegation, has termed it an effort for Tibet to have a say in their own future.

Last week, the US Senate unanimously passed the bipartisan resolution. T he Bill seeks that Chinese authorities should resolve the longstanding Tibet-China dispute through dialogue with Tibetan leaders.