Biden signs into law Bill enhancing US support for Tibet

Washington, July 13

US President Joe Biden has signed into law a bill that enhances American support for Tibet and promotes dialogue between China and the Dalai Lama toward a peaceful resolution of the dispute over the status and governance of the remote Himalayan region.

China had opposed the Resolve Tibet Act and described it as a “destabilising” Act. The Act was passed by the House of Representatives last February and it cleared the Senate in May.

“Today, I have signed into law S. 138, the “Promoting a Resolution to the Tibet-China Dispute Act”. I share the Congress’ bipartisan commitment to advancing the human rights of Tibetans and supporting efforts to preserve their distinct linguistic, cultural, and religious heritage,” Biden said on Friday in a late-night statement.

“My administration will continue to call on the People’s Republic of China to resume direct dialogue, without preconditions, with the Dalai Lama, or his representatives, to seek a settlement that resolves differences and leads to a negotiated agreement on Tibet,” Biden said.

The 14th Dalai Lama fled Tibet in 1959 and came to India where he set up the government-in-exile at Dharamshala in Himachal Pradesh. From 2002 to 2010, the Dalai Lama’s representatives and the Chinese government held nine rounds of dialogue that did not produce any concrete outcome.

China views the 89-year-old Tibetan spiritual leader, who is based in India, as a “separatist” who is working to split Tibet from the rest of the country. The Act does not change longstanding bipartisan US policy to recognise the Tibet Autonomous Region and other Tibetan areas of China as part of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) –- a policy decision that Biden said falls within his authority to recognise foreign states and the territorial bounds of such states. The Act enhances US support for Tibet — empowering State Department officials to actively and directly counter disinformation about Tibet from the Chinese government. — PTI

‘Gross interference’: China opposes move

• China expressed strong opposition to the US law that presses Beijing to resolve a dispute over Tibet’s demands for autonomy
• The law “grossly interferes in China’s domestic affairs and sends a severely wrong signal to the ‘Tibet independence’ forces,” it said