New Delhi: A bipartisan delegation from the US House of Representatives, which includes Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi and House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul, arrived in Himachal Pradesh Tuesday to meet the Dalai Lama at Dharamshala.
The delegation of seven members from the US House is scheduled to speak with the Tibetan spiritual leader Wednesday, apart from meeting with Indian government officials and representatives from the American business community in India.
Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Lin Jian Tuesday urged US President Biden to not sign the Resolve Tibet Act into law and accused the Dalai Lama of being an “anti-China separatist” acting under the cloak of religion.
“We are gravely concerned over the relevant reports and urge the US side to fully recognize the anti-China separatist nature of the Dalai group, honour the commitments the US has made to China on issues related to Xizang [Tibet], have no contact with the Dalai group in any form, and stop sending the wrong signal to the world,” said Lin in the regular press briefing.
The visit comes nearly a week after the US House of Representatives passed a procedural vote for the Resolve Tibet Act, which has now been sent to President Joe Biden for his signature, before it becomes a law.
“I want to say greetings to the great people in Dharamshala. We are very excited to see His Holiness tomorrow to talk about many things including the bill (Resolve Tibet Act) we just passed out of Congress that basically says the United States of America stands with the people of Tibet,” McCaul told local media at the airport. He confirmed that Biden will sign the bill into law.
The Resolve Tibet Act was first passed by the US House of Representatives in February 2023 before being cleared by the Senate in May this year.
The Bill urges China to negotiate without preconditions with the Dalai Lama, or his representative, or democratically-elected leaders of the Tibetan community to resolve long-pending issues between Tibet and Beijing.
“Our bipartisan bill will refresh US policy towards Tibet and push for negotiations that advance freedom for the Tibetan people and a peaceful resolution to the CCP’s (Chinese Communist Party) conflict with the Dalai Lama,” Senator Todd Young, one of the co-sponsors of the Bill, had said last week.
Chinese Washington D.C. embassy spokesperson Liu Pengyu is reported by Reuters to have said in June that Beijing “firmly opposes any anti-China separatist activities conducted by Dalai in any capacity or name in any country, and opposes any forms of contact by officials of any country with him”.
The members of the delegation to Dharamshala are Chairman McCaul, Pelosi, House Foreign Affairs Committee Ranking Member Gregory W. Meeks, House Rules Committee Ranking Member Jim McGovern, House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on the Indo-Pacific Ranking Member Ami Bera and Representatives Mariannette Miller-Meeks and Nicole Malliotakis.
Members of the delegation addressed the Tibetan Parliament-in-exile Tuesday and are also expected to meet the Central Tibetan Administration, known as the Tibetan government-in-exile. The trip will be closely watched by Beijing. The Chinese government in the past has reacted aggressively to any meeting between US officials and the Dalai Lama.
In 2010, before then President Barack Obama was scheduled to meet the Nobel Peace Prize winning leader, a CCP party official had said that Beijing “will take necessary measures to help them (US) realise” how harmful such a visit would be for the US.
Wednesday’s meeting also comes at a time when ties remain tense between Washington D.C. and Beijing, and efforts are being made by the Biden administration to stabilise them. Just last week, the Group of Seven (G7) in its final Leaders Communiqué took aim at China and its support for Russia in the war with Ukraine, among other issues.
Every US President in the past three decades, except Donald Trump and Biden, have met the Tibetan leader. The incumbent president, however, made a campaign promise in 2020 to meet the Dalai Lama. The Tibetan leader is expected to travel to the US in a few days for a planned medical procedure.
The Dalai Lama fled Tibet in 1959 after a failed uprising against Chinese rule and has lived in India since.The visit also coincides with the delegation led by the US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, who has been in New Delhi since Monday, meeting with his Indian counterpart Ajit Doval to review ties, especially the India-US initiative on Critical and Emerging Technology (iCET).
This is an updated version of the report
(Edited by Tikli Basu)
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