A delegation of Congressmen led by Rep. Michael McCaul (R-TX) and including former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) met with the Dalai Lama, the leader of Tibetan Buddhism, on Wednesday in a display of solidarity against Chinese occupation.
The visit prompted an irate reaction from the Chinese Foreign Ministry, which urged the lawmakers not to make any contact with the Dalai Lama – who it derisively called a “political exile” – and insisted the world respect its occupation of “Xizang,” using the Han Chinese colonialist name for Tibet. Beijing has not at press time taken any concrete measures against the U.S. government, however.
Rep. Pelosi’s presence on the trip is a particular irritant to Beijing. Among her final acts as Speaker of the House in 2022 was a much publicized visit to Taiwan, a sovereign state that the Chinese Communist Party falsely claims as a province under Beijing. Rep. Pelosi’s meeting with then-President Tsai Ing-wen and support for Taiwan’s autonomy outraged China and prompted it to suspend talks with Washington on multiple issues of interest to the administration of President Joe Biden, such as climate change and illegal immigration.
In addition to her audience with the Dalai Lama, Rep. Pelosi addressed the Tibetan parliament in exile in India on Tuesday, effectively recognizing that Taiwan is an occupied nation rather than a province of China.
Republican Rep. Michael McCaul and Democratic former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi sit on a stage in the front row to watch Tibetan children perform at a public event during which they were felicitated by the President of the Central Tibetan Administration and other officials at the Tsuglakhang temple in Dharamshala, India, Wednesday, June 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Ashwini Bhatia)
Communist China under Mao Zedong occupied Tibet shortly after its founding and has for decades repressed the local culture. Under current genocidal dictator Xi Jinping, Chinese authorities have gone further than before, not just outlawing Tibetan Buddhism but forcing children to learn Mandarin rather than Tibetan and imposing a “boarding school” system where children are abducted and indoctrinated by Han communist teachers.
In a particularly grave offense to Tibetans, the Chinese government abducted and disappeared a six-year-old boy identified as the Panchen Lama, a living Buddha on par with the Dalai Lama, in 1995, and has since insisted that the Chinese government is the only entity allowed to identify reincarnated Panchen Lamas and that the Dalai Lama himself may have no role in choosing who he reincarnates into (reincarnation is a core belief of Tibetan Buddhism).
The Congressional delegation is in India and met with the spiritual leader in Dharamshala, where he is based, shortly before the Dalai Lama is expected in the United States to receive medical treatment. Lawmakers expressed support for Tibet against decades of Chinese communist repression and reportedly brought the Dalai Lama a copy of the “Resolve Tibet Act,” a bill recently passed but yet to be signed by Biden that would call for the State Department to more aggressively reject China’s claims to Tibet and demand Beijing “negotiate” with the Dalai Lama.
The Dalai Lama’s social media pages published a group photo with the lawmakers holding up the bill in approval.
In addition to Reps. McCaul and Pelosi, the delegation included Reps. Mariannette Miller-Meeks (R-IA), Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-NY), Rep. Nicole Malliotakis (R-NY), Rep. Jim McGovern (D-MA), and Rep. Ami Bera (D-CA).
“We are very excited to see His Holiness tomorrow to talk about many things, including the bill that just passed out of Congress that basically says that the United States of America stands with the people of Tibet,” Rep. McCaul said to reporters upon arriving in Dharamshala on Tuesday.
Rep. McCaul also said he believed Biden would sign the Resolve Tibet Act.
Asked about the visit on Tuesday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian strongly condemned it and ordered the U.S. government not to pass the Resolve Tibet Act.
“It’s known by all that the 14th Dalai Lama is not a pure religious figure, but a political exile engaged in anti-China separatist activities under the cloak of religion,” Lin said. “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.”
“On the relevant act in the US Congress, let me stress that Xizang has always been part of China since ancient times,” Lin claimed. “Xizang’s affairs are purely China’s domestic affairs and no external interference will ever be allowed.”
“We urge the US side to adhere to its commitments of recognizing Xizang as part of China and not supporting ‘Xizang independence,'” he claimed. “The US must not sign the bill into law. China will take resolute measures to firmly defend its sovereignty, security and development interests.”
Lin did not offer any specifics on the kind of measures the Chinese Communist Party is reportedly considering in response to the bill.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry’s response to the Dalai Lama meeting was more reserved than its unhinged outburst over Rep. Pelosi’s 2022 visit to Taiwan, which prompted state propagandists to urge Beijing to shoot down Rep. Pelosi’s plane and a torrent of insults linking the visit to irrelevant issues such as the death of Minnesota man George Floyd.
“The world must never allow the US to see itself as a ‘world policeman’ or an ‘international judge’ and continue to treat other sovereign nations like George Floyd as if the US can just bully and strangle them at will,” Hua Chunying, one of China’s most senior Foreign Ministry officials, said at the time in response to Rep. Pelosi traveling to Taiwan.
Rep. Pelosi responded to the Chinese government’s “big fuss” by telling reports in Taipei that China’s opinion on her travels “doesn’t really matter.”
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