U.S. Lawmakers Visit Dalai Lama to 'Demonstrate Commitment to the Tibetan People'

A delegation of American lawmakers flew to India to meet with the Dalai Lama on Tuesday in a bid to draw attention to the plight of Tibet. The move is likely to annoy China and possibly frustrate President Trump’s effort to develop warmer relations with Beijing.

“As we visit His Holiness the Dalai Lama, our bipartisan delegation comes in his spirit of faith and peace. We come on this visit to be inspired by His Holiness and demonstrate our commitment to the Tibetan people, to their faith, their culture and their language,” said House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA).

The delegation also included Representatives Jim Sensenbrenner (R-WI), Eliot Engel (D-NY), Jim McGovern (D-MA), Betty McCollum (D-MN), Judy Chu (D-CA), Joyce Beatty (D-OH), and Pramila Jayapal (D-WA).

Reuters reports the Dalai Lama welcomed the delegation to his “second home” in India where he believes his 58-year stay makes him “the longest guest of the Indian government.”

He reflected on concerns for the safety of “400 million Buddhists” in China, and said he would like to visit with them, but could not travel to China as long as the government considers him a separatist leader, or “dangerous splittist” as the Dalai Lama put it.

The U.S. lawmakers also met with Tibet’s Prime Minister-in-exile Lobsang Sangay and visited a Tibetan settlement in Kathmandu, Nepal.

A bill demanding China provide unhindered access to Tibetan officials for American citizens was introduced in the U.S. Congress in April. The Reciprocal Access to Tibet Act of 2017 notes that China imposes too many restrictions on travel to the Tibetan Autonomous Region, even though the Chinese government has said it wishes to develop the Tibetan tourism industry and has interfered with consular access to American citizens in Tibet on far too many occasions.

Complaints from journalists that the Tibetan Autonomous Region is harder to visit than North Korea are cited in the bill, which would call upon the Secretary of State to consider Chinese hospitality to Americans who visit Tibet when deciding whether or not to grant Chinese diplomats access to the United States. Rep. McGovern sponsored the bill in the House, while Senators Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) are sponsors in the Senate.

The Trump administration has stated there is no change in American policy toward Tibet and continues to encourage the Chinese government to open a dialogue with the Dalai Lama and other leaders of Tibet’s government-in-exile.

Beijing has not changed its attitude toward Tibet either, although evidently, some Communist Party officials in the Tibet Autonomous Region have. Several of them have been accused of secretly donating funds to the Dalai Lama. The officials, who were not identified, were also accused of joining underground separatist organizations and leaking intelligence.

The Tibetan Autonomous Region recently announced a massive social spending campaign, which will purportedly lift 130,000 Tibetans out of poverty and increase per capita disposable income in the region by 16 percent.

The Chinese government has a long-running argument with the Dalai Lama about how his successor will be chosen after the 81-year-old religious leader passes. Beijing claims the authority to select the new Dalai Lama, and would, of course, choose someone politically compatible with China. The Dalai Lama insists the choice should be left up to the Tibetan people. He recently tweaked the Chinese government by suggesting it should officially declare belief in reincarnation before it claims the right to specify whom the Dalai Lama reincarnates into.

China and India have been sparring over the Tibetan Himalayan region of Arunachal Pradesh, which both nations claim. China attempted to reinforce its claims by renaming several towns and mountain passes; India responded by saying the region is “an integral part of India,” and “nothing can change that.”

Beijing made its play to rename the towns and mountain passes after the Dalai Lama visited the area in April. A spokesman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry angrily told India to “never again use the 14th Dalai Lama to undermine China’s core interests.”