[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1872 Introduced in House (IH)]
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115th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 1872
To promote access for United States officials, journalists, and other
citizens to Tibetan areas of the People's Republic of China, and for
other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
April 4, 2017
Mr. McGovern (for himself, Mr. Hultgren, Ms. DeLauro, Mr. Rohrabacher,
Mr. Pocan, Mr. Stewart, Ms. McCollum, Mr. Ellison, Ms. Clark of
Massachusetts, Mr. DeFazio, Mr. Keating, Mr. Neal, Mr. Capuano, Mr.
Kennedy, Mr. Serrano, Mr. Welch, Mr. Connolly, and Mr. Polis)
introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on
the Judiciary, and in addition to the Committee on Foreign Affairs, for
a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for
consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the
committee concerned
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To promote access for United States officials, journalists, and other
citizens to Tibetan areas of the People's Republic of China, and for
other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Reciprocal Access to Tibet Act of
2017''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress finds the following:
(1) The Government of the People's Republic of China does
not grant United States officials, journalists, and other
citizens access to China on a basis that is reciprocal to the
access that the Government of the United States grants Chinese
officials, journalists, and citizens.
(2) The Government of China imposes greater restrictions on
travel to Tibetan areas than to other areas of China.
(3) Officials of China have stated that Tibet is open to
foreign visitors.
(4) The Government of China is promoting tourism in Tibetan
areas, and at the Sixth Tibet Work Forum in August 2015,
Premier Li Keqiang called for Tibet to build ``major world
tourism destinations''.
(5) The Government of China requires foreigners to obtain
permission from the Tibet Foreign and Overseas Affairs Office
or from the Tibet Tourism Bureau to enter the Tibet Autonomous
Region, a restriction that is not imposed on travel to any
other provincial-level jurisdiction in China.
(6) The Department of State reports that--
(A) officials of the Government of the United
States submitted 39 requests for diplomatic access to
the Tibet Autonomous Region between May 2011 and July
2015, but only four were granted; and
(B) when such requests are granted, diplomatic
personnel are closely supervised and given few
opportunities to meet local residents not approved by
authorities.
(7) The Government of China delayed United States consular
access for more than 48 hours after an October 28, 2013, bus
crash in the Tibet Autonomous Region, in which three citizens
of the United States died and more than a dozen others, all
from Walnut, California, were injured, undermining the ability
of the Government of the United States to provide consular
services to the victims and their families, and failing to meet
China's obligations under the Convention on Consular Relations,
done at Vienna April 24, 1963 (21 UST 77).
(8) Following a 2015 earthquake that trapped dozens of
citizens of the United States in the Tibet Autonomous Region,
the United States Consulate General in Chengdu faced
significant challenges in providing emergency consular
assistance due to a lack of consular access.
(9) The Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2015
of the Department of State stated ``With the exception of a few
highly controlled trips, the Chinese government also denied
multiple requests by foreign diplomats for permission to visit
the TAR.''.
(10) Tibetan-Americans, attempting to visit their homeland,
report having to undergo a discriminatory visa application
process, different from what is typically required, at the
Chinese embassy and consulates in the United States, and often
find their requests to travel denied.
(11) The Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2016
of the Department of State stated ``The few visits to the TAR
by diplomats and journalists that were allowed were tightly
controlled by local authorities.''.
(12) A September 2016 article in the Washington Post
reported that ``The Tibet Autonomous Region . . . is harder to
visit as a journalist than North Korea.''.
(13) The Government of China has failed to respond
positively to requests from the Government of the United States
to open a consulate in Lhasa, Tibet Autonomous Region.
(14) The Foreign Correspondents Club of China reports
that--
(A) 2008 rules prevent foreign reporters from
visiting the Tibet Autonomous Region without prior
permission from the Government of such Region;
(B) such permission has only rarely been granted;
and
(C) although the 2008 rules allow journalists to
travel freely in other parts of China, Tibetan areas
outside such Region remain ``effectively off-limits to
foreign reporters''.
(15) The Department of State reports that in addition to
having to obtain permission to enter the Tibet Autonomous
Region, foreign tourists--
(A) must be accompanied at all times by a
government-designated tour guide;
(B) are rarely granted permission to enter the
region by road;
(C) are largely barred from visiting around the
March anniversary of a 1959 Tibetan uprising; and
(D) are banned from visiting the area where Larung
Gar, the world's largest center for the study of
Tibetan Buddhism, and the site of a large-scale
campaign to expel students and demolish living
quarters, is located.
(16) Foreign visitors also face restrictions in their
ability to travel freely in Tibetan areas outside the Tibet
Autonomous Region.
(17) The Government of the United States generally allows
journalists and other citizens of China to travel freely within
the United States. The Government of the United States requires
diplomats from China to notify the Department of State of their
travel plans, and in certain situations, the Government of the
United States requires such diplomats to obtain approval from
the Department of State before travel. However, where approval
is required, it is almost always granted expeditiously.
(18) The United States regularly grants visas to Chinese
officials, scholars, and others who travel to the United States
to discuss, promote, and display the perspective of the
Government of China on the situation in Tibetan areas, even as
the Government of China restricts the ability of citizens of
the United States to travel to Tibetan areas to gain their own
perspective.
(19) Chinese diplomats based in the United States generally
avail themselves of the freedom to travel to United States
cities and lobby city councils, mayors, and governors to
refrain from passing resolutions, issuing proclamations, or
making statements of concern on Tibet.
(20) The Government of China characterizes statements made
by officials of the United States about the situation in
Tibetan areas as inappropriate interference in the internal
affairs of China.
SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.
In this Act:
(1) Appropriate congressional committees.--The term
``appropriate congressional committees'' means--
(A) the Committee on Foreign Relations and the
Committee on the Judiciary of the Senate; and
(B) the Committee on Foreign Affairs and the
Committee on the Judiciary of the House of
Representatives.
(2) Senior leadership positions.--The term ``senior
leadership positions'' means--
(A) at the national level, the Chairperson of the
National Committee of the Chinese People's Political
Consultative Conference and the Head and Deputy Heads
of the Communist Party Central Committee's United Front
Work Department;
(B) at the sub-national level--
(i) members of the Communist Party Standing
Committee of the Tibet Autonomous Region;
(ii) the Director of the Tibet Autonomous
Region Tourism Bureau;
(iii) the heads of United Front Work
Departments of Sichuan, Qinghai, Gansu, and
Yunnan Provinces; and
(iv) members of the Communist Party
Standing Committees of the areas listed under
paragraph (3)(B); and
(C) any other individual determined by the
Secretary of State to be personally and substantially
involved in the formulation or execution of policies
related to access for foreigners to Tibetan areas.
(3) Tibetan areas.--The term ``Tibetan areas'' includes--
(A) the Tibet Autonomous Region; and
(B) the areas that the Chinese Government
designates as Tibetan Autonomous, as follows:
(i) Kanlho (Gannan) Tibetan Autonomous
Prefecture, and Pari (Tianzhu) Tibetan
Autonomous County located in Gansu Province.
(ii) Golog (Guoluo) Tibetan Autonomous
Prefecture, Malho (Huangnan) Tibetan Autonomous
Prefecture, Tsojang (Haibei) Tibetan Autonomous
Prefecture, Tsolho (Hainan) Tibetan Autonomous
Prefecture, Tsonub (Haixi) Mongolian and
Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, and Yulshul
(Yushu) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, located
in Qinghai Province.
(iii) Garze (Ganzi) Tibetan Autonomous
Prefecture, Ngawa (Aba) Tibetan and Qiang
Autonomous Prefecture, and Muli (Mili) Tibetan
Autonomous County, located in Sichuan Province.
(iv) Dechen (Diqing) Tibetan Autonomous
Prefecture, located in Yunnan Province.
SEC. 4. ANNUAL REPORT.
(a) In General.--Not later than 90 days after the date of the
enactment of this Act, and annually thereafter, the Secretary of State
shall submit to the appropriate congressional committees a report that
includes--
(1) an assessment of the level of access Chinese
authorities granted diplomats, journalists, and tourists from
the United States to Tibetan areas, including--
(A) a comparison with the level of access granted
to other areas of China;
(B) a comparison between the levels of access
granted to Tibetan and non-Tibetan areas in relevant
provinces;
(C) a comparison of the level of access in the
reporting year and the previous reporting year; and
(D) a description of the required permits and other
measures that impede the freedom to travel in Tibetan
areas; and
(2) a list of each individual who holds a senior leadership
position.
(b) Public Availability.--The report required under subsection (a)
shall be made available to the public on the website of the Department
of State.
SEC. 5. INADMISSIBILITY OF CERTAIN ALIENS.
(a) Ineligibility for Visas.--No individual who is included on the
most recent list required under section 4(a)(2) may be eligible to
receive a visa to enter the United States or be admitted to the United
States if the Secretary of State determines that--
(1)(A) the requirement for specific official permission for
foreigners to enter the Tibetan Autonomous Region remains in
effect; or
(B) such requirement has been replaced by a regulation that
has a similar effect and requires foreign travelers to gain a
level of permission to enter the Tibet Autonomous Region that
is not required for travel to other provinces in China; and
(2) restrictions on travel by officials, journalists, and
citizens of the United States to areas designated as ``Tibetan
Autonomous'' in the provinces of Sichuan, Qinghai, Yunnan, and
Gansu of China are greater than any restrictions on travel by
such officials and citizens to areas in such provinces that are
not so designated.
(b) Current Visas Revoked.--The Secretary of State shall revoke, in
accordance with section 221(i) of the Immigration and Nationality Act
(8 U.S.C. 1201(i)), the visa or other documentation to enter or be
present in the United States issued for an alien who would be
ineligible to receive such a visa or documentation under subsection
(a).
(c) Waiver for National Interests.--
(1) In general.--The Secretary of State may waive the
application of subsection (a) or (b) in the case of an alien if
the Secretary determines that such a waiver--
(A) is necessary to permit the United States to
comply with the Agreement Regarding the Headquarters of
the United Nations, signed at Lake Success June 26,
1947, and entered into force November 21, 1947 (TIAS
1676), or any other applicable international obligation
of the United States; or
(B) is in the national security interests of the
United States.
(2) Notification.--Upon granting a waiver under paragraph
(1), the Secretary of State shall submit to the appropriate
congressional committees a document detailing the evidence and
justification for the necessity of such waiver, including, if
such waiver is granted pursuant to paragraph (1)(B), how such
waiver relates to the national security interests of the United
States.
SEC. 6. SENSE OF CONGRESS ON VISA POLICY.
(a) Finding.--Congress finds that reciprocity forms the basis of
diplomatic law and the practice of mutual exchanges between countries.
(b) Sense of Congress.--It is the sense of Congress that--
(1) a country should give equivalent consular access to the
nationals of a foreign country in a manner that is reciprocal
to the consular access granted by such foreign country to
citizens of the country; and
(2) the Secretary of State, when granting diplomats from
China access to parts of the United States, should take into
account the extent to which the Government of China grants
diplomats from the United States access to parts of China,
including the level of access afforded to such diplomats to
Tibetan areas.
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