[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 5362 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
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119th CONGRESS
2d Session
S. 5362
To direct the Secretary of State to advocate for the inclusion and
recognition of the Central Tibetan Administration, and for other
purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
August 7, 2026
Mr. Merkley (for himself, Mr. Risch, Mr. Kaine, Mr. Young, Ms. Rosen,
and Mr. Scott of Florida) introduced the following bill; which was read
twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To direct the Secretary of State to advocate for the inclusion and
recognition of the Central Tibetan Administration, 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 ``Assuring the Future of Tibet Act of
2026''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress finds the following:
(1) The relationship between the United States Government
and Tibet began in 1908, when United States diplomat William
Rockhill met the 13th Dalai Lama.
(2) The relationship deepened over the twentieth century,
including President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's 1942 outreach
to the 14th Dalai Lama, the Dalai Lama's first visit to Capitol
Hill in 1979 and presentation of his Five Point Peace Plan to
Congress in 1987, and the first meeting between a sitting
United States President and the Dalai Lama in 1991.
(3) The Dalai Lama in 1950 assumed the role of head of
state of Tibet. Following his flight into exile in 1959, he
continued to serve as the formal head of the Tibetan
government-in-exile, later known as the Central Tibetan
Administration, and in 2011 transferred his political authority
to that government, whose executive and legislative officials
are chosen by democratic election and which vests executive
power in the Sikyong, the chief executive, pursuant to an
amendment to the Tibetan Charter adopted by the Tibetan
parliament-in-exile.
(4) It has been the long-standing policy of the United
States to promote the internationally recognized human rights
and distinct religious, cultural, linguistic, and historical
identity of the Tibetan people, as acknowledged and codified by
the Tibetan Policy and Support Act of 2020 (subtitle E of title
III of division FF of Public Law 116-260; 22 U.S.C. 6901 note).
(5) The Promoting a Resolution to the Tibet-China Dispute
Act (Public Law 118-70) characterizes the dispute between Tibet
and the People's Republic of China as unresolved, states the
sense of Congress that ``claims made by the People's Republic
of China that Tibet has been a part of China since ancient
times are historically inaccurate,'' and states that it is
United States policy to resolve the dispute ``in accordance
with international law, including the United Nations Charter,
by peaceful means, through dialogue without preconditions''.
(6) Article 1 of the International Covenant on Civil and
Political Rights, which the United States ratified in 1992,
states, ``All peoples have the right of self-determination. By
virtue of that right they freely determine their political
status and freely pursue their economic, social and cultural
development.''.
(7) The People's Republic of China's Law on Promoting
Ethnic Unity and Progress approved by the National People's
Congress in March 2026 contradicts previous statutory and
constitutional guarantees of meaningful autonomy for Tibetans
and other non-Han Chinese populations by statutorily mandating
that education be conducted in Mandarin, mandating that written
Chinese be given prominence over alternative scripts in public
settings, and legally prioritizing national identity over
distinct ethnic identity.
(8) The Government of the People's Republic of China has
provided no verifiable evidence that the Tibetan people were
consulted on, much less approved, the diminution of their right
to autonomy under the People's Republic of China's Law on
Promoting Ethnic Unity and Progress.
SEC. 3. SENSE OF CONGRESS.
It is the sense of Congress that--
(1) the Government of the People's Republic of China has
reneged on its legal commitment under the Constitution of the
People's Republic of China, the Regional Ethnic Autonomy Law,
and relevant international law to provide a high degree of
regional autonomy to the Tibetan people, including the right to
use and develop their own spoken and written languages, through
the enactment in 2026 of the People's Republic of China's Law
on Promoting Ethnic Unity and Progress, which instead
facilitates the assimilation of Tibetans and erosion of the
right of the Tibetan people to exercise their religious,
cultural, and language rights;
(2) the People's Republic of China has denied the Tibetan
people the ability to exercise their right to self-
determination as provided by international law;
(3) the United States has expressed support for the Dalai
Lama's vision of a negotiated agreement through dialogue
without preconditions between the Government of the People's
Republic of China and the Dalai Lama or his representatives or
democratically elected leaders of the Tibetan community as one
means of allowing the Tibetan people to exercise their right to
self-determination;
(4) the Government of the People's Republic of China has
not demonstrated sincerity or seriousness in its approach to
engaging in meaningful dialogue with the Dalai Lama or his
representatives or to reach a negotiated resolution that
includes the aspirations of the Tibetan people;
(5) the Gaden Phodrang Trust serves as the legitimate and
sole authority to identify and recognize Dalai Lamas; and
(6) the Central Tibetan Administration is the legitimate
representative of the Tibetan people.
SEC. 4. STATEMENT OF POLICY.
It is the policy of the United States--
(1) to affirm the commitment of the United States to a
resolution of the dispute between Tibet and the People's
Republic of China as a matter of strategic interest to the
United States;
(2) to encourage the Government of the People's Republic of
China to address the aspirations of the Tibetan people with
regard to their distinct historical, cultural, religious, and
linguistic identity;
(3) to support the Tibetan people's free exercise of their
internationally recognized human rights, including the right to
self-determination;
(4) that the Central Tibetan Administration represents
continuity of governance of the Tibetan people as established
by the Dalai Lama; and
(5) to support the Central Tibetan Administration in its
effort to carry out the responsibilities for which it has been
empowered by the Dalai Lama and legitimized by the Tibetan
people through their exercise of a genuine democratic process.
SEC. 5. ADVOCACY.
In order to carry out the policy under section 4--
(1) the President should direct the United States Permanent
Representative to the United Nations to use the voice, vote,
and influence of the United States at the United Nations to
advocate for the Central Tibetan Administration's observer
status within the United Nations General Assembly and relevant
agencies of the United Nations; and
(2) the Secretary of State should--
(A) advocate for the inclusion of the Central
Tibetan Administration in relevant international bodies
and groupings;
(B) organize like-minded partners to support
greater international recognition of the Central
Tibetan Administration within bodies of the United
Nations and other multilateral fora; and
(C) ensure the Central Tibetan Administration has
equal access and opportunity to participate across the
United Nations system, including in specialized and
technical bodies of strategic importance, funds,
entities, and other bodies as appropriate.
SEC. 6. HIGH-LEVEL ENGAGEMENT AND DIPLOMATIC PROTOCOL.
In order to carry out the policy under section 4, the Secretary of
State or their designee shall--
(1) lead interagency efforts to directly engage at the most
senior levels with Central Tibetan Administration officials,
including the Sikyong and the designated representatives of the
Sikyong;
(2) take steps to ensure the Sikyong of the Central Tibetan
Administration is extended appropriate diplomatic courtesies,
including the provision of appropriate security details during
visits to the United States;
(3) consider the applicability of diplomatic privileges and
immunities to officials of the Central Tibetan Administration;
and
(4) urge partners and allies of the United States to engage
with and support the Central Tibetan Administration at senior
levels.
SEC. 7. REPORT.
(a) In General.--Not later than 1 year after the date of the
enactment of this Act, and annually thereafter for ten years, the
Secretary of State shall submit to the Committee on Foreign Relations
of the Senate and the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of
Representatives a report that describes the steps taken to implement
section 5 and section 6.
(b) Consolidation.--After the issuance of the first report required
under subsection (a), the Secretary of State is authorized to
incorporate subsequent reports under such subsection into other
publicly available annual reports produced by the Department of State,
provided they are submitted to the Committee on Foreign Relations of
the Senate and the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of
Representatives in a manner specifying that they are being submitted in
fulfillment of the requirements of this Act.
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