[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 25 (Wednesday, March 9, 1994)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: March 9, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
                      SELF-DETERMINATION FOR TIBET

                                 ______


                          HON. JERROLD NADLER

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, March 9, 1994

  Mr. NADLER. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to join my many friends and 
neighbors who will be marching on March 10, in New York from the United 
Nations to the Chinese Embassy in observance of Uprising Day. This 
solemn day recalls the day in 1959 when Chinese troops marched into 
Lhasa, and slaughtered thousands of innocent Tibetans.
  Putting an end to the repeated violations of human rights in Tibet 
should be a top priority in our Nation's trade and diplomatic 
relationship with China. This has unfortunately not been the case. 
Despite threats and solemn pronouncements, China has not been forced to 
pay any price in its relations with the United States for its flagrant 
violations of human and sovereign rights in Tibet. I am committed to 
fighting for a United States policy toward China which reflects the 
desire of most Americans to stand with the Tibetan people in their 
struggle.
  This is not to say that there has been no progress. Congress has 
finally declared that Tibet is an occupied country under principles of 
international law and recognized the right of the Tibetan people to 
independence and full sovereignty. These rights have been consistently 
violated by China's illegal occupation.
  The Chinese Government must be made to understand the seriousness 
with which the American people view the egregious human rights 
violations they have perpetrated against the Tibetan people. For that 
reason, China should not be granted most favored nation trading status, 
and enjoy the many economic benefits and international prestige it 
receives as a result of that status, until it has demonstrated a 
tangible improvement in the human rights situation in Tibet.
  Most importantly, China must halt its population transfer program 
through which non-Tibetans are offered economic incentives to relocate 
to Tibet. The House Ways and Means Committee has correctly observed 
that, Chinese development programs and economic inducements supportive 
of population transfer to Tibet marginalize Tibetans in their own 
homeland and serve further to undermine their basic human rights.
  A resolution adopted by the U.N. Subcommission on Prevention of 
Discrimination and Protection of Minorities declared that population 
transfer policy constitutes a violation of fundamental human rights. 
Unless it is stopped, the population transfer policy threatens to 
obliterate one of the world's richest and most ancient cultures.
  The Chinese must also end their wanton destruction of the Tibetan 
ecology. Destroying a country they illegally occupy compounds the 
injustice. It must end.
  Finally, the Chinese must respect the individual rights of the 
Tibetan people. There can be no excuse for the oppression suffered by 
countless Tibetans at the hands of their occupiers.
  Tibet is a test of this Nation's historic commitment to individual 
rights and National sovereignty. We must stand with the Tibetan people 
in their struggle for justice and self-determination.

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