[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 46 (Tuesday, March 17, 2009)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E682-E683]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 RECOGNIZING PLIGHT OF TIBETAN PEOPLE ON 50TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE DALAI 
                              LAMA'S EXILE

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                          HON. SANDER M. LEVIN

                              of michigan

                    in the house of representatives

                       Wednesday, March 11, 2009

  Mr. LEVIN. Mr. Speaker, one year ago, a wave of protests began in 
Lhasa and swept across the Tibetan Plateau. In the time since, the 
Chinese government has pursued policies that demonstrate a failure to 
live up to its commitments to its ethnic minority citizens--commitments 
that are well-documented and unmistakable. Chinese law includes 
protections for the distinctive culture, language and identity of 
ethnic minority citizens. China's Regional Ethnic Autonomy Law, for 
example, guarantees ethnic minorities the ``right to administer their 
internal affairs.'' Specifically, the term ``regional ethnic 
autonomy,'' as the law itself defines it, ``reflects the state's full 
respect for ethnic minorities' right to administer their internal 
affairs.'' Over the past year, the actions of the Chinese government 
have reflected neither ``the state's full respect'' of ethnic minority 
rights, nor of human rights standards recognized in both Chinese and 
international law.
  On January 19, 2009, the People's Congress of the Tibet Autonomous 
Region established a new holiday called ``Serfs'' Emancipation Day.'' 
As the Congressional-Executive Commission on China has reported, this 
new holiday commemorates the March 28, 1959, Chinese government decree 
that dissolved the Dalai Lama's Lhasa-based Tibetan government. The 
Chairman of the Standing Committee of the Tibet Autonomous Region 
People's Congress said the new holiday would ``strengthen Tibetans' 
patriotism.'' He also said that officials had met to ``ensure that all 
people mark the occasion with festivities.'' Chinese officials have 
required Tibetans to celebrate the end of the Dalai Lama's government, 
and, by implication, his departure from Tibet fifty years ago. This is 
how the Chinese government demonstrates its commitment to ``the state's 
full respect for ethnic minorities' right to administer their internal 
affairs.''
  For the last several weeks, international media organizations have 
reported that Chinese authorities have been closing Tibetan areas to 
foreign reporters and travelers. Last month, China's Central Propaganda 
Bureau and State Ethnic Affairs Commission publicized a document titled 
``An Outline Concerning Propaganda Education on the Party and State's 
Ethnic Policy.'' As the Congressional-Executive Commission on China has 
reported, this document calls for resisting ``international hostile 
forces raising the banner of such things as `ethnicity,' `religion,' 
and `human rights' to carry out westernization and separatist 
activities toward our country.'' Let us be absolutely clear: Tibetan 
grievances exist not as a result of foreign influence. Tibetan 
grievances exist for one reason and one reason only: in spite of what 
the Chinese government has written in its laws, in practice it has 
created an ethnic autonomy system that denies fundamental rights to 
ethnic minorities. This could not be clearer than it has become over 
the last year.
  The time for change is now. I repeat today what I stated in this 
chamber nearly one year ago: protest activity that results in the 
destruction of property or death of anyone, whether Tibetan or non-
Tibetan, is unacceptable in any context. But the harshness with which 
the Chinese government has handled affairs over the last year across 
the Tibetan plateau and in other ethnic minority regions of China--
harshness that Chinese officials have sought to justify as being 
necessary to preserve stability--has revealed instead a level of 
hostility toward China's ethnic minority citizens not seen in decades, 
and has heightened fears for Tibetans, Uyghurs, and other ethnic 
minority peoples in China.
  The Congressional-Executive Commission on China has tracked policies 
that undercut protections for ethnic minority languages that are 
stipulated in Chinese law. Measures to promote Mandarin-focused 
``bilingual'' education in schools in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous 
Region, for example, have resulted in language requirements that 
disadvantage ethnic minority teachers. These and other job hiring and 
labor practices are part of a broader set of policies that restrict 
ethnic minority rights, and that illustrate the Chinese government's 
failure to abide by commitments as set forth in China's own 
Constitution and laws. Article 4 of the Chinese Constitution and 
Article 9 of China's Regional Ethnic Autonomy Law, for example, both 
forbid discrimination based on ethnicity. Article 12 of China's Labor 
Law and Article 3 of China's new Employment Promotion Law state that 
job applicants shall not face discrimination in job hiring based on 
factors including ethnicity, and Article 28 of China's new Employment 
Contract Law states that all ethnicities enjoy equal labor rights.
  The Chinese government seems to protect some aspects of ethnic 
minority rights in communities that are not perceived to challenge 
state policies. But shortcomings in both the substance and the 
implementation of Chinese policies toward ethnic minorities prevent 
ethnic minority citizens from fully enjoying the rights that the 
Chinese government itself plainly and openly has said are guaranteed 
under China's own laws, and under international legal standards. A wide 
range of public policy areas today present challenges that are pressing 
and real, but concerns in other policy areas do not eclipse the Chinese 
government's abuses of law and its ongoing violations of the 
fundamental rights of Tibetans, Uyghurs and other ethnic minority 
citizens of China, and of Han Chinese citizens as well.

[[Page E683]]

  I would urge all of my colleagues to take full advantage of the 
resources available to the public on the web site of the Congressional-
Executive Commission on China--www.cecc.gov_and to make use of the 
Commission's analysis of developments as they unfold in Tibetan areas, 
and across China. The Commission monitors and reports continuously on 
human rights and the rule of law in China, and I encourage all to check 
the Commission's web site regularly for updates, to subscribe to the 
on-line newsletter, and to rely on the Commission's published reports 
to keep up with developments in China.
  Finally, the resolution of Tibetan grievances can occur only with 
direct talks between the Chinese government and the Dalai Lama. As 
China plays an increasingly important role in the international 
community, other countries will appropriately assess China's 
fulfillment of the commitments it has made in both Chinese and 
international law, including legal and constitutional commitments to 
ethnic minorities. The international spotlight remains on China. We 
hope that the Chinese government will welcome such attention with a 
full commitment to openness, and to the implementation of basic human 
rights.

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