[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 120 (Thursday, July 13, 2023)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2856-S2857]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
SA 744. Mr. MERKLEY (for himself and Mr. Young) submitted an
amendment intended to be proposed by him to the bill S. 2226, to
authorize appropriations for fiscal year 2024 for military activities
of the Department of Defense, for military construction, and for
defense activities of the Department of Energy, to prescribe military
personnel strengths for such fiscal year, and for other purposes; which
was ordered to lie on the table; as follows:
At the end of subtitle D of title XII, add the following:
SEC. 1269. PROMOTING A RESOLUTION TO THE TIBET-CHINA
CONFLICT.
(a) Short Title.--This section may be cited as the
``Promoting a Resolution to the Tibet-China Conflict Act''.
(b) Findings.--Congress finds the following:
(1) It has been the longstanding policy of the United
States to encourage meaningful and direct dialogue between
People's Republic of China authorities and the Dalai Lama or
his representatives, without preconditions, to seek a
settlement that resolves differences.
(2) Ten rounds of dialogue held between 2002 and 2010
between the People's Republic of China authorities and the
14th Dalai Lama's representatives failed to produce a
settlement that resolved differences, and the two sides have
not met since January 2010.
(3) An obstacle to further dialogue is that the Government
of the People's Republic of China continues to impose
conditions on His Holiness the Dalai Lama for a resumption of
dialogue, including a demand that he say that Tibet has been
part of China since ancient times, which the Dalai Lama has
refused to do because it is false.
(4) United States Government statements that the United
States considers Tibet a part of the People's Republic of
China have reflected the reality on the ground that the
Government of the People's Republic of China has exerted
effective control over Tibet.
(5) The United States Government has never taken the
position that Tibet was a part of China since ancient times
or that the means by which the Government of the People's
Republic of China came to exert effective control over Tibet
was consistent with international law or included the free or
meaningful consent of the Tibetan people.
(6) United States Government documents dated January 9,
1919, June 1, 1944, June 17, 1949, April 4, 1951, December 3,
1951, March 23, 1961, and February 14, 1963, listed Tibet as
an entity separate and distinct from China.
(7) Article 1 of the International Covenant on Civil and
Political Rights and Article 1 of the International Covenant
on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights provide that ``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.''.
(8) Under international law, including United Nations
General Assembly Resolution 2625, the right to self-
determination is the right of a people to determine its own
destiny and the exercise of this right can result in a
variety of outcomes ranging from independence, federation,
protection, some form of autonomy, or full integration within
a state.
(9) United Nations General Assembly Resolution 1723,
adopted on December 20, 1961, called for the ``cessation of
practices which deprive the Tibetan people of their
fundamental human rights and freedoms, including their right
to self-determination''.
[[Page S2857]]
(10) In a December 30, 1950, note to the Governments of the
United Kingdom and India, the Secretary of State wrote that
``The United States, which was one of the early supporters of
the principle of self-determination of peoples, believes that
the Tibetan people has the same inherent right as any other
to have the determining voice in its political destiny. It is
believed further that, should developments warrant,
consideration could be given to recognition of Tibet as an
independent State.''.
(11) In a June 2, 1951, telegram to the United States
Embassy in New Delhi, the State Department wrote that Tibet
should not ``be compelled by duress [to] accept [the]
violation [of] its autonomy'' and that the Tibetan people
should ``enjoy certain rights [of] self-determination,
commensurate with [the] autonomy Tibet has maintained since
[the] Chinese revolution.''.
(12) Secretary of State Antony Blinken, in a May 26, 2022,
speech entitled ``The Administration's Approach to the
People's Republic of China'', said that the rules-based
international order's ``founding documents include the UN
Charter and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which
enshrined concepts like self-determination, sovereignty, the
peaceful settlement of disputes. These are not Western
constructs. They are reflections of the world's shared
aspirations.''.
(13) The Tibetan Policy Act of 2002 (Public Law 107-228; 22
U.S.C. 6901 note), in directing the United States Government
``to promote the human rights and distinct religious,
cultural, linguistic, and historical identity of the Tibetan
people'', acknowledges that the Tibetan people possess a
distinct religious, cultural, linguistic, and historical
identity.
(14) Department of State reports on human rights and
religious freedom have consistently documented repression by
the People's Republic of China authorities against Tibetans
as well as acts of defiance and resistance by Tibetan people
against the People's Republic of China policies.
(15) Section 355 of the Foreign Relations Authorization
Act, Fiscal Years 1992 and 1993 (Public Law 102-138; 105
Stat. 713) stated that it is the sense of Congress that--
(A) ``Tibet, including those areas incorporated into the
Chinese provinces of Sichuan, Yunnan, Gansu, and Qinghai, is
an occupied country under the established principles of
international law'';
(B) ``Tibet's true representatives are the Dalai Lama and
the Tibetan Government in exile as recognized by the Tibetan
people'';
(C) ``Tibet has maintained throughout its history a
distinctive and sovereign national, cultural, and religious
identity separate from that of China and, except during
periods of illegal Chinese occupation, has maintained a
separate and sovereign political and territorial identity'';
(D) ``historical evidence of this separate identity may be
found in Chinese archival documents and traditional dynastic
histories, in United States recognition of Tibetan neutrality
during World War II, and in the fact that a number of
countries including the United States, Mongolia, Bhutan,
Sikkim, Nepal, India, Japan, Great Britain, and Russia
recognized Tibet as an independent nation or dealt with Tibet
independently of any Chinese government'';
(E) from``1949-1950, China launched an armed invasion of
Tibet in contravention of international law'';
(F) ``it is the policy of the United States to oppose
aggression and other illegal uses of force by one country
against the sovereignty of another as a manner of acquiring
territory, and to condemn violations of international law,
including the illegal occupation of one country by another'';
and
(G) ``numerous United States declarations since the Chinese
invasion have recognized Tibet's right to self-determination
and the illegality of China's occupation of Tibet''.
(16) The joint explanatory statement to accompany division
K of the Consolidated Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year 2023
(Public Law 117-328) states that ``Funds appropriated by the
Act shall not be used to produce or disseminate documents,
maps, or other materials that recognize or identify Tibet,
including the Tibet Autonomous Region and other Tibetan
autonomous counties and prefectures, as part of the People's
Republic of China until the Secretary of State reports to the
appropriate congressional committees that the Government of
the People's Republic of China has reached a final negotiated
agreement on Tibet with the Dalai Lama or his representatives
or with democratically elected leaders of the Tibetan
people.''.
(c) Statement of Policy.--It is the policy of the United
States that--
(1) the Tibetan people are a people entitled to the right
of self-determination under international law, including the
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the
International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural
Rights and that their ability to exercise this right is
precluded by the current policies of the People's Republic of
China; and
(2) the conflict between Tibet and the People's Republic of
China is unresolved, and that the legal status of Tibet
remains to be determined in accordance with international
law.
(d) Sense of Congress.--It is the sense of Congress that--
(1) claims made by officials of the People's Republic of
China and the Chinese Communist Party that Tibet has been a
part of China since ancient times are historically false;
(2) the Government of the People's Republic of China has
failed to meet the expectations of the United States to
engage in meaningful dialogue with the Dalai Lama or his
representatives toward a peaceful settlement of the
unresolved conflict between Tibet and the People's Republic
of China; and
(3) United States public diplomacy efforts should counter
disinformation about Tibet from the Government of the
People's Republic of China and the Chinese Communist Party,
including disinformation about the history of Tibet, the
Tibetan people, and Tibetan institutions including that of
the Dalai Lama.
(e) Modifications to the Tibetan Policy Act of 2002.--
(1) Tibet negotiations.--Section 613(b) of the Tibetan
Policy Act of 2002 (Public Law 107-228; 22 U.S.C. 6901 note)
is amended--
(A) in paragraph (2), by striking ``and'' at the end;
(B) in paragraph (3), by striking the period at the end and
inserting ``; and''; and
(C) by adding at the end the following:
``(4) efforts to counter disinformation about Tibet from
the Government of the People's Republic of China and the
Chinese Communist Party, including disinformation about the
history of Tibet, the Tibetan people, and Tibetan
institutions including that of the Dalai Lama.''.
(2) United states special coordinator for tibetan issues.--
Section 621(d) of the Tibetan Policy Act of 2002 (Public Law
107-228; 22 U.S.C. 6901 note) is amended--
(A) by redesignating paragraphs (6), (7), and (8) as
paragraphs (7), (8), and (9), respectively; and
(B) by inserting after paragraph (5) the following:
``(6) work to ensure that United States Government
statements and documents counter, as appropriate,
disinformation about Tibet from the Government of the
People's Republic of China and the Chinese Communist Party,
including disinformation about the history of Tibet, the
Tibetan people, and Tibetan institutions including that of
the Dalai Lama;''.
(3) Geographic definition of tibet.--The Tibetan Policy Act
of 2002 (Public Law 107-228; 22 U.S.C. 6901 note) is amended
by adding at the end the following:
``SEC. 622. GEOGRAPHIC DEFINITION OF TIBET.
``In this Act and in implementing policies relating to the
Tibetan people under other provisions of law, the term
`Tibet', unless otherwise specified, means--
``(1) the Tibet Autonomous Region; and
``(2) the Tibetan areas of Qinghai, Sichuan, Gansu, and
Yunnan provinces.''.
(f) Availability of Amounts to Counter Disinformation About
Tibet.--Amounts authorized to be appropriated or otherwise
made available to carry out section 201(c) of the Asia
Reassurance Initiative Act of 2018 (22 U.S.C. 2292 et seq.)
are authorized to be made available to counter disinformation
about Tibet from the Government of the People's Republic of
China and the Chinese Communist Party, including
disinformation about the history of Tibet, the Tibetan
people, and Tibetan institutions, including that of the Dalai
Lama.
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