[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 162 (2016), Part 6]
[House]
[Pages 8620-8626]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  2045
                                 TIBET

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Ms. McSally). Under the Speaker's announced 
policy of January 6, 2015, the Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Massachusetts (Mr. McGovern) for 30 minutes.


                             General Leave

  Mr. McGOVERN. Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to revise and 
extend my remarks and to enter additional materials into the Record.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Massachusetts?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. McGOVERN. Madam Speaker, this week, Washington, D.C., is blessed 
by the presence of His Holiness, the 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, 
who is visiting the city from June 12 through June 16 for several 
events and meetings. This visit provides us not only the opportunity to 
listen to the Dalai Lama speak about the modern world and confronting 
conflict, but also to take a look at the crisis that faces Tibet and 
the Tibetan people and ask why the United States is not doing more to 
protect the rights and to support the autonomy of the Tibetan people.
  As we seek to comprehend the senseless violence of yesterday's 
massacre of at least 49 people in Orlando, Florida, and the wounding of 
more than 50 others--most members of the LGBT community and many of 
Hispanic descent, all just enjoying their lives on a Saturday night--I 
can think of no better source of words of wisdom, tolerance, and peace 
than of His Holiness, the Dalai Lama.
  Madam Speaker, I include in the Record an opinion piece by the Dalai 
Lama, entitled: ``The Dalai Lama: Why I'm Hopeful About the World's 
Future.''

               [From the Washington Post, June 13, 2016]

        The Dalai Lama: Why I'm Hopeful About the World's Future

                          (By the Dalai Lama)

       The 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, is the spiritual leader 
     of Tibet. Since 1959, he has lived in exile in Dharamsala in 
     northern India.
       Almost six decades have passed since I left my homeland, 
     Tibet, and became a refugee. Thanks to the kindness of the 
     government and people of India, we Tibetans found a second 
     home where we could live in dignity and

[[Page 8621]]

     freedom, able to keep our language, culture and Buddhist 
     traditions alive.
       My generation has witnessed so much violence--some 
     historians estimate that more than 200 million people were 
     killed in conflicts in the 20th century.
       Today, there is no end in sight to the horrific violence in 
     the Middle East, which in the case of Syria has led to the 
     greatest refugee crisis in a generation. Appalling terrorist 
     attacks--as we were sadly reminded this weekend--have created 
     deep-seated fear. While it would be easy to feel a sense of 
     hopelessness and despair, it is all the more necessary in the 
     early years of the 21st century to be realistic and 
     optimistic.
       There are many reasons for us to be hopeful. Recognition of 
     universal human rights, including the right to self-
     determination, has expanded beyond anything imagined a 
     century ago. There is growing international consensus in 
     support of gender equality and respect for women. 
     Particularly among the younger generation, there is a 
     widespread rejection of war as a means of solving problems. 
     Across the world, many are doing valuable work to prevent 
     terrorism, recognizing the depths of misunderstanding and the 
     divisive idea of ``us'' and ``them'' that is so dangerous. 
     Significant reductions in the world's arsenal of nuclear 
     weapons mean that setting a timetable for further reductions 
     and ultimately the elimination of nuclear weapons--a 
     sentiment President Obama recently reiterated in Hiroshima, 
     Japan--no longer seem a mere dream.
       The notion of absolute victory for one side and defeat of 
     another is thoroughly outdated; in some situations, following 
     conflict, suffering arises from a state that cannot be 
     described as either war or peace. Violence inevitably incurs 
     further violence. Indeed, history has shown that nonviolent 
     resistance ushers in more durable and peaceful democracies 
     and is more successful in removing authoritarian regimes than 
     violent struggle.
       It is not enough simply to pray. There are solutions to 
     many of the problems we face; new mechanisms for dialogue 
     need to be created, along with systems of education to 
     inculcate moral values. These must be grounded in the 
     perspective that we all belong to one human family and that 
     together we can take action to address global challenges.
       It is encouraging that we have seen many ordinary people 
     across the world displaying great compassion toward the 
     plight of refugees, from those who have rescued them from the 
     sea, to those who have taken them in and provided friendship 
     and support. As a refugee myself, I feel a strong empathy for 
     their situation and when we see their anguish, we should do 
     all we can to help them. I can also understand the fears of 
     people in host countries, who may feel overwhelmed. The 
     combination of circumstances draws attention to the vital 
     importance of collective action toward restoring genuine 
     peace to the lands these refugees are fleeing.
       Tibetan refugees have firsthand experience of living 
     through such circumstances and, although we have not yet been 
     able to return to our homeland, we are grateful for the 
     humanitarian support we have received through the decades 
     from friends, including the people of the United States.
       A further source for hope is the genuine cooperation among 
     the world's nations toward a common goal evident in the Paris 
     accord on climate change. When global warming threatens the 
     health of this planet that is our only home, it is only by 
     considering the larger global interest that local and 
     national interests will be met.
       I have a personal connection to this issue because Tibet is 
     the world's highest plateau and is an epicenter of global 
     climate change, warming nearly three times as fast as the 
     rest of the world. It is the largest repository of water 
     outside the two poles and the source of the Earth's most 
     extensive river system, critical to the world's 10 most 
     densely populated nations.
       To find solutions to the environmental crisis and violent 
     conflicts that confront us in the 21st century, we need to 
     seek new answers. Even though I am a Buddhist monk, I believe 
     that these solutions lie beyond religion in the promotion of 
     a concept I call secular ethics. This is an approach to 
     educating ourselves based on scientific findings, common 
     experience and common sense--a more universal approach to the 
     promotion of our shared human values.
       Over more than three decades, my discussions with 
     scientists, educators and social workers from across the 
     globe have revealed common concerns. As a result we have 
     developed a system that incorporates an education of the 
     heart, but one that is based on study of the workings of the 
     mind and emotions through scholarship and scientific research 
     rather than religious practice. Since we need moral 
     principles--compassion, respect for others, kindness, taking 
     responsibility--in every field of human activity, we are 
     working to help schools and colleges create opportunities for 
     young people to develop greater self-awareness, to learn how 
     to manage destructive emotions and cultivate social skills. 
     Such training is being incorporated into the curriculum of 
     many schools in North America and Europe--I am involved with 
     work at Emory University on a new curriculum on secular 
     ethics that is being introduced in several schools in India 
     and the United States.
       It is our collective responsibility to ensure that the 21st 
     century does not repeat the pain and bloodshed of the past. 
     Because human nature is basically compassionate, I believe it 
     is possible that decades from now we will see an era of 
     peace--but we must work together as global citizens of a 
     shared planet.

  Mr. McGOVERN. Madam Speaker, by way of welcoming the Dalai Lama, I 
would like to say a few words about him and his leadership.
  The Dalai Lama, the spiritual leader of Tibet, describes himself as a 
simple Buddhist monk. He was recognized as the reincarnation of the 
previous 13th Dalai Lama when he was only 2 years old, and he was only 
6 when he began his monastic studies.
  But years before he finished his education, when he was still a 
teenager, he was called upon to assume full political power after 
China's invasion of Tibet in 1950. When in 1954 he went to Beijing for 
peace talks with Mao Zedong and other Chinese leaders, he was not yet 
20. Five years later, with the brutal suppression of the Tibetan 
national uprising in Lhasa by Chinese troops, the Dalai Lama was forced 
to escape into exile. Since 1959, he has been living in northern India. 
That is more than 60 years of exile.
  I have had the opportunity to meet the Dalai Lama on a number of 
occasions. He is a warm, generous, compassionate man with a great sense 
of humor. He is also a man of peace. He has consistently advocated for 
policies of nonviolence even in the face of extreme aggression. In 
1989, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his nonviolent struggle 
for the liberation of Tibet. He has received over 150 awards, honorary 
doctorates, and prizes in recognition of his message of peace, 
nonviolence, interreligious understanding, universal responsibility, 
and compassion. His is a voice for tolerance.
  Unfortunately, as we all know, Tibet has not been liberated. In the 
late 1990s, under the Dalai Lama's leadership, the Tibetan people 
formally put aside the goal of independence. Since then, they have been 
fighting, peacefully, for their autonomy within China; but that 
struggle is not going very well today. Part of the reason it is not 
going very well is that the international community seems to be more 
interested in not offending China than in vigorously supporting the 
human rights of the Tibetan people. It seems to me that my own 
government has fallen into that trap.
  I am looking forward to the Dalai Lama's visit this week, and I know 
that the leadership of the House and my colleagues on both sides of the 
aisle will welcome him with the greatest appreciation; but it is easy 
to praise the Dalai Lama, to meet with him, and to benefit from his 
teachings, yet not lift a finger to help the people of Tibet. The Dalai 
Lama and the Tibetan people deserve better.
  Madam Speaker, last November I had the honor of joining Democratic 
Leader Nancy Pelosi and my colleagues Joyce Beatty, Ted Lieu, Alan 
Lowenthal, Betty McCollum, and Tim Walz on a historic congressional 
delegation to Tibet, Beijing, and Hong Kong.
  I have long raised concerns about China's human rights record in 
Tibet. As the first congressional delegation to enter Tibet since the 
2008 unrest, our trip was an important opportunity to raise the voices 
of the Tibetan people, and we did just that. Everywhere we went, in 
every meeting we had, we talked about Tibet. We talked about the Dalai 
Lama and his strong bipartisan support in Congress. We talked about the 
importance of respect for people's cultures and religions, and we 
talked about the need to strengthen and protect all of the human rights 
of the Tibetan people.
  During the delegation visit, we felt we had a good exchange with 
Chinese officials and, especially, with university students both in 
Tibet and in Beijing. We saw our trip--and especially the delegation's 
visit to Tibet--as an important gesture by the Chinese Government; but 
it was also clear to us that our visit was only a first step and that 
much more needed to be done. Since our return, we have been looking for 
ways to build on our visit and to advance the reforms needed for 
meaningful change.

[[Page 8622]]

  Here are some of the things we identified that need to happen 
specifically with regard to Tibet:
  The United States needs to open a consulate in Lhasa, Tibet;
  More Members of Congress, more journalists, more members of 
parliament from other nations, and more people in general, including 
members of the Tibetan community here in the United States, need to be 
allowed to travel freely to Tibet;
  Tibetans in China need to be able to travel freely as well;
  The dialogue between Beijing and the Dalai Lama to resolve 
longstanding issues of Tibetan autonomy, religious practice, culture, 
language, and heritage needs to be renewed.
  I came away from our visit believing even more strongly that the 
Dalai Lama is part of the solution to resolving Tibetan grievances.
  Too often during our trip, we heard from some Chinese officials--not 
all, but some--expressions and characterizations of Tibet and the Dalai 
Lama that showed that some people's minds and imaginations are stuck in 
the past, in old prejudices. This concerned me greatly. The issue is 
not the past. The issue is the future of Tibet and its people.
  Renewing dialogue must be genuine and productive, and it cannot be 
just another guise for wasting time or going through the motions. We 
need to see a dialogue based on good faith and on the mutual need to 
resolve outstanding issues in a way that is acceptable to all parties.
  Undertaking such an initiative would be a positive reflection on the 
capacity of Chinese authorities to engage in constructive dialogue, and 
it would increase confidence the world over that the government is 
committed to reconciliation and ending abuses in Tibet.
  The Chinese Government has invested a great deal in Tibet, and that 
was very clear to us, but that investment must not come at the price of 
an entire culture. You cannot confine a people's culture and heritage--
their very sense of identity--to a museum or to a market of 
handicrafts.
  The human rights of the Tibetan people must be strengthened and 
protected, and I returned from the delegation visit with a renewed 
commitment to continue to work with my colleagues in Congress, with 
Leader Pelosi, to push for the reforms that are needed to achieve this, 
and this is the reason we are here today.
  Madam Speaker, I yield to our distinguished Democratic leader, who 
led this historic visit to Tibet, Leader Pelosi.
  Ms. PELOSI. I thank the gentleman for yielding and for calling this 
Special Order this evening.
  Special it is, indeed, as we welcome His Holiness, the Dalai Lama, to 
Washington, D.C. Tomorrow, in a bipartisan way, House and Senate 
Democrats and Republicans will join in welcoming His Holiness. He is 
among one of the things we all agree on--his greatness and the honor he 
brings us with his visit.
  Madam Speaker, I completely associate myself with every word of Mr. 
McGovern's comments. He talked about our visit to Lhasa, to Tibet, and 
to other places in China. We called him Mr. McGovern's spiritual leader 
of our visit. As the co-chair of the Lantos Human Rights Commission of 
the House of Representatives, he truly believes, as His Holiness says 
and as I heard him say today, that we are all God's children, and that 
is how we have to treat each other.
  In listening to our colleagues of the previous Special Order, who 
were members of the Congressional Black Caucus, who discussed various 
issues of justice--social justice, health justice, and the rest--and 
who talked about Orlando, it focuses on how special His Holiness' visit 
is. In coming the day after the terrible massacre of many in the LGBT 
community, it is really something that should be a comfort to all of 
us. His Holiness' message of peace, of compassion, of respect for every 
person is a message of hope that is needed today, tomorrow, and the 
next day, which are the days His Holiness will be here, but it is 
needed as we go forward as well. He is a truly great man. When I awoke 
this morning so sad about what happened yesterday, I was full of hope 
about hearing what His Holiness would have to say about our 
responsibilities to each other.
  Our colleague mentioned our November CODEL. It was something that 
many of us had been hoping to do for many years. We had been trying for 
25 years to get a visa to visit Tibet, and the President of China gave 
us that opportunity. We went there to see, to learn, to observe, and to 
make judgments. We did not go there to burn bridges; we went there to 
build bridges. As Congressman McGovern said, we saw some areas in which 
we could work together, and we came back with some resolve, hopefully, 
to get other bridge building done.
  I have seen His Holiness on many occasions. When he first came to 
Congress, I was brand new in Congress. He came under the auspices of 
Mr. Lantos, for whom the Human Rights Commission is named, and he 
brought us together in a group to listen to His Holiness' plan of 
action. It included respect for the environment and autonomy for Tibet 
but not independence. That was over 25 years ago that he had been 
talking about autonomy. While sometimes the Chinese Government doesn't 
accept that characterization, it is why many of us support His 
Holiness. As I mentioned earlier, he has friends on both sides of the 
aisle, on both sides of the Capitol and also down Pennsylvania Avenue.
  I remember with great pride when we presented His Holiness with a 
Congressional Gold Medal--again, with great bipartisan support. 
President Bush came. Not only that--and a bigger honor yet--Mrs. Laura 
Bush came as well. What an honor for His Holiness and what an honor for 
our country that our President showed that respect.
  On that day when we talked about it, we had so many good things to 
say about His Holiness. One of the things was his unstinting support 
for peace as a positive example of how to make the world a better 
place--peace in the world, peace in our country, peace in our 
communities, peace in our families, peace in ourselves. That inner 
peace is what he has been preaching.
  On this trip, we can see His Holiness as he embodies the wisdom and 
the courage to maintain what he calls a peaceful mind in a modern 
world, and we look forward to hearing what he has to say about that. In 
addition to saying we are all God's children and of the respect we need 
to have for each other and of the compassion that he advocates, His 
Holiness says that great changes start with individuals.
  I will tell this story, which, I think, some may find amusing.
  His Holiness is a gentle man. While he has big challenges and while 
he is the leader and the champion in the advocacy--I wouldn't use the 
word ``fight'' as he doesn't like words like that--for respecting the 
culture, the language, and the religion of the Tibetan people and the 
autonomy for them as a people, he does so in a very gentle way.
  I met him here in the Capitol for the first time, and I saw him in 
Rio at the time of the Earth Summit in 1992, where he spoke as a 
religious leader. We also acknowledged that he was the first winner of 
the Nobel Prize--it was part of his proclamation and why he won--for 
his contribution in protecting the environment. It was the first 
environmental consideration in a Nobel Prize. How beautiful that was. I 
have seen him here many times, in California, in New York--you name 
it--and in Dharamsala, which is where he lives in India. Anyway, we 
were taking a delegation there to visit--a bipartisan, large delegation 
to visit him there.

                              {time}  2100

  And we saw some of the people right after the crackdown in Tibet--
coincidentally, we had our trip planned for a long time, but it 
happened to occur right after that crackdown. So many people were 
coming in from Tibet telling us what they saw there. It was pretty 
brutal, the reports that they gave us, and it was so sad.
  So later in the day, when we had lunch with the couple hundred lamas 
from all over India, that part of India, many of them Tibetan Buddhist 
lamas, I explained what I had seen that morning and how transformative 
it was to

[[Page 8623]]

see people get firsthand knowledge of the humanity of man and that we 
had to do something about it.
  We had our Members there. One was going to help with this, and one 
was going to help with that. You know, there were all these things that 
we were going to do to help these people.
  And then I said what I always said: if freedom-loving people do not 
speak out against oppression in Tibet because of our commercial 
interests with China, then we surrender all moral authority to speak on 
behalf of human rights anywhere in the world. Tibet remains a challenge 
to the conscience of the world, and we must respond to that.
  When I was finished, His Holiness spoke to the lamas there, and he 
said to the lamas: Now, let us all pray so that we could rid Nancy of 
her negative attitudes.
  Well, I thought I was making the fight, but I am not going to be 
holier than His Holiness. A gentle approach is what he thinks is best 
and respectful. I take some level of pride in telling our Chinese 
friends--and they are our friends. He is your friend, too, in terms of 
damping down any, shall we say, exuberance when we learn what we 
consider to be grave injustices and human rights violations.
  In honor of His Holiness' 80th birthday last summer--Richard Gere is 
the chairman of the International Campaign for Tibet and has really 
been a champion for His Holiness and the Tibetan people--Richard Gere 
and I wrote a Wall Street Journal op-ed, and in it we said there is no 
better way to honor the Dalai Lama than by standing with him and the 
Tibetan people vowing to keep their cause alive. It is a beautiful 
culture, indeed.
  To hear His Holiness, as I did today, speak in Tibetan, which I 
didn't understand except through translation, and have him explain that 
the Tibetan language is a beautiful language in specifics, in terms of 
explaining Buddhism and matters of faith and philosophy because of its 
intricacies. It enhances your appreciation and understanding of 
Buddhism to hear it in the words of the Tibetan language, and 
translated from Tibetan in terms of the intricacies of the language 
that you would need to translate it into English or another language.
  So this language is important to the faith of Buddhism. It is 
important to the culture. It is important to the families. It is 
important, again, to the education of the children. And the attempts on 
the part of the Chinese to resettle Han Chinese, dilute the population 
of Tibetans in Tibet, is something that would be just really wrong, 
just plain and simple wrong. Again, it is a challenge to the 
conscience.
  This morning, His Holiness spoke at the United States Institute of 
Peace, and he said real change comes through action. He said: You all 
ask me for my blessing, and people say nice things, but real change 
comes through action.
  If I understood it correctly in the translation, he said that karma 
is not necessarily just about fate. It is about acting, action, taking 
action. So we all need to take action in what we believe in.
  Again, every opportunity I get--and I thank the distinguished 
gentleman, the conscience of our codel and chair of the Tom Lantos 
Commission on Human Rights. Every opportunity I get, and this is one of 
them that I treasure on the floor of the House, to say what an honor it 
is to even be in the same room, the same place with His Holiness, the 
Dalai Lama, a revered figure throughout the world.
  The Dalai Lama's name is synonymous with everything that is good, and 
that is what we emphasized to our Chinese host. We had to move, as Mr. 
McGovern said, beyond their outmoded thinking into another place.
  In terms of His Holiness, tomorrow when he comes to the Capitol, I 
will look forward to thanking him for his tremendous, inspiring 
leadership. ``Inspiration'' is such an inadequate word when it comes to 
what he is. We thank him for sharing the strength of his determination 
in pursuit of peace.
  He was speaking about it today in terms of something that might take 
some years. We may not see it, some of us--you might, Mr. McGovern; I 
might not--a time when the world was completely at peace.
  When he laughs, it is something very special. We hear the joyousness 
that transcends despair. In his words, we receive a message of hope and 
humanity when he is with us. In his presence, we feel inspired to make 
a difference, to make a difference in ourselves and in our world.
  I talked earlier about President Bush coming to the Congressional 
Gold Medal ceremony, and I know that the President will be receiving 
His Holiness this week. Presidents have done that over time, which is a 
source of great pride for us in our country and in the relationship 
between His Holiness and our President. But it goes a long way back.
  I will just close by saying, when His Holiness was a very little boy 
and he became the Dalai Lama, he received a gift from the President of 
the United States, Franklin Delano Roosevelt; and he loved it because 
it was a watch, and the watch had the phases of the Moon.
  Actually, my Apple watch has the phases of the Sun.
  The watch had the phases of the Moon, and how prescient President 
Franklin Roosevelt was to send this little boy this watch, who would 
become so interested in science and thinking and the brain and faith 
and what the connection was among all of those factors.
  But again, the relationship between an American President and His 
Holiness, the Dalai Lama, goes back to when he was a little boy, and it 
persists into his eighties now. That is something that, again, brings 
luster to us in our country that we have such a beautiful relationship 
with such a spiritual figure in the world.
  So I look forward to welcoming him here tomorrow. Again, as I said to 
him today: You could not have come at a better time when we are so in 
mourning about what happened in Orlando to our LGBT loved ones, to 
their families, to the community in Orlando. We are grateful to the 
response of our first responders there and our law enforcement 
officials and local officials there.
  Again, it is the spirituality that we need to recover and draw 
strength to go forward to make sure that we minimize any such actions 
that hopefully they never happen again. How wonderful that His Holiness 
is here to bring us that comfort.
  With that, I am pleased and with great gratitude to the gentleman 
from Massachusetts (Mr. McGovern) for being such a champion of human 
rights throughout the world. He and Mr. Pitts, his Republican 
counterpart, as co-chairs of the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission, do 
a great service to our Congress and to our country. They honor our 
values, the respect for the dignity and worth of every person, 
recognizing that we are all God's children. We all have a spark of 
divinity in us, and they always are speaking truth to power. I thank 
them for their commitment and for their courage, and to you, Mr. 
McGovern, for calling this Special Order today.
  Mr. McGOVERN. Madam Speaker, I thank the distinguished leader for 
being here, and I appreciate her leadership on this issue and her 
leadership on human rights issues.
  One of the things that compels us to be here today is our continued 
concern about the human rights situation for the Tibetan people. And 
whether it is the latest annual report from the U.S. Commission on 
International Religious Freedom or whether it is the U.S. State 
Department's most recent human rights report, or almost any other 
report, quite frankly, by any major world respected human rights 
organization, we see that the conditions for the Tibetan people really 
are quite dire.
  The Human Rights Watch report, entitled, ``Relentless'' talks about 
the detention and prosecution of Tibetans from 2013 to 2015 under 
China's ``stability maintenance'' campaign. The report is based on 479 
cases of Tibetans detained or tried for political expression or 
criticism of government policy.
  Human Rights Watch only included cases on which its staff was able to 
obtain credible information. One important source was the terrific 
database on political prisoners in China that was maintained by the 
Congressional Executive Commission on China. Without

[[Page 8624]]

going into a lot of details, let me just highlight a couple of 
takeaways.
  Tibetans are now being detained for activities that used to be 
considered minor offences or not politically sensitive. Many of those 
detained and prosecuted come from parts of society not previously known 
for dissent: local community leaders, environmental activists, and 
villagers involved in social and cultural activities, as well as local 
writers and singers. I can go on and on and on.
  I include into the Record the Human Rights Watch report, entitled, 
``Relentless,'' Madam Speaker.

    Relentless: Detention and Prosecution of Tibetans Under China's 
                   ``Stability Maintenance'' Campaign


                                Summary

       We have followed the law in striking out and relentlessly 
     pounding at illegal organizations and key figures, and 
     resolutely followed the law in striking at the illegal 
     organizations and key figures who follow the 14th Dalai Lama 
     clique in carrying out separatist, infiltration, and sabotage 
     activities, knocking out the hidden dangers and soil for 
     undermining Tibet's stability, and effectively safeguarding 
     the state's utmost interests [and] society's overall 
     interests.--Statement by Chen Quanguo, Tibet Autonomous 
     Region Party Secretary, December 2013
       This report documents the Chinese government's detention, 
     prosecution, and conviction of Tibetans for largely peaceful 
     activities from 2013 to 2015. Our research shows diminishing 
     tolerance by authorities for forms of expression and assembly 
     protected under international law. This has been marked by an 
     increase in state control over daily life, increasing 
     criminalization of nonviolent forms of protest, and at times 
     disproportionate responses to local protests. These measures, 
     part of a policy known as weiwen or ``stability 
     maintenance,'' have led authorities to expand the range of 
     activities and issues targeted for repression in Tibetan 
     areas, particularly in the countryside.
       The analysis presented here is based on our assessment of 
     479 cases for which we were able to obtain credible 
     information. All cases are of Tibetans detained or tried from 
     2013 to 2015 for political expression or criticism of 
     government policy--``political offenses.''
       Our cases paint a detailed picture not available elsewhere. 
     Stringent limitations on access to Tibet and on information 
     flows out of Tibet mean we cannot conclude definitively that 
     our cases are representative of the unknown overall number of 
     political detentions of Tibetans during this period. But they 
     are indicative of the profound impact stability maintenance'' 
     policies have had in those areas, and of shifts in the types 
     of protest and protester Chinese authorities are targeting 
     there.
       Information on the cases comes from the Chinese government, 
     exile organizations, and foreign media. Of the 479 detainees, 
     153 were reported to have been sent for trial, convicted, and 
     sentenced to imprisonment. The average sentence they received 
     was 5.7 years in prison. As explained in the methodology 
     section below, the actual number of Tibetans detained and 
     prosecuted during this period for political offenses was 
     likely significantly higher.
       Many detentions documented here were for activities that 
     the Chinese authorities previously considered to be minor 
     offenses or not politically sensitive. Many of those detained 
     came from segments of society not previously associated with 
     dissent. In addition, many of the detentions took place in 
     rural areas where political activity had not previously been 
     reported. From 2008 to 2012, the Tibetan parts of Sichuan 
     province had posted the highest numbers of protests and 
     detentions on the Tibetan plateau, but in 2013 the epicenter 
     of detentions shifted to the central and western areas of the 
     Tibetan plateau, called the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) 
     since 1965, which until 1950 had been under the government of 
     the Dalai Lama.
       Our research found that many of those detained and 
     prosecuted were local community leaders, environmental 
     activists, and villagers involved in social and cultural 
     activities, as well as local writers and singers. In the 
     previous three decades, the authorities had rarely accused 
     people from these sectors of Tibetan society of involvement 
     in political unrest. Buddhist monks and nuns, who constituted 
     over 90 percent of political detainees in Tibet in the 1980s, 
     represent less than 40 percent of the 479 cases documented 
     here.
       Almost all the protests and detentions identified in this 
     report occurred in small towns or rural townships and 
     villages rather than in cities, where most protests and 
     detentions in prior years were reported to have taken place. 
     This suggests that dissent has increased in rural Tibetan 
     areas, where nearly 80 percent of Tibetans live.
       Our data also shows an overall decline in the total number 
     of Tibetans detained for political offenses between 2013 and 
     2015, though this may be an artifact of the limitations on 
     information, detailed in the methodology section below. 
     Notably, however, the totals for these three years are 
     significantly higher than for the 10 years before 2008 when 
     stability maintenance policies were expanded following major 
     protests centered in Lhasa (Ch.: Lasa), the capital of the 
     TAR.
       The changing nature of unrest and politicized detention in 
     Tibet correlates with new phases in the stability maintenance 
     campaign in the TAR and other Tibetan areas. Since 2011, 
     authorities have intensified social control and surveillance 
     at the grassroots level, particularly in the rural areas of 
     the TAR. This has included the transfer of some 21,000 
     officials to villages and monasteries in the TAR, where they 
     are tasked with implementing new management, security, and 
     propaganda operations, and, more recently, the deployment of 
     nearly 10,000 police in Tibetan villages in Qinghai. This has 
     led to a surge in the creation of local Communist Party 
     organizations, government offices, police posts, security 
     patrols, and political organizations in Tibetan villages and 
     towns, particularly in the TAR.
       The implementation of these measures appears to explain 
     many of the new patterns of detention, prosecution, and 
     sentencing documented in this report. It was only after the 
     rural phase of the stability maintenance policy in the TAR 
     was implemented from late 2011 that the number of protests 
     and resulting detentions and convictions increased 
     dramatically in that region.
       These detentions, occurring primarily in rural areas, 
     indicate that the stability maintenance policy in the TAR has 
     entered a third phase. The first phase entailed paramilitary 
     operations in the immediate wake of the 2008 protests in 
     Lhasa, when the authorities detained several thousand people 
     suspected of involvement in those protests or associated 
     rioting. The second phase, which began in late 2011 and is 
     ongoing, involved the transfer of officials to run security 
     and propaganda operations in villages, as described above. 
     The third phase, which dates to early 2013, has involved 
     increasing use of the surveillance and security mechanisms 
     established during the second phase in rural villages of the 
     TAR to single out activities deemed to be precursors of 
     unrest. This has meant that formerly anodyne activities have 
     become the focus of state attention and punishment, including 
     social activities by villagers that had not previously been 
     put under sustained scrutiny by the security forces.
       In the eastern Tibetan areas--comprising parts of Qinghai, 
     Sichuan, Gansu, and Yunnan provinces--politicized detentions 
     also appear to correlate with stability maintenance measures. 
     But in these areas, the government's measures have been aimed 
     primarily at stopping self-immolations by Tibetans protesting 
     Chinese rule, most of which have taken place in the eastern 
     areas. Beginning in December 2012 the authorities there 
     conducted an intensified drive to end self-immolations among 
     Tibetans that resulted in a sharp increase in detentions and 
     prosecutions of Tibetans for alleged connections to self-
     immolations, often with tenuous legal basis.
       The government's introduction of grassroots stability 
     maintenance mechanisms in the TAR and of measures against 
     self-immolation in the eastern areas, including in many 
     previously quiet rural areas, has resulted in certain Tibetan 
     localities becoming sites of repeated protests and 
     detentions, producing what could be called protest ``cluster 
     sites,'' previously unseen in Tibetan areas. These localities 
     saw greater numbers of politicized detentions, recurrent 
     cycles of protest and detention, higher average sentencing 
     rates compared to other areas, and longer sentences for 
     relatively minor offenses.
       During 2013-2015, lay and religious leaders of rural 
     communities often received unusually heavy sentences for 
     expressions of dissent, especially if they were from a 
     protest cluster site. Having a sensitive image or text on 
     one's cellphone or computer could also lead to a long prison 
     sentence, especially though not only if it had been sent to 
     other people. Among those who received the longest sentences 
     were people who tried to assist victims of self-immolations, 
     leaders of protests against mining or government construction 
     projects, and organizers of village opposition to unpopular 
     decisions by local officials. Such activities, most of which 
     were not explicitly political and did not directly challenge 
     the legitimacy of the state, received markedly longer 
     sentences than people shouting slogans or distributing 
     leaflets in support of Tibetan independence.
       The incidents described in this report indicate that 
     outbursts of unrest and waves of politicized detentions 
     occurred in specific localities at certain times rather than 
     being evenly dispersed across the Tibetan areas. But the 
     range of locations and the different social levels of 
     protesters involved suggest that political, environmental, 
     and cultural discontent is widespread among Tibetans in many 
     parts of the plateau.
       Deaths and ill-health of detainees also continued to be a 
     serious problem in the period covered by this study. Fourteen 
     of those detained, 2.9 percent of the total, were reported to 
     have died in custody or shortly after release, allegedly as a 
     result of mistreatment.
       The cases also involve the detention of children, including 
     a 14 and a 15-year-old, both monks, and at least one 11-year-
     old

[[Page 8625]]

     child detained after his father self-immolated.
       The detentions, prosecutions, and convictions documented 
     here reflect the impact of intensive new efforts by officials 
     in Tibetan areas to prevent any repeat of the Tibet-wide 
     protests that occurred in the spring of 2008. Yet the new 
     policies have led to apparently unprecedented cycles of 
     discontent in certain rural areas, and an overall increase in 
     the types of activities that are treated as criminal 
     challenges to the authority of the Communist Party or the 
     Chinese state. The failure of the central government and 
     local authorities to end these abusive policies and roll back 
     intrusive security and surveillance measures raises the 
     prospect of an intensified cycle of repression and resistance 
     in a region already enduring extraordinary restrictions on 
     basic human rights.


                            Recommendations

     To the Government of China
       Unconditionally release from custody all persons detained 
     without charge or convicted for peacefully exercising their 
     rights to freedom of expression and belief, or for other 
     conduct protected by international human rights law.
       Allow independent observers--including journalists, human 
     rights monitors, and United Nations special procedures--
     unimpeded access to all areas covered by the ``stability 
     maintenance'' campaign to verify the extent of human rights 
     violations stemming from the campaign's implementation.
       Ensure that all persons taken into custody have immediate 
     access to lawyers and family members. Those taken into 
     custody should be released unless promptly brought before a 
     court and charged with an offense.
       End the collective punishment of community members for the 
     actions, criminal or not, of local leaders or other members 
     of their community.
       Conduct credible, transparent, and impartial investigations 
     into all incidents from 2013 to 2015 that resulted in alleged 
     extrajudicial killings, or alleged torture or other ill-
     treatment in custody. Make the findings of those 
     investigations public and fairly prosecute anyone responsible 
     for such abuses.
       Conduct credible, transparent, and impartial investigations 
     into arbitrary detentions and deaths stemming from the March 
     2008 protests in Lhasa and across Tibetan areas.
       End interference by officials, party representatives, and 
     the security forces in monasteries and other religious 
     institutions.
     To the United Nations
       The UN secretary-general should urge China to honor the 
     offer it made before the Human Rights Council in March 2009 
     to invite the UN high commissioner for human rights ``at a 
     time mutually convenient to both sides.''
       The UN high commissioner for human rights should 
     specifically request to visit the Tibetan Autonomous Region 
     and Tibetan Autonomous Areas in Qinghai and Sichuan 
     provinces.
       The UN high commissioner for human rights, as well as the 
     special rapporteurs and working groups on torture, enforced 
     disappearances, and independence of judges and lawyers, 
     should reiterate their requests to visit the region to assess 
     the human rights situation.
     To Concerned Governments
       Urge the Chinese government to implement the following 
     measures in Tibetan areas: provide information on all persons 
     detained in connection with protests; end arbitrary detention 
     and torture and other ill-treatment in detention; impartially 
     investigate the use of excessive or lethal force by the 
     security forces; and discipline or prosecute as appropriate 
     members of the security forces implicated in serious abuses.
       Extend full and active support to the international 
     investigation into the Tibetan protests led by the Office of 
     the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.
       Urge the Chinese government to review the official policies 
     and practices in Tibetan areas that have contributed to 
     unrest.
       Speak out, when cooperating with China on law enforcement 
     or counterterrorism efforts, against the use of trumped-up 
     public order and terrorism allegations to persecute or 
     curtail the human rights of ethnic groups.

  Mr. McGOVERN. Madam Speaker, this Congress has weighed in many times 
and in many ways on United States policy concerning Tibet. One of the 
most significant things we did was to approve the Tibetan Policy Act of 
2002, which is supposed to guide U.S. Government policy. It encourages 
dialogue between the Chinese Government and representatives of the 
Dalai Lama, and it created the post of Special Coordinator for Tibetan 
Issues within the Department of State.
  Last July, in recognition of His Holiness, the Dalai Lama's 80th 
birthday, the House approved H. Res. 337, which cited the Tibetan 
Policy Act. In that resolution, Congress strongly encouraged the 
Government of the People's Republic of China and His Holiness to hold 
substantive dialogue, without preconditions, in order to address 
Tibetan grievances and secure a negotiated agreement for the Tibetan 
people.
  We also called for the establishment of a U.S. consulate in Lhasa.
  We urged the immediate and unconditional release of Tibetan political 
prisoners, including the 11th Panchen Lama, and Tenzin Delek Rinpoche, 
a Tibetan monk who tragically and unnecessarily died in Chinese custody 
shortly after.
  We called on the United States Government to underscore that any 
government's interference in the Tibetan reincarnation process is a 
violation of the internationally recognized right to religious freedom.
  We called upon the Government of China to allow U.S. officials and 
journalists and other citizens unrestricted access to Tibetan areas of 
China, as we allow Chinese officials and citizens access to the United 
States' territory.
  We asked that the United States and international governments, 
organizations, and civil society renew and reinforce initiatives to 
promote the preservation of the distinct religious, cultural, 
linguistic, and national identity of the Tibetan people.
  We urged the United States to use its voice and vote to encourage 
development organizations and agencies to design and implement 
development projects that fully comply with the Tibet Project 
principles. These principles are meant to ensure that the needs of the 
Tibetan people guide all development in Tibetan areas; that their 
projects respect Tibetan culture, traditions, knowledge, and wisdom; 
and that the development initiatives neither provide incentives for nor 
facilitate the migration and settlement of non-Tibetans into Tibet, nor 
the transfer of ownership of Tibetan land or natural resources to non-
Tibetans.
  All of these recommendations for what the United States Government 
should be doing are just as valid today as they were last year because 
very little progress has been made in the last year. I say ``very 
little'' because we have acknowledged the important gesture China made 
in allowing last fall's codel to travel to Tibet, but that is about all 
that has happened, and the Dalai Lama is about to be a year older.
  If we are not going to get moving on those longstanding 
recommendations, let me suggest some other things we could try. We 
could start a campaign to get China to allow the Dalai Lama to return 
to Tibet. Article 13 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights says 
that everyone has the right to freedom of movement and residence within 
the borders of each state and, two, everyone has the right to leave any 
country, including his own, and to return to his country. It is time to 
let the Dalai Lama return to his country.
  This House could pass a bill that I introduced, the Reciprocal Access 
to Tibet Act, basically saying that, if the Chinese Government 
restricts U.S. officials and U.S. citizens access to Tibet, then we 
should consider limiting the access of Chinese officials when they 
visit the United States.
  We could make sure that the U.S. Government invites the Dalai Lama to 
every event on every occasion where his decades of knowledge, 
experience, and reflections would be helpful for addressing the world's 
problems. The Dalai Lama is a world spiritual and philosophical leader 
who should be contributing to global debates on countering violent 
extremism and on fostering peace in war-torn countries. These are just 
a couple of topics on which I am convinced we could all benefit from 
his wisdom.
  We could insist that Tibet be part of our climate change discussions 
with China. Climate change is one of the few topics on which the U.S. 
and China have found common ground. It is a critically important topic 
for Tibet, given its fragile environment and its critically important 
reserves of freshwater. Tibet is warming three times as fast as the 
rest of the world, but it is absent from the global climate change 
debate.

                              {time}  2115

  The Chinese leadership has acknowledged at the highest levels the 
scale of the environmental crisis it faces. Conserving the Tibetan 
Plateau is surely a

[[Page 8626]]

shared interest, and it can only be achieved with the full 
participation of the Tibetan people.
  It is time to rally around some of these ideas or to find others. It 
is time to do something different on Tibet. It is time for us to think 
differently and to think out of the box on ways that we can advance 
dialogue with China, not in a confrontational way, but in ways to get 
China to understand the importance of recognizing the human rights of 
the Tibetan people and recognizing the importance of His Holiness the 
Dalai Lama and allowing him to return to his homeland.
  Madam Speaker, many of my colleagues wanted to be here today to speak 
on this. I include the statements of the gentleman from Massachusetts 
(Mr. Capuano) and the gentleman from Minnesota (Mr. Walz) in the 
Record.
  Last week the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Smith), the gentleman 
from Wisconsin (Mr. Pocan), and the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. 
Sensenbrenner) submitted their statements to the Record.
  In closing, again, I would urge all of my colleagues to join with the 
leader and myself in welcoming His Holiness the Dalai Lama to 
Washington, D.C., to the United States, wishing him good health and 
praying that reconciliation between the Tibetan people and the Chinese 
Government happens very, very soon.
  Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. WALZ. Madam Speaker, I believe that the U.S. must remain 
committed to defending human rights and personal freedoms both within 
the U.S. and abroad. As our country continues to advance U.S.-China 
relations, we must never forget the people of Tibet. Restrictions on 
human rights and religious freedom in Tibet have been a growing concern 
to many. As a member of the Congressional Executive Committee on China, 
I share this concern. While Chinese investments have undoubtedly helped 
to modernize Tibet, these investments must not come at the expense of 
the rich cultural, linguistic, and religious heritage of the Tibetan 
people. We must continue to support the protection of traditional 
Tibetan culture.
  As you may know, I had the opportunity to be one of the first groups 
of Americans to travel to China and teach Chinese high school students 
in 1989. During that trip, I also traveled to Tibet in 1990 and, most 
recently, I have returned as a member of the Congressional Delegation 
visiting China and Tibet. The boosted economic growth, higher household 
incomes, and constructed railway projects have facilitated the rapid 
modernization of the Tibet Autonomous Region. However, we need to 
continue to have constructive dialogues with China to ensure the 
preservation of traditional Tibetan culture and Tibet's fragile 
ecology.
  The Congressional Delegation trip to Tibet provided an opportunity to 
have a healthy dialogue, and I want to thank our Chinese friends for 
engaging with us in a discussion over the most sensitive issues 
concerning Tibet. As a southern Minnesotan, I understand the importance 
of spurring economic growth while simultaneously protecting natural 
wonders and culture. With this in mind, I believe that Tibetans must 
receive the necessary rights that will allow them to protect their 
culture, language, religion, and environment.
  The U.S. was founded on the ideas of universal freedom, and I believe 
that we must continue to urge the Chinese government to provide less 
regulated religious freedom to the Tibetans. I strongly believe that a 
critical step to achieving religious freedom in Tibet is including the 
Dalai Lama in future dialogues. I have had the pleasure of meeting His 
Holiness on three occasions, and I share his desire to preserve Tibetan 
culture and resolve other issues concerning Tibet. Lastly, I encourage 
the Chinese government to agree to establish a U.S. Consulate in the 
Tibetan city of Lhasa because I believe diplomacy and talking through 
our concerns and partnerships under the lens of transparency can only 
strengthen the relationship between our two countries.
  I will continue to support attempts to have productive dialogues with 
the Chinese government concerning the future of Tibet. Improvements in 
the quality of life, access to clean water, and access to health care 
services in Tibet must also include efforts to preserve the Tibetan way 
of life.
  Mr. CAPUANO. Madam Speaker, I rise to pay tribute to His Holiness the 
Dalai Lama. He has come to Washington to be present when the National 
Endowment for Democracy (NED) awards its Democracy Service Medal 
posthumously to another heroic spiritual leader, Tenzin Delek Rinpoche, 
who died in captivity in China in July of last year. The NED will also 
honor the Central Tibetan Administration, based in Dharamshala, India, 
for its commitment to freedom and democracy. It is fitting, too, as 
Prime Minister Nahrendra Modi concludes his visit, to recognize the 
generosity India has shown to exiles seeking political and religious 
liberty within its borders.
  With His Holiness and with all Tibetans, we grieve for all they have 
endured since the Chinese invasion, the sorrows of those who live in 
exile and the sufferings of those who remain. I am outraged that 
oppression and murder continue unabated. With His Holiness and with 
Tenzin Delek Rinpoche's cousin Geshe Nyima, representing his bereaved 
family, we mourn the shameful persecution and tragic death of a man 
committed to nonviolence. I urge the House to approve H. Res 584, 
urging President Obama to seek an independent investigation of his 
death and to call publicly for an end to the repressive policies of the 
People's Republic of China in Tibet. It has been in committee for many 
months.
  Elie Wiesel, like His Holiness awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, exhorts 
us: There may be times when we are powerless to prevent injustice, but 
there must never be a time when we fail to protest. Indeed, we do 
protest, and further we should never cease to hold oppressors 
accountable. The people of Tibet, inspired by the Dalai Lama, continue 
to cherish their culture and traditions. I wish them all his faith and 
courage, today, tomorrow and every day until Tibet is free.

                          ____________________