(TibetanReview.net, Apr29, 2018) – Releasing its latest annual report, the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) has on Apr 27 recommended that the Trump Administration re-designate China as a Country of Particular Concern, use the Global Magnitsky Act against Chinese officials and agencies responsible for human rights abuses, appoint a Special Coordinator for Tibetan Issues, and pass the Reciprocal Access to Tibet Act. The report says Tibet under Chinese rule has increasingly come to resemble a police state.
The report finds China’s strategies towards Tibet as ones of “antagonism and hostility,” describing pervasive controls on the practice of Tibetan Buddhism and heightened interference at the Larung Gar Buddhist Institute in Serta County of Sichuan Province, culminating in the eviction of almost 5,000 monks and nuns.
The report refers to China’s increasingly concerted efforts to isolate the Dalai Lama and punish Tibetans for expressing loyalty to him.
Commissioner Tenzin Dorjee, the first Tibetan-American to serve on USCIRF, has provided an additional statement to the section on China and included his thoughts on how to resolve the Tibet issue.
The commission’s other recommendations include integrating religious freedom into the Sino-American bilateral relationship, and sending regular Congressional delegations to visit areas deeply impacted by China’s severe religious freedom abuses, specifically naming Tibet and East Turkestan.
This report is a very good thing, should do its bit to help awaken Chinese officials from their obsolete repression policy. Congratulations and thanks to authors, testifiers and researchers.
The relationship between the superpowers, US, Russia and China is very tenuous, we are passing through a difficult phase of transition, in moving towards the establishment of an inclusive global community. The restitution of Tibet would provide a genuine and sympathetic outlet, with the ensuing and inter-cultural development of the remarkable Mahayana philosophies, transiting vast dimensions, India, Japan and Asia and on into the western societies, This excellent process would provide hope for the future of humanity, for peace and for human compassion and insight . Let us hope that the enlightened leadership of the Chinese people will soon take up the significant opportunity for a better world.