Whereas, on October 17, 2007, His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama (in this resolution referred to as the Dalai Lama ) was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal in recognition of his many enduring and outstanding contributions to peace, nonviolence, human rights, and religious understanding; Whereas, during his Congressional Gold Medal acceptance speech, Dalai Lama stated, The time has come for our dialogue with the Chinese leadership to progress towards the successful implementation of a meaningful autonomy for Tibet, as guaranteed in the Chinese constitution and detailed in the Chinese State Council White Paper on Regional Ethnic Autonomy of Tibet . ; Whereas the Dalai Lama continues to advance the goal of greater understanding, tolerance, harmony, and respect among the different religious faiths of the world through interfaith dialogue and outreach to other religious leaders; Whereas the Dalai Lama continues to use his moral authority to promote the concept of universal responsibility as a guiding tenet for how human beings should treat one another and the planet we share; Whereas, in the ten years since the Dalai Lama accepted the Congressional Gold Medal, China has implemented increasingly repressive policies in Tibet, including— (1) travel restrictions against Tibetans and United States citizens; (2) restrictive regulations on religious affairs; (3) censorship of Buddhist literature and information; (4) demolition of Tibetan Buddhist sites; (5) imprisonment of Tibetan prisoners of conscience; and (6) declarations that Decision-making power over the reincarnation of the Dalai Lama and over the end of survival of his lineage resides with the central government of China ; Whereas, on April 15, 2015, the Chinese State Council released a white paper entitled Tibet’s Path of Development Is Driven by an Irresistible Historical Tide , which stated that there is no prospect of [a high degree of autonomy for Tibet] ever coming to pass and furthermore stated that Tibet had been part of China since ancient times