Dharamshala: - There was a significant rise in the number of self-immolation protests by Tibetans in the reporting year, the report said, adding that the Chinese government failed to address the grievances of Tibetans and its policy of repression and blame game worsened the prevailing situation in Tibet, an annual report has said.
"Instead of addressing the grievances, the Chinese authorities strengthened a security crackdown based on the premise of 'stability maintenance' that infringed on Tibetans' freedoms of expression, association, and movement," said the annual report of the US Congressional Executive Commission on China.
The report on human rights and developments in China, including the situation in Tibet, released Thursday, October 10, noted the efforts made by the then US Special Coordinator for Tibetan issues Maria Otero, who urged the Chinese government to "engage in dialogue with the Dalai Lama or his representatives without preconditions" amid a wave of self-immolations since 2009 of Tibetans protesting Beijing's rule..
Otero, in December 2012, cited severe government controls on Tibetans, undermining of the Tibetan language, intensive surveillance and forced "disappearances" of peaceful Tibetan protesters and intellectuals as some of the reasons for the Tibetans' resentment.
On the Sino-Tibetan negotiations, the Congressional commission noted with optimism the views of a senior official of the Central Party School, Jin Wei, who said the Chinese government should resume talks with the representatives of His Holiness the Dalai Lama.
"In June 2013, Professor Jin Wei, with the Central Party School, stated in an interview that, if the Party 'can use creative ideas to break the impasse' in dialogue, it would 'promote social stability and prevent the creation of long-lasting nationality wounds'."
Jin Wei noted that the Party cannot simply treat (the Dalai Lama) as an enemy, and recommended restarting the talks, and suggested discussing that the Dalai Lama visit Hong Kong 'in his capacity as a religious leader', the report said.
The Congressional-Executive Commission on China however cited initial "potentially hopeful signs" from the new leadership, which took power in March, but said it soon became clear it would not "engage with or even tolerate" public discussion on key reforms.
"The report also recommended that Members of Congress and the Administration urge China to commit to a specific timetable to ratify the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and to raise this issue at the UN Human Rights Council's Universal Periodic Review of China's human rights record on October 22, 2013. " the statement noted.
The US commission urged US policymakers to press China to "stop coercion and violence against women during population-planning implementation and to clarify provisions under Chinese law that would protect women against such rights abuses."
"The U.S. Government repeatedly has urged the Chinese government to address the counterproductive policies in Tibetan areas that have created tensions and that threaten the distinct religious, cultural and linguistic identity of the Tibetan people," the United States Special Coordinator for Tibetan Issues Otero said in a statement issued on January 24, 2012.
"As I have noted previously, these policies include dramatically expanded Chinese government controls on religious life and practice; ongoing "patriotic education" campaigns within monasteries that require monks to denounce the Dalai Lama; the permanent placement of Chinese officials in monasteries; increasingly intensive surveillance, arbitrary detentions and disappearances of Tibetans; and restrictions on and imprisonment of some families and friends of self-immolators. Over the last year, Chinese government security and judicial officials also have detained and imprisoned Tibetan writers, artists, intellectuals, and cultural advocates who criticized Chinese government policies," Otero stated.
"We call on the Chinese government to resume substantive, results-oriented dialogue with the Dalai Lama or his representatives to address the underlying grievances of China's Tibetan population," she further added.
The Congressional-Executive Commission on China was created by Congress in October 2000 with the legislative mandate to monitor human rights and the development of the rule of law in China, and to submit an annual report to the President and the Congress. The Commission consists of nine Senators, nine Members of the House of Representatives, and five senior Administration officials appointed by the President.
