Dharamshala — When the bipartisan US Congressional delegation came to meet His Holiness the Dalai Lama, the representative Jim McGovern said, “When our delegation including Nancy Pelosi visited in Tibet in 2015, we met with the Tibetans there and learned firsthand about the Chinese government's repression, it was horrible and we will never ever forget it.”
The bipartisan US Congressional delegation, led by House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul, visited Dharamshala from June 18 to 19, 2024 and met with His Holiness the Dalai Lama and top officials of Central Tibetan Administration. The delegation includes Speaker Emerita of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), Ranking Member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee Gregory W. Meeks (D-NY), Ranking Member of the House Rules Committee Jim McGovern (D-MA), Ranking Member of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on the Indo-Pacific Ami Bera (D-CA), and Representatives Mariannette Miller-Meeks (R-IA) and Nicole Malliotakis (R-NY).
The delegation attended a public felicitation ceremony (Central Tibetan Administration honors high level US Congressional Delegation) organised by the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA) in the Tibetan Main Temple, Mcleod Ganj, Dharamshala, HP, India, on June 19, 2024.
While addressing the gathering, Representative Jim McGovern said: “We have begun this day with an audience with his Holiness the Dalai Lama, it was powerful, it was moving, it was inspiring, he is incredible, we need him, the world needs him. This is the second time my wife Lisa and I have visited them Dharamshala in May, 2017 with a Congressional Delegation led by Speaker Nancy Pelosi and I want to acknowledge her leadership on Tibet for all these years. She let a delegation to Tibet in 2015 and we went to Lhasa and we met with the Tibetans there and learned firsthand about the Chinese government's repression, it was horrible and we will never ever forget it.”
“I also want to thank chairman McCall for his leadership on this issue and so many others and for his steadfast advocacy for human rights and his work to organize this important and timely delegation, I also want to thank ranking member Meeks, for all that he does on behalf of Human Rights not only for Tibetans but for people all over the world,” he continued.
The Representative McGovern said, “We are living in a time of turmoil everywhere, we look we are confronted with civil unrest, violence and war that uproots families, kills people and destroys hopes and dreams, it is easy to feel cynical and hopeless. But when I see Tibetan school children, I am reminded that our work is not about us it is about them, it is for them and with them that we must keep working for a brighter future and searching for peace, respected and upheld and maintained children living here and in Diaspora communities around the world and the Tibetan children living under the repression of the PRC, they are too Tibet’s future and they give me such great hope”.
“Other thing that gives me hope is seeing the democracy is alive and well here in Dharamshala and in the broader Tibetan community, we met with Sikyong (President) and many officials of the Central Tibetan Administration and in sharp contrast to China's leadership, the Sikyong is elected by entire Tibetan Diaspora spread across countries around the globe, participates in choosing their own leaders, in fact, the Central Tibetan Administration is a model of governance for people who face oppression and displacement. It is a symbol for those living in China a symbol of what a different future could look like, our presence here today is also a simple signal to Chinese leaders that America will never ever waver in our support for the Tibetan people,” Rep McGovern added.
“Just last week, as you have heard the Congress passed a major bipartisan Bill authored by myself and chairman McCall and supporting by every single member of our delegation, it was to reaffirm America's support for Tibetan self-determination and to require the United States’ State Department to counter false information about Tibet, false information like the PRC claim the “Tibet has been part of China since ancient times”, that is ridiculous, it is historically inaccurate and we must correct the record, China will never succeed in erasing Tibetan culture, Tibetan language, Tibetan religion and Tibetan democracy, that everything Tibetan have, we will have your back and let our Bill be signed, to Tibetans that America stands with you on the side of human dignity and we support your quest to secure the basic rights to which you are entitled under international law,” the US Represent declared.
“At the end of the day, this comes back to the children for their sake, for the sake of to Tibetans around the world, for the sake of all human beings, who yearn for peace, Justice and self-determination, we will not give it up in our quest, American stands in solidarity with the people for Tibet for as long as it takes. China has an opportunity to do what is right and they can change the narrative for the better, what they need to do is stop their attack against Tibetan culture, religion and language as well as against the Tibetan people, and release all Tibetan political prisoners, they (Chinese government) need to account for the whereabouts about the 11th Panchen lama of Tibet and they need to let him live a life in freedom, they need to allow the His Holiness the Dalai Lama to return back to Tibet, they need to negotiate a good faith with the Dalai Lama, the Central Tibetan Administration, they need to go to the negotiating table, so that Tibetans can negotiate their own future, in a way that preserves their dignity and all their rights. If China does these, the international Community would respond positively, it would be the decent interesting to do and it would signal the China's willingness to comply with international human rights obligations,” the author of the Tibet Resolve Act, Rep McGovern concluded his speech.
