Washington, D.C. — Sam Brownback, former Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom, urged the United States to support His Holiness the Dalai Lama's Middle Way Approach. "If China does not grant genuine autonomy to Tibet within 60 days, the United States should recognise Tibet's independence", said the Ambassador, during the Congressional-Executive Commission on China's hearing entitled "China's War on Religion," on November 20, 2025.
Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC) held a hearing entitled "China's War on Religion: The Threat to Religious Freedom and Why it Matters to the United States," on November 20, 2025, in Washington, D.C. USA. Witnesses included Sam Brownback, former Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom; Bhuchung Tsering of the International Campaign for Tibet (ICT); Bob Fu, founder and president of ChinaAid; Ma Fu, defender of the human rights of Hui Muslims; and Grace Jin Drexel, daughter of Pastor Ezra Jin.
Senator Dan Sullivan (R-AK), Chair of CECC said," Today’s message is straightforward: the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is waging a systematic campaign to bend every faith in China to Party rule. CCP authorities aim for the complete subordination of religious belief to state ideology—re-engineering doctrine, leadership, education, architecture, and even online worship."
"We have documented imprisonment, torture, and worse for such simple acts as owning a prayer book, growing a beard, or gathering for worship. There are currently 1,647 documented religion prisoner cases in the CECC’s Political Prisoner Database. Though that number may be ten times higher when we consider all those detained in the Uyghur region," the chair explained.
Representative Chris Smith (R-NJ), co-chair of CECC said, "In Tibet, as Communist authorities seek to stamp out any mention or memory of his Holiness the Dalai Lama, blanketing religious sites with surveillance and security forces in the lead up to his 90th birthday."
Sam Brownback, former Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom, said: "China continues to aggressively push forward a Cultural Genocide in Tibet, doing everything possible to remove Tibetan language and culture from the next generation and to distance the people from their reverence for the Dalai Lama and we must speak out against it."
"We must categorically reject the Chinese government’s claim to the right to appoint the next Dalai Lama and send Vice President Vance or Secretary Rubio to Dharamshala, India to confer with the Dalia Lama and announce our support for the Dalai Lama’s Middle Way Aproach for Tibet, a Genuine Autonomy for Tibet within China. While I have significant doubts this will work, just look at Hong Kong. If China will not agree to this within 60 days, we should announce our recognition of an independent Tibet. Tibet and East Turkestan never have been part of China," the Ambassador said.
Bhuchung Tsering of ICT said," The Chinese government's actions in Tibet have created a complex security dynamic, with India attempting to stabilize a sensitive frontier with Chinese-controlled Tibet. For its part, China has been blatantly using Tibetan Buddhism as a vehicle to not only controls the Tibetan people, but also to influence the international community, including the citizens of India, Nepal, Bhutan as well as the United States.”
“Over the years, the Chinese state has promulgated various regulations to bring Tibetan monasteries and monastics under tighter control by the State. To be clear, while these measures apply to all religious communities in the People’s Republic of China, in Tibet the effect is increasingly intense due to the defining role religion plays as the cultural and social foundation of Tibetan society. The mechanisms of control inflicted by the Xi Jinping regime are designed to contort genuine Tibetan Buddhism and its institutions into another tool of autocratic control and eventual replacement of the Tibetan people’s unique civilization with one defined by the Communist Chinese Party,” he continued.
“The Chinese government’s interference in the Dalai Lama reincarnation issue has clear geopolitical implications on many Tibetan Buddhist institutions in the United States, the Indian subcontinent, Mongolia and other parts of the world. If not challenged vigorously by free countries, this decision threatens religious freedom, not only of Tibetans, but also of millions of followers of Tibetan Buddhism worldwide, including in the United States. If China achieves its goal of co-opting and controlling Buddhism in the region and globally with impunity, then it will only embolden Beijing to further its other expansionist and authoritarian ambitions,” he added.
Bhuchung recommended the USA government by saying, "The Trump Administration must monitor, as per the Tibetan Policy and Support Act of 2020, Chinese officials’ violation of Tibetan religious freedom, including interference in recognizing a successor or reincarnation of the 14th Dalai Lama and any future Dalai Lamas and consider imposing sanctions with respect to such officials under the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act (22 U.S.C. 2656 note) and applying the relevant section of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1182(a)(2)(G)) with respect to such officials."
