DC Reception for Resolve Tibet Act: CTA President Lauds Collaborative Efforts
By Tsering Choephel
DHARAMSALA, 29 July: A reception, marking the signing of “Promoting a Resolution to the Tibet-China Dispute Act” into law, was hosted in Washington DC, US on Thursday. Co-organised by the Office of Tibet North America and International Campaign for Tibet (ICT), the event was attended by Central Tibetan Administration’s(CTA) Sikyong (President) Penpa Tsering along with former US speaker Nancy Pelosi, Chairman Michael McCaul, Congressman Jim McGovern, and Congressman Joe Wilson, as reported on Tibet.net, the CTA’s official website.
Sikyong expressed gratitude to the sponsors and supporters of the “Resolve Tibet Act” bill and outlined the bill’s development, saying, “This bill originated from her (Nancy Pelosi) office during her tenure as Speaker in 2022. At that time, Richard Gere, as the President of the International Campaign for Tibet (ICT), I as Sikyong, and the team from the Office of Tibet and ICT met with Speaker Pelosi and Congressman Jim McGovern. During this meeting, we strategised on three basic issues: organising a World Parliamentarian Convention on Tibet in Washington, DC—since the last one was held in 1997 and this was organised in June 2022, and around the same time, the testimony on Tibet’s historical status by Tenzin Namgyal Tethong, Ellen Bork, Chinese historian Professor Lao, and Professor Michael, the four of them testified before the Congressional-Executive Commission on China. Based on that testimony, this “Resolve Tibet Act” was sponsored by Congressman Jim McGovern and Chairman McCaul in the House, and Senator Todd Young and Senator Jeff Merkley in the Senate with the support of Senator Cardin as Chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee. We are deeply thankful for their support.”
Furthermore, Penpa Tsering said, “As Speaker Pelosi said when she visited Dharamsala, she mentioned that this was also due to the Tibetan people that this bill got passed. So, I am going to thank all the Tibetans in America, the Tibet Support Groups, the Tibetan associations, the Tibetan advocates, particularly the younger generations of Tibet who have been at the Hill this year in March. And I know that there has been a lot of input and support also from the Congressional staffers, some of whom are present here, who have been architects of this bill.”
The head of the Tibetan government in exile is on an official tour across Canada and the US, following the passage of the bill “Tibet Resolve Act” into US law. Sikyong had meetings with the State Department, White House officials, and US Congress members during his engagement from 22 to 25 July, as per the report. He also joined in a closed-door expert roundtable at the Brookings Institution, moderated by its China centre director, Ryan Hass.
On 20 July, prior to his visit to the US, Sikyong attended the Ontario Tibetan community’s celebration of “the successful medical treatment of His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s knee, enactment of the “Resolve Tibet Act” in the US and the recent unanimous passage of a motion supporting Tibet’s right to self-determination in the Canadian House of Commons,” as per Tibet.net’s report on 24 July. The motion in support of Tibet’s right to self-determination, moved by Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe, an MP from the Bloc Québécois, was passed on 10 June. James Maloney, a Canadian parliament member and also the President of the Canadian Parliamentary Support Group for Tibet, was present during the community’s celebration event.
Sikyong reportedly was to visit Tibetan communities in Madison, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Chicago.
