From: World Tibet Network News, Thursday, September 14, 1995

(Senate - September 08, 1995)

Mr. SANTORUM. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of Senate Resolution 169, submitted earlier today by Senator Thomas.

The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report.

The assistant legislative clerk read as follows:

A resolution (S. Res. 169) expressing the sense of Senate welcoming his holiness the Dalai Lama on his visit to the United States.

The Senate proceeded to consider the resolution.

Mr. THOMAS. Mr. President, I am today joined by the distinguished chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee Senator Helms, the equally distinguished ranking minority member Senator Pell, and Senators Mack and D'Amato to introduce a resolution welcoming the visit to the United States this week and next of His Holiness the Dalai Lama.

The story of the 14th Dalai Lama is one with which I believe we are all familiar. Exiled from his homeland along with over 100,000 of his fellow Tibetan citizens, repeatedly frustrated and rebuffed in his sincere efforts to resolve their differences with the Chinese Government, His Holiness has never wavered in his determination to bring freedom and the full panoply of human rights to his people. His commitment to nonviolence in pursuit of the goal, even in the face of consistent provocations, has never faltered and earned him the Nobel Peace Prize.

For 45 years since the forcible invasion and occupation of their country by the Chinese People's Liberation Army, Tibetans have been subjected to systematic abuses and human rights violations. Those 45 years have seen the deaths of tens of thousands of Tibetans, the destruction of thousands of their temples and monasteries, the imprisonment of their religious and political figures, the forced sinocization of their country, and the systematic destruction of traditional Tibetan culture.

Despite hollow Chinese declarations to the contrary, the present state of human rights in Tibet is deplorable. The Chinese Government continues to arrest and imprison Tibetans solely for their religious beliefs or for the peaceful expression of political dissent. Yesterday, the Subcommittee on East Asian and Pacific Affairs which I chair held a hearing on Tibet . Witnesses presented ample evidence of these continuing abuses; Mr. Gendun Rinchen, a former political prisoner in Tibet , very recently escaped across the Himalayas into India and flew here this week to provide us with firsthand testimony on the plight of the Tibetan people.

Mr. President, the resolution is fairly self-explanatory. It extends the welcome of the Senate to His Holiness the Dalai Lama, urges the President to meet with His Holiness and to encourage the Chinese Government to sit down at the negotiating table with the Tibetan Government-in-exile, and reminds the Tibetan people that as they move forward in their struggle the Congress and the American people stand with them.

In closing, I note that one of the central tenets of Tibetans' Buddhist belief is that life and its sufferings are transitory; this has allowed them to remain remarkably restrained since the invasion. I sincerely hope that sometime soon the Chinese Government will see fit to sit down with His Holiness and negotiate an end to the present unacceptable and untenable situation so that the Tibetan people no longer have to be patient in their suffering.

Mr. President, I urge the adoption of the resolution.

Mr. SANTORUM. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent the resolution be considered and agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table, and any statements related to the resolution appear at the appropriate place in the Record.

The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

The resolution (S. Res. 169) was agreed to.

The preamble was agreed to.

The resolution, with its preamble, reads as follows:

Whereas historically Tibet has demonstrated those attributes which under international law constitute statehood: it has had a defined territory and a permanent population; it has been under the control of its own government; and it has engaged in, or had the capacity to engage in, formal relations with other states;

Whereas beginning in 1949 Tibet was forcibly and coercively invaded and occupied by the People's Republic of China;

Whereas under the principles of international law Tibet is an occupied country and its true representatives continue to be His Holiness the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan Government-in-exile, which the Congress has recognized on several occasions;

Whereas the Tibetan people are historically, territorially, and culturally distinct from the Chinese population in the People's Republic of China and were forcibly incorporated into the People's Republic of China;

Whereas the Tibetan people are entitled to the right of self-determination as recognized in 1961 by the United Nations General Assembly in Resolution No. 1723;

Whereas instead of being afforded that right they have been subjected to repressive actions on the part of the Government of the People's Republic of China, which have resulted in the deaths of countless Tibetans, the destruction of over 6,000 temples and monasteries as well as much of Tibet 's unique cultural and spiritual patrimony, the fight of the Dalai Lama and over 100,000 Tibetans from their homeland, the established in Tibet by the Chinese of a consistent and well-documented pattern of human rights abuses including numerous violations of the United Nations Declaration on Human Rights, and the settlement of thousands of Chinese in Tibet in an effort to reduce Tibetans to being a minority in their own land; and

Whereas this September His Holiness the Dalai Lama will be making his first extended visit to Washington, DC, since 1993; Now, therefore, be it

Resolved, That the Senate--

(1) warmly welcomes His Holiness the Dalai Lama to the United States;

(2) urges the President to meet with His Holiness the Dalai Lama during his visit to discuss substantive issues of interest to our two respective governments, and to continue to encourage the Government of the People's Republic of China to meet with the Dala Lama or his representatives to discuss a solution to the present impasse in their relations; and

(3) urges His Holiness the Dalia Lama to remind the Tibetan people that, as they move forward in their struggle toward preserving their culture and regaining their freedom, the Congress and the American people stand with them.