A member of the United States House of Representatives, Scott Perry, has introduced a bill that would authorise the President of the United States to recognise the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) as an independent country.
Representative Perry, a Republican from Pennsylvania, introduced the legislation as tensions between the US and China escalate over the COVID-19 pandemic and China’s recent crackdown on democratic demonstrations in Hong Kong, as reported in TimesNowNews.com.
According to Business Today, Perry introduced similar legislation to recognise Hong Kong as an independent country earlier this year. Both bills have been referred to the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, of which Perry is a member.
Business Today reports that Tibetans in exile have greeted the legislation with enthusiasm. Tenzin Dorjee, a Tibetan writer and activist, called the bill an historic initiative while the Times of India reports that others are urging lawmakers to also recognise the Tibetan Provinces of Kham and Amdo [Ch: Sichuan and Qinghai], which are not part of the TAR.
Representative Perry’s bills follow several moves made by the United States in recent weeks that have upset Beijing. In early June, CNBC reported that President Trump said he would revoke Hong Kong’s special trade status in response to China’s implementation of a national security law in the region. TimesNowNews reports that in May, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo demanded that China make known the whereabouts of the Panchen Lama and uphold its commitments to religious freedom – the Panchen Lama, known as the youngest political prisoner in the world, was abducted by the Chinese in 1995 at the age of six and has not been seen since.
The bill to recognise the TAR as an independent country would have to be passed in both the House of Representatives and the Senate, and be signed by the President, before it could be enacted as law.
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