Members of Congress Ask US Ambassador to Visit Tibet

Friday, November 18, 2011

Tibet.net

File Photo: US Ambassador Gary Locke

DHARAMSHALA, INDIA-- Three members of the United States Congress, Frank R. Wolf, James P. McGovern, and Joseph Pitts, have sent a letter on 17 November 2011 to US Ambassador to China, Gary Locke, asking him to visit Tibet in the light of the recent self immolations and "publicly use your platform as Ambassador to make it clear to the Tibetan people that they have a friend in the United States of America." The Congressmen are all members of the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission.

Apprising the ambassador about the recent testimony of Kalon Tripa Dr Lobsang Sangay and His Eminence Kasur Kirti Rinpoche to the Lantos Commission, the members said: "Their testimony was moving and deeply disturbing. They spoke of the abuses suffered by the Tibetan people which in recent months have driven these peace-loving people to desperate forms of protests."

The Congressmen urged ambassador Locke to press for a fact-finding mission into Kirti Monastery which has featured prominently in the recent wave of self-immolations.

"Raise the Chinese government's repressive policies in Tibet with senior party officials and publicly use your platform as Ambassador to make it clear to the Tibetan people that they have a friend in the United States of America," they said.

They also called on the ambassador to press the Chinese government to respect the peaceful religious, political, civic, and cultural expressions of the Tibetan people.

The full text of their letter is posted on the Commission's website.