Sec. 2. FINDINGS
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/statute-compilations/comps-15212/sec-2A research copy — for the controlling text, always check the official state or federal source. Not legal advice.
## SEC. 2 FINDINGS Congress finds the following: ####
(1)The Government of the People’s Republic of China does not grant United States diplomats and other officials, journalists, and other citizens access to China on a basis that is reciprocal to the access that the Government of the United States grants Chinese diplomats and other officials, journalists, and citizens. ####
(2)The Government of China imposes greater restrictions on travel to Tibetan areas than to other areas of China. ####
(3)Officials of China have stated that Tibet is open to foreign visitors. ####
(4)The Government of China is promoting tourism in Tibetan areas, and at the Sixth Tibet Work Forum in August 2015, Premier Li Keqiang called for Tibet to build “major world tourism destinations”. ####
(5)The Government of China requires foreigners to obtain permission from the Tibet Foreign and Overseas Affairs Office or from the Tibet Tourism Bureau to enter the Tibet Autonomous Region, a restriction that is not imposed on travel to any other provincial-level jurisdiction in China. ####
(6)The Department of State reports that— #####
(A)officials of the Government of the United States submitted 39 requests for diplomatic access to the Tibet Autonomous Region between May 2011 and July 2015, but only four were granted; and #####
(B)when such requests are granted, diplomatic personnel are closely supervised and given few opportunities to meet local residents not approved by authorities. ####
(7)The Government of China delayed United States consular access for more than 48 hours after an October 28, 2013, bus crash in the Tibet Autonomous Region, in which three citizens of the United States died and more than a dozen others, all from Walnut, California, were injured, undermining the ability of the Government of the United States to provide consular services to the victims and their families, and failing to meet China’s obligations under the Convention on Consular Relations, done at Vienna April 24, 1963 (21 UST 77). ####
(8)Following a 2015 earthquake that trapped dozens of citizens of the United States in the Tibet Autonomous Region, the United States Consulate General in Chengdu faced significant challenges in providing emergency consular assistance due to a lack of consular access. ####
(9)The Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2015 of the Department of State stated “With the exception of a few highly controlled trips, the Chinese government also denied multiple requests by foreign diplomats for permission to visit the TAR.”. ####
(10)Tibetan-Americans, attempting to visit their homeland, report having to undergo a discriminatory visa application process, different from what is typically required, at the Chinese embassy and consulates in the United States, and often find their requests to travel denied. ####
(11)The Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2016 of the Department of State stated “The few visits to the TAR by diplomats and journalists that were allowed were tightly controlled by local authorities.”. ####
(12)A September 2016 article in the Washington Post reported that “The Tibet Autonomous Region . . . is harder to visit as a journalist than North Korea.”. ####
(13)The Government of China has failed to respond positively to requests from the Government of the United States to open a consulate in Lhasa, Tibet Autonomous Region. ####
(14)The Foreign Correspondents Club of China reports that— #####
(A)2008 rules prevent foreign reporters from visiting the Tibet Autonomous Region without prior permission from the Government of such Region; #####
(B)such permission has only rarely been granted; and #####
(C)although the 2008 rules allow journalists to travel freely in other parts of China, Tibetan areas outside such Region remain “effectively off-limits to foreign reporters”. ####
(15)The Department of State reports that in addition to having to obtain permission to enter the Tibet Autonomous Region, foreign tourists— #####
(A)must be accompanied at all times by a government-designated tour guide; #####
(B)are rarely granted permission to enter the region by road; #####
(C)are largely barred from visiting around the March anniversary of a 1959 Tibetan uprising; and #####
(D)are banned from visiting the area where Larung Gar, the world’s largest center for the study of Tibetan Buddhism, and the site of a large-scale campaign to expel students and demolish living quarters, is located. ####
(16)Foreign visitors also face restrictions in their ability to travel freely in Tibetan areas outside the Tibet Autonomous Region. ####
(17)The Government of the United States generally allows journalists and other citizens of China to travel freely within the United States. The Government of the United States requires diplomats from China to notify the Department of State of their travel plans, and in certain situations, the Government of the United States requires such diplomats to obtain approval from the Department of State before travel. However, where approval is required, it is almost always granted expeditiously. ####
(18)The United States regularly grants visas to Chinese diplomats and other officials, scholars, and others who travel to the United States to discuss, promote, and display the perspective of the Government of China on the situation in Tibetan areas, even as the Government of China restricts the ability of citizens of the United States to travel to Tibetan areas to gain their own perspective. ####
(19)Chinese diplomats based in the United States generally avail themselves of the freedom to travel to United States cities and lobby city councils, mayors, and governors to refrain from passing resolutions, issuing proclamations, or making statements of concern on Tibet. ####
(20)The Government of China characterizes statements made by officials of the United States about the situation in Tibetan areas as inappropriate interference in the internal affairs of China.