Sec. 2. FINDINGS
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## SEC. 2 FINDINGS Congress finds the following: ####
(1)It has been the long-standing policy of the United States to encourage meaningful and direct dialogue between representatives of the People’s Republic of China and the Dalai Lama, his or her representatives, or democratically elected leaders of the Tibetan community, without preconditions, to seek a settlement that resolves differences. ####
(2)Nine rounds of dialogue held between 2002 and 2010 between the People’s Republic of China authorities and the 14th Dalai Lama’s representatives failed to produce a settlement that resolved differences, and the two sides have held no formal dialogue since January 2010. ####
(3)An obstacle to further dialogue is that the Government of the People’s Republic of China continues to impose conditions on substantive dialogue with the Dalai Lama, including a demand that he say that Tibet has been part of China since ancient times, which the Dalai Lama has refused to do because it is inaccurate. ####
(4)Article 1 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and Article 1 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights provide, “All peoples have the right of self-determination. By virtue of that right they freely determine their political status and freely pursue their economic, social and cultural development.”. ####
(5)The United States Government has never taken the position that Tibet was a part of China since ancient times. ####
(6)China signed the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights on October 5, 1998, and ratified the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights on March 27, 2001. ####
(7)Under international law, including United Nations General Assembly Resolution 2625, the right to self-determination is the right of a people to determine its own destiny and the exercise of this right can result in a variety of outcomes ranging from independence, federation, protection, some form of autonomy, or full integration within a State. ####
(8)United Nations General Assembly Resolution 1723, adopted on December 20, 1961, called for the “cessation of practices which deprive the Tibetan people of their fundamental human rights and freedoms, including their right to self-determination”. ####
(9)Secretary of State Antony Blinken, in a May 26, 2022, speech entitled “The Administration’s Approach to the People’s Republic of China”, said that the rules-based international order’s “founding documents include the UN Charter and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which enshrined concepts like self-determination, sovereignty, the peaceful settlement of disputes. These are not Western constructs. They are reflections of the world’s shared aspirations.”. ####
(10)The Tibetan Policy Act of 2002 (22 U.S.C. 6901 note), as amended by the Tibetan Policy and Support Act of 2020 (subtitle E of title III of division FF of Public Law 116-260), in directing the United States Government “to promote the human rights and distinct religious, cultural, linguistic, and historical identity of the Tibetan people” acknowledges that the Tibetan people possess a distinct religious, cultural, linguistic, and historical identity. ####
(11)Department of State reports on human rights and religious freedom have consistently documented systematic repression by the authorities of the People’s Republic of China against Tibetans as well as acts of defiance and resistance by Tibetan people against the People’s Republic of China policies. ####
(12)The Tibetan Policy Act of 2002 (22 U.S.C. 6901 note) specifies that the central objective of the United States Special Coordinator for Tibetan Issues is to promote substantive dialogue between the Government of the People’s Republic of China and the Dalai Lama, his or her representatives, or democratically elected leaders of the Tibetan community.
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