Washington's new Tibet policy bill 'likely to be counterproductive'

A new Tibet policy bill passed in the United States last week is set to fuel fresh tensions with China, with one analyst saying it could be counterproductive.

The US House of Representatives on Wednesday approved the Promoting a Resolution to the Tibet-China Dispute Act, which would channel funds to boost Washington's support for Tibet and counter what it calls "disinformation" from China about the region's history, people and institutions.

The bipartisan bill, among other things, refutes Beijing's claim that Tibet has been part of China since ancient times and promotes talks between the Chinese government and the Dalai Lama, Tibet's exiled spiritual leader.

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The bill promotes talks between Beijing and Tibet's exiled spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama. Photo: AP alt=The bill promotes talks between Beijing and Tibet's exiled spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama. Photo: AP>

The bill's authors argued that the Chinese government was "systematically suppressing" the ability of Tibetans to preserve their religion, culture, language, history, way of life and environment.

"Passing this bill demonstrates America's resolve that the CCP's status quo in Tibet is not acceptable," said Republican representative Michael McCaul of Texas on the House floor, referring to the Chinese Communist Party.

"If the CCP truly does respect 'sovereignty' as it claims to do then it will engage in peaceful dialogue with the Tibetans to resolve this conflict, not force the Tibetans to accept a CCP proposal."

The bill - which passed the Senate last month - is expected to be signed into law by US President Joe Biden.

Dylan Loh, assistant professor of foreign policy at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, said the legislation would open up an "extra point of contention" between the two rival countries, which would not be helpful for already strained ties.

"It will not go down well in Beijing. China is very sensitive about Tibet and they will see the latest move by the US as nothing more than an attempt to further smear China," he said.

Asked about the bill at a press briefing in Beijing on Tuesday, foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian said Tibet had always been Chinese territory, and that issues surrounding Tibet were "purely China's internal affairs".

"Anyone or any force who attempts to destabilise Xizang to contain or suppress China will not succeed," he said, referring to the Tibet region. "The US should not sign the bill. China will take resolute measures to defend its sovereignty, security and development interests."

China maintains that Tibet has remained under central Chinese rule for over 700 years, despite extended periods in which Tibetan campaigners argue that the region was effectively self-governed.

Beijing has blamed the Dalai Lama, who fled to India in 1959, for the unrest in Tibet since the late 1980s, and the two sides have not held any formal dialogue since 2010. Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Lin on Tuesday referred to the Dalai Lama as a "political exile disguised as a religious figure who has long been engaging in anti-China separatist activities".

Analysts say there is a growing push in Beijing to emphasise its sovereignty over the area, with officials and state media increasingly referring to the autonomous region in the west of the country as "Xizang" instead of "Tibet".

Loh said that while Tibet was not likely to become as big of an issue as Taiwan or Xinjiang, the bill was expected to provoke a "very strong" reaction from China. He added that there was an element of political showmanship and symbolism around the bill.

"Indeed, the bill itself doesn't actually do anything really concrete other than calls to respond to the Chinese Communist Party's propaganda and rejecting certain Chinese claims," he said.

"One of the reasons [for the bill] was to hopefully kick-start China-Tibet dialogue ... [but] the move is likely to be counterproductive."

Fei-Ling Wang, an international affairs professor at the Georgia Institute of Technology, pointed out that Tibet has been a flashpoint since the 1950s, and that the issue has plagued US-China relations "all the time, with varied intensity at different times".

He added that Tibet was part of a so-called list of "core issues" between Beijing and Washington that also included issues concerning Xinjiang, Taiwan and Hong Kong.

Washington has similarly claimed that Chinese laws in the far western region of Xinjiang have suppressed Uygur language, culture and religious practices, and it has accused Beijing of genocide and crimes against humanity against Uygurs and other Muslim minorities.

In the case of Tibet, Wang noted that the "mainstream Tibetan exiles" led by the Dalai Lama were not seeking independence but rather a form of autonomy which the US was primarily in support of.

"But to have a genuine local autonomy anywhere, let alone in a region with the concentration of a non-Han minority people, is not something [Beijing] can accept without undermining its one-party authoritarian political system of centralised control," he said.

"Beijing has cleverly accused the US and the Tibetan exiles on the grounds of Chinese national sovereignty thus turning its domestic political issue of central-local relations and ethnic policies into an international fight and a rally of Han Chinese nationalism."

According to Wang Yiwei, a professor of international relations at Renmin University of China, the bill is Washington's latest attempt to undermine Beijing.

"The Americans have been making trouble. First it was Xinjiang, and now Tibet," he said. "There is no doubt that this is fabricated out of nothing. Everyone is seeing it more and more clearly."

Wang said Beijing had pushed for a unified Chinese nation with a strong sense of community but the West "has never been unified so they don't understand this concept".

"The Chinese people and the world have learned from this struggle with the US that when American politicians cannot handle their domestic affairs, they mess with others," he said. "This has led to a steady decline in credibility."

This article originally appeared in the South China Morning Post (SCMP), the most authoritative voice reporting on China and Asia for more than a century. For more SCMP stories, please explore the SCMP app or visit the SCMP's Facebook and Twitter pages. Copyright © 2024 South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.

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