A high-powered bipartisan US congressional delegation led by House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCauss is visiting India to strengthen bilateral ties and meet with Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama.
The delegation included former U.S. Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi, Ranking Member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee Gregory W. Meeks, Ranking Member of the House Rules Committee Jim McGovern, Ranking Member of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on the Indo-Pacific, Ami Bera, Representatives Mariannette Miller-Meeks and Nicole Malliotakis.
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In India, the delegation is scheduled to meet with the Dalai Lama, Indian government officials, and representatives of American companies in India.
McCaul said India is the world's largest democracy and an important strategic partner for the United States.
“I look forward to meeting with government officials and the U.S. business community to understand how we can strengthen our relationship with India in the future,” he said.
“I am also honored to have the opportunity to meet His Holiness the Dalai Lama. Tibetans are people who love democracy and want to practice their religion freely. This visit underscores the bipartisan support in the U.S. Congress for Tibet having a say in its own future,” McCaul said.
Senator Meeks said he looks forward to working with Chairman McCaul and Speaker Pelosi to demonstrate strong bipartisan support for the U.S.-India relationship.
Over the past 25 years, the relationship with India has evolved into one of the most important relationships for the U.S. He said it was an honour to have the opportunity to meet with His Holiness the Dalai Lama and hear his views on how Americans can contribute to advancing the Tibetan people's struggle for autonomy.
The U.S. statement did not give a date for the visit.
However, authoritative sources in New Delhi said on Friday that the delegation would visit Dharamsala on June 18 and 19.
The visit to the Himalayan town by top US lawmakers comes ahead of the Dalai Lama's planned visit to the US for medical treatment.
The Tibetan government-in-exile is based in Dharamsala and represents more than 100,000 Tibetans living in approximately 30 countries. The United States strongly supports the Tibetan cause and condemns all repression and coercion by the Chinese People's Republic of China against Tibetans.
The US Congress passed a bill this month calling for a peaceful resolution to the dispute over the status and governance of Tibet. The “Tibet Issue Resolution Act” also calls on Beijing to resume dialogue with the Dalai Lama.
US lawmakers regularly visit Dharamsala, reflecting Washington's support for the Tibetan cause.
Between 2002 and 2010, representatives of the Dalai Lama and the Chinese government held nine rounds of dialogue but failed to produce any concrete results. No formal talks have taken place since then.
In talks with China from 2002 to 2010, the Tibetan side advocated true autonomy for the Tibetan people, in line with the Dalai Lama's Middle Way policy, who has preferred to resolve the Tibetan issue through dialogue.
In April, Penpa Tsering, the sikyong (political leader) of the Tibetan government-in-exile, said his administration had begun secret talks with Beijing to find a solution to the Tibet issue.
The comments were seen as a sign of the two sides' willingness to renew talks more than a decade after a formal dialogue process stalled amid anti-China protests in Tibet and Beijing's hardline stance towards Buddhist regions.
Days after Tshering's remarks, Beijing insisted it would only hold talks with representatives of the Dalai Lama, not the government-in-exile.
The 14th Dalai Lama fled Tibet after a failed anti-China uprising in 1959 and set up a government in exile in India. China has previously accused the Dalai Lama of engaging in “separatist” activities and trying to split Tibet, and sees him as a divisive figure.
But Tibet's spiritual leaders insist they are not seeking independence but rather “genuine autonomy for all Tibetans living in the three traditional states of Tibet” under a “middle-way approach”.
Relations between the two countries further strained in 2008 after protests against China erupted in Tibetan areas.
