Dharamshala: This week at the UK House of Commons, Rt Hon Tim Loughton Member of Parliament and co-chair of All Party Parliamentary Group for Tibet presented a crucial Bill on Tibet under which Chinese officials deemed responsible for denying access to UK nationals to enter Tibet would be banned from entering the UK.
The bill introduced by the Conservative Party MP mirrors the Reciprocal Access to Tibet Act which was passed into the US law in December last year.
The submission of the Tibet bill in the UK parliament comes weeks after the President Dr Lobsang Sangay’s visit to the UK where he appealed the government to replicate the US enactment of the Reciprocal Access to Tibet Act.
The bill attracted overwhelming support from across political parties in the UK with members of all the major political parties of the House co-sponsoring it.
Introducing the bill, Rt Hon Tim Loughton MP said, “It mirrors what has already been passed unanimously in the US Congress. It is time for us in Europe in the United Kingdom to take a similar stand to show categorically to China that its continued abuses in Tibet do not go unnoticed or unappreciated and we will tolerate them no more.”
“The bill requires the Foreign office to report to the parliament annually regarding the level of access Chinese authorities grant UK diplomats, journalists and tourists to Tibetan areas in China,” he said.
He added, “Such assessments should also include a comparison with the level of access granted to other areas of China; a comparison of levels of access granted to Tibetan and non-Tibetan areas and relevant provinces; a comparison of the level of access in the reporting year and previous year and a description of the measures to impede the freedom to travel to Tibetan areas.”
The Bill read the First time; to be read a Second time tomorrow, and to be printed, according to Hansard, the Parliamentary official report.
The Office of Tibet, London commended Rt Hon Tim Loughton MP, co-chair of All Party Parliamentary Group for Tibet for presenting the Bill: Tibet (Reciprocal Access) in the House of Commons chamber and expressed its thanks to all co-sponsors of the Bill, including Hon Chris Law MP, co-chair of APPGT.
In September last year, Rt Hon Tim Loughton MP led a UK Parliamentary delegation consisting of Hon Chris Law, MP, Scottish National Party and Hon Kerry McCarthy, MP, Labour Party to the Central Tibetan Secretariat in Dharamshala, India.