US Congressional Delegates Discuss Tibet with Chinese PresidentFriday, 29 May 2009, 2:10 p.m.

In this file photo His Holiness the Dalai Lama (L) welcomes US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi (R) as she arrives at his Palace Temple in Dharamsala on 21 March 2008/AFP

Dharamshala:
US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi and a bipartisan
congressional delegation took up the issue of human rights situation in
Tibet during their meetings with three top leaders of the Chinese
government: President Hu Jintao, Premier Wen Jiabao, and Wu Bangguo,
the Chairman of the National People’s Congress.“Our delegation
also emphasized the bipartisan concern in Congress on China’s poor
record on human rights in China and Tibet,” Pelosi said after meeting
with the Chinese leadership in Beijing on Thursday.”Republicans
and Democrats are united in our concern about human rights abuses in
China and Tibet,” said Congressman James Sensenbrenner, Republican of
Wisconsin.Earlier in the day, the congressional delegation
participated in a two-hour working session with the Chinese National
People’s Congress’ Environmental Protection and Resources Conservation
Committee.In addition to Pelosi, Sensenbrenner, and Markey, the
other members of the congressional delegation traveling to China this
week, all experts on issues related to clean energy and the
environment, are Congressman Earl Blumenauer, Democrat of Oregon;
Congressman Jay Inslee, Democrat of Washington state; and Congresswoman
Jackie Speier, Democrat of California.”We had productive
discussions about how the United States and China can cooperate on
improving international security, growing our economies and protecting
the environment,” Pelosi said. “We urged the Chinese leaders to use
their influence to help bring North Korea to the table for Six- Party
Talks. On clean energy and climate change, both sides agreed to work
together to confront the urgent challenge we face. “Last year
in April, Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the members of US Congressional
delegation  introduced House Resolution calling on the Government of
the People’s Republic of China to end its crackdown on nonviolent
Tibetan protestors and its continuing cultural, religious, economic,
and linguistic repression inside Tibet. Following the Chinese
government’s crackdown on Tibetan protesters in Tibet in March 2008,
the US Congressional delegation, headed by speaker Pelosi, visited
Dharamsala to express their concern and solidarity with the Tibetan
people.The resolution calls on the Chinese Government to begin
a results-based dialogue, without preconditions, directly with His
Holiness the Dalai Lama to address the legitimate grievances of the
Tibetan people and provide for a long-term solution that respects the
human rights and dignity of every Tibetan. It calls on the
Chinese Government to allow independent international monitors and
journalists, free and unfettered access to the Tibet Autonomous Region
and all other Tibetan areas of China for the purpose of monitoring and
documenting events surrounding the Tibetan protests and to verify that
individuals injured receive adequate medical care. It further
calls on the Chinese Government to immediately release all Tibetans who
are imprisoned for nonviolently expressing opposition to Chinese
Government policies in Tibet.