US lawmakers Calls on China to end rights abuse in Tibet
Thursday, 24 July 2008, 11:10 a.m.
Washington: A resolution was
introduced in the US House of Representatives Wednesday that called on
China “to immediately end abuses of the human rights and cease
repression of Tibetan and Uighur citizens, and to end its support for
the governments of Sudan and Burma (Myanmar),” Associated Press
reported.
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The resolution, proposed by Howard Berman, the Democratic head
of the House of Representatives’ foreign affairs committee, is to be
discussed and possibly voted on Thursday before it is sent to the House
floor.
It asked China to end human rights abuses and its support for
tainted governments in Sudan and Myanmar in line with “Olympic
traditions of freedom and openness”.
This, it added, was “to ensure that the Beijing 2008 Olympic
Games take place in an atmosphere that honors the Olympic traditions of
freedom and openness.”
The 12-point resolution also called on President George W.
Bush, who is to attend the games opening ceremony, to make a “strong
public statement” in Beijing on China’s human rights situation and meet
with families of jailed “prisoners of conscience.”
Bush was also asked to seek to visit the troubled Tibet and Xinjiang regions while in China to attend the games.
The resolution also sought direct talks between Beijing and His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Tibet’s spiritual leader.
Hopes that Beijing would polish up its human rights record in
the run up to the Games have been “short-lived,” Berman said during a
House hearing yesterday entitled “China on the Eve of the Olympics.
