Today, the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee of East Asian and Pacific Affairs held a hearing entitled "The Future of Tibet" where Sen. Barbara Boxer, among others, announced their plans to develop a plan of action to resolve the Sino-Tibetan Crisis.
While this meeting was overall a very productive dialogue on the serious need for a solution now, if the current administration does not act quickly to enact this plan of action (the Bush Administration has already failed to follow the recommendations the committee gave earlier in the year), the United States will lose some of the key leverage it has gained due to the Beijing Summer Olympics.
All of the witnesses provided excellent testimonies and there were many intelligent questions the senators asked. Among these were John Negroponte, Deputy Secretary of State; Richard Gere, chairman of the International Campaign for Tibet; Lodi Gyari, special envoy of His Holiness XIV Dalai Lama; and Lobsang Sangay of the East Asian Legal Studies Program at Harvard Law School. With the obvious, unanimous bipartisan agreement on the necessary steps that need to be taken to resolve this crisis within China, it is quite reasonable to expect far more genuine efforts on behalf of the Congress and the Bush administration to seriously address this issue and work with the Chinese government to create a mutually beneficial solution.
Part of the testimony, courtesy of YouTube and the Associated Press. For full coverage, see links below the video clip.
Click here for the Subcommittee's page for the hearing.
Click here to watch the hearing in its entirety.
Click here to read Lodi Gyari's full testimony.
Click here to read Richard Gere's full testimony.
While this meeting was overall a very productive dialogue on the serious need for a solution now, if the current administration does not act quickly to enact this plan of action (the Bush Administration has already failed to follow the recommendations the committee gave earlier in the year), the United States will lose some of the key leverage it has gained due to the Beijing Summer Olympics.
All of the witnesses provided excellent testimonies and there were many intelligent questions the senators asked. Among these were John Negroponte, Deputy Secretary of State; Richard Gere, chairman of the International Campaign for Tibet; Lodi Gyari, special envoy of His Holiness XIV Dalai Lama; and Lobsang Sangay of the East Asian Legal Studies Program at Harvard Law School. With the obvious, unanimous bipartisan agreement on the necessary steps that need to be taken to resolve this crisis within China, it is quite reasonable to expect far more genuine efforts on behalf of the Congress and the Bush administration to seriously address this issue and work with the Chinese government to create a mutually beneficial solution.
Part of the testimony, courtesy of YouTube and the Associated Press. For full coverage, see links below the video clip.
Click here for the Subcommittee's page for the hearing.
Click here to watch the hearing in its entirety.
Click here to read Lodi Gyari's full testimony.
Click here to read Richard Gere's full testimony.
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