Written testimony by the International Campaign for Tibet for the CongressionalExecutive Commission on China Hearing

To date, more than a decade has passed since the last round of negotiations between the Chinese and Tibetan sides despite efforts by successive administrations to fulfil America’s stated policy objective of encouraging a peaceful resolution to the Tibet issue. The Tibetans have made it clear that they are ready to resume negotiations at any time; the Chinese side has not been willing to return to the table without preconditions.

Written testimony by the International Campaign for Tibet for the CongressionalExecutive Commission on China Hearing

The integrity of the Tibetan Plateau’s environment is vital to global sustainability, political stability and the perpetuation of a distinct people, culture and centuries-old religion. For over six decades, the authoritarian People’s Republic of China has deployed environmental destruction as a key tool in its campaign to systematically dismantle Tibetan culture in pursuit of expansionism, assimilation and hegemony. The result has wreaked havoc on ecosystems and human lives and will continue to do so without a coordinated response.

Over the last three decades, China has maneuvered itself from a pariah state following the Tiananmen Square Massacre to a global economic and political powerhouse. Particularly under the regime of President Xi Jinping (2012-present), the Chinese government has established clear ambitions to secure an alternative international order based on authoritarian Chinese Communist Party rule. This attempted remaking of the international order explicitly rejects American leadership and the values of democracy and rule of law while seeking to place China in the global driver’s seat.

In this briefing, the International Campaign for Tibet summarizes some of the People’s Republic of China’s most serious human rights violations in Tibet during the period from 2008 to the present. This is by no means a complete accounting of every abuse China has committed in Tibet over that period, nor is Tibet the only front on which China is committing grave abuses. The Chinese government’s recent record in Hong Kong, East Turkestan (also known as Xinjiang), and against other religious and ethnic minorities, also demands serious condemnation.