Tibet bill passes Congress after being added to US spending bill
- The act directs the US government to issue economic and visa sanctions against any Chinese official who interferes with the Dalai Lama’s succession
- The bill also prohibits China from establishing any new consulates in the US until Washington is granted its own diplomatic outpost in Tibet
US lawmakers on Monday approved legislation demanding Beijing grant Washington a US consulate in Tibet and paving the way for sanctions against Chinese officials who interfere in the succession of the Dalai Lama.
The Tibet Policy and Support Act moved through Congress as an amendment to this year’s US$1.4 trillion government spending bill, legislation that will fund the government for the coming fiscal year. The omnibus spending bill, which was rolled together with a US$900 billion coronavirus relief package, will next travel to the White House to be signed into law.
Additions such as the Tibet act to the spending bill are commonplace at the close of the congressional session, when lawmakers bolt on unrelated bills to the must-pass funding bill as a way to secure their passage. The Tibet bill’s approval came almost a year after it breezed through the House of Representatives.
The Tibet bill was one of a number of China-related measures added to the spending bill, ranging from restrictions on pandemic relief funding going to China-linked businesses to a clause that directs the US administration to determine whether Beijing’s treatment of ethnic minority groups in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region constitutes a crime against humanity.
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US House of Representatives sends Uygur Human Rights Policy Act to Trump’s desk for approval
Unlike the recently passed military budget, outgoing US President Donald Trump has given no indication that he intends to veto the funding bill, an act that would cause the government to shut down. The White House has indicated that he will sign the spending bill into law, Politico reported.