'More Needs To Be Done': US Urged to Press China for Direct Dialogue with Tibetans

A Washington-based Tibet advocacy group has urged US President Joe Biden to press China to return to direct dialogue with the representatives of the Tibetan people. This comes as Biden met with Xi Jinping on Wednesday on the sidelines of the APEC summit in San Francisco to reduce tensions between the superpowers.

A wide range of issues were discussed during their high-stakes meeting but the issue, including human rights issues in Tibet. The International Campaign for Tibet (ICT) welcomed this development but added that “more needs to be done.”

“Xi’s meeting with President Biden takes place at a critical moment as the Chinese leader has ruthless control in Tibet, including intensive securitisation of the Tibetan Plateau and unprecedented Sinification of the Tibetan people. It is most important to raise these concerns directly with President Xi,” the ICT said in a statement, posted on its social media handles.

Tibetans, Uyghurs, and many other groups, including the Chinese people themselves, have been denied the freedom to raise their grievances and seek redress from the Chinese government. Xi and his officials must hear their voices too, and the Biden administration has an opportunity to push them to listen, it said.

“In particular, President Biden should press Beijing to return to direct dialogue with the representatives of the Tibetan people, as he promised to do during his 2020 campaign,” the statement said. However, a readout of the meeting issued by the White House said Biden did raise the issues with Xi during the summit meeting in Woodside, California.

“Biden underscored the universality of human rights and the responsibility of all nations to respect their international human rights commitments. He raised concerns regarding PRC (People’s Republic of China) human rights abuses, including in Xinjiang, Tibet, and Hong Kong,” the White House said.

“On Taiwan, President Biden emphasised that our one China policy has not changed and has been consistent across decades and administrations. He reiterated that the United States opposes any unilateral changes to the status quo from either side, that we expect cross-strait differences to be resolved by peaceful means, and that the world has an interest in peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait,” it said.

Biden called for restraint in China’s use of military activity in and around the Taiwan Strait. He also raised continued concerns about China’s unfair trade policies, non-market economic practices, and punitive actions against US firms, which harm American workers and families, the White House said.

(With agency inputs)