Biden signs legislation urging China to mend ties with Tibet

President Biden signed a piece of legislation into law on Friday urging China to mend ties with Tibet and its leaders.

The legislation, named Promoting a Resolution to the Tibet-China Dispute Act, received broad bipartisan support and will encourage China and Tibet to resolve the long-standing dispute over Tibet’s governance.

Biden thanked lawmakers who led the resolution through its passage in the Senate in May and the House in June.

“I share the Congress’s bipartisan commitment to advancing the human rights of Tibetans and supporting efforts to preserve their distinct linguistic, cultural, and religious heritage,” Biden wrote.

The legislation will allow State Department officials to “actively and directly” counter disinformation about Tibet spread by the Chinese government, including rejecting the false claims that Tibet has been part of China since “ancient times,” House lawmakers on the Foreign Affairs Committee said in a June press release.

It will also allow the U.S. to push for the Dalai Lama and the Chinese government to have negotiations over the future of Tibet. No formal communication between Tibetan and Chinese authorities has occurred since 2010, the lawmakers noted.

Biden’s administration will continue to call on China to resume direct dialogue with Tibet, he said.

The president signing the legislation into law does not change the longstanding U.S. policy recognizing Tibet as an autonomous region.

It’s a “policy decision that falls within my authority to recognize foreign states and the territorial bounds of such states,” Biden said.

A congressional delegation met with the Dalai Lama in Tibet, sparking anger from China, just after the legislation passed the House last month.