US Congress asks China to end ‘Tibet’ repression

It also calls on China to resume dialogue with the Dalai Lama,Tibet’s exiled spiritual leader,to “find a lasting solution to the Tibetan issue” and salutes India for hosting tens of thousands of Tibetan refugees.

China warned that US criticism on Tibet would harm ties between the two countries. Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi was holding talks in Washington on Wednesday and was to meet on Thursday with President Barack Obama.

“I hope the foreign minister who’s in town today hears it — it is cultural genocide,systematically destroying the framework of Tibetan society,” said Congressman Frank Wolf,a sponsor of the resolution.

The Republican lawmaker sneaked undercover into Tibet in 1997 and said he heard accounts of torture by monks and nuns who merely expressed support for the Dalai Lama.

China broke up another round of protests on 2008’s anniversary of the 1959 uprising. Rights groups say more than 200 people died and 1,200 remain unaccounted for a year later.