Sixty Years of Progress at Stake: Protect U.S. Support for Tibet

The Importance of Sustained Bipartisan Support for Tibet I write to emphasize the imperative of expanding and sustaining the United States’ decades of bipartisan support for Tibet and the Tibetan people. This strategic investment in the Tibetan people’s cause is a small price to pay for showing China the power of freedom and progress. The Threat of the Chinese Communist Party’s Repression of Tibet The Chinese Communist Party’s intensified repression of Tibet directly impacts the United States. The Tibetan people’s resistance to the CCP’s authoritarianism and human rights abuses places them on the front line in the global effort for freedom and human dignity. The United States has invested for 60 years in the Tibetan people. Tibet’s global position at the heart of Asia, the headwaters of Asia’s major rivers, and a source of vital minerals means the CCP’s accelerated domination of Tibet threatens broad swaths of South and Southeast Asia, the livelihoods of communities there, and by extension, US economic and trade relationships in the Indo-Pacific. How Funding for Tibet Advances U.S. Foreign Policy Goals The funding the United States provides for the Tibetan people supports US foreign policy goals at home and abroad, ranging from China’s harassment and intimidation of Tibetan communities in the United States, to the CCP’s persecution of Tibetans in Tibet. If left unchallenged, the CCP’s actions in Tibet threaten US interests in broad swaths of South and Southeast Asia, the livelihoods of communities there, and by extension, US economic and trade relationships in the Indo-Pacific. The Urgent Need for Continued U.S. Leadership I urge you to use your position to make sure the United States—as the leader of the free world—sustains our commitment to Tibet—or risk the loss of a unique civilization and cede strategic ground to the CCP.