A resolution calling for greater dialogue between the Dalai Lama and the Government of China regarding rights for the people of Tibet, and for other purposes.

Whereas, on April 25, 2008, China’s official news agency Xinhua expressed the willingness of the Government of China to meet with envoys of the Dalai Lama;

Whereas, on May 4, 2008, Special Envoy of His Holiness the Dalai Lama Lodi Gyari and Envoy Kelsang Gyaltsen met with Chinese Executive Vice Minister Zhu Weiqun and Executive Vice Minister Sithar for one day of talks, in which the Government of China alleged that the Dalai Lama instigated the March 2008 unrest in autonomous Tibetan areas of China, and was sabotaging the Olympic Games;

Whereas Hu Jintao, General Secretary of the Communist Party of China, released a statement after this meeting saying that his Government of China was committed to a serious dialogue with the Dalai Lama;

Whereas, at the United States-European Union (EU) Summit on June 10, 2008, the United States and the European Union issued a joint statement welcoming the decision by the Government of China to hold talks with representatives of the Dalai Lama, and urged both parties to move forward with a substantive, constructive and results-oriented dialogue at an early date;

Whereas the Envoys of His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s Kelsang Gyaltsen and Lodi Gyari visited Beijing from June 30 to July 3, 2008, to conduct the seventh round of the Tibetan-Chinese dialogue;

Whereas, during these talks, the Government of China issued a new set of demands, including that the Dalai Lama prove that he does not support Tibetan independence or disruption of the Olympic Games in Beijing;

Whereas the Dalai Lama has stated multiple times he does not favor the independence of Tibet and is instead seeking negotiations to address the legitimate grievances of, and provide genuine autonomy for, the Tibetan people within the People’s Republic of China, and is committed to non-violence;

Whereas the Dalai Lama has repeatedly and publicly declared his support for the Olympic Games in China, as well as his intention to attend the opening ceremony, if invited;

Whereas, at the conclusion of the July round of talks, officials of the Government of China did not accept a proposal by the representatives of the Dalai Lama to agree to a joint statement supporting a continuation of the dialogue process;

Whereas Special Envoy Lodi Gyari said on July 5, 2008, that the talks with the Government of China, called for by the international community, were disappointing and difficult;

Whereas, in contrast to the opinion of Special Envoy Lodi Gyari, President George W. Bush said on July 6, 2008, that it looks like there’s some progress, at least in the talks with the Dalai Lama;

Whereas officials of the Government of China subsequently stated that the talks with the Dalai Lama’s envoys are only about the Dalai Lama’s personal future, rather than about the future of Tibet;

Whereas the Office of the Dalai Lama on July 17, 2008, restated its position that the talks are about the future of 6,000,000 Tibetans in Tibet and not His Holiness the Dalai Lama;

Whereas, on July 11, 2008, the European Parliament adopted a resolution that welcomes the resumption of contacts, after the events of March 2008 in Lhasa, between the representatives of the Dalai Lama and the Chinese authorities and encourages the two parties to intensify these contacts so as to establish the bases for mutual trust, without which it will be impossible to arrive at a mutually acceptable political solution; and

Whereas China’s People's Armed Police troops have been sent to monasteries in Tibetan areas to give monks relevant information about the Olympics, and Chinese authorities have stepped up patriotic education campaigns designed to conform the religious practices of Tibetan Buddhists to Communist Party rules, including forcing monks and nuns to denounce the Dalai Lama: Now, therefore, be it