Iraq News Now

The US ambassador to China urged Beijing to engage in

substantive dialogue with exiled Tibetan Buddhist leader the Dalai Lama during

a visit to the Himalayan region over the past week, the US Embassy said

Saturday.

Terry Branstad also “expressed concerns regarding the

Chinese government’s interference in Tibetan Buddhists’ freedom to organize and

practice their religion,” an embassy statement said.

“He encouraged the Chinese government to engage in substantive

dialogue with the Dalai Lama or his representatives, without preconditions, to

seek a settlement that resolves differences,” it said.

Branstad also raised long-standing concerns about the lack

of consistent access to the Tibetan Autonomous Region. The rare visit to the

TAR and neighboring Qinghai province ran from Sunday through Saturday.

Hosted by the Tibet Autonomous Region government, Branstad

was given access to important religious and cultural sites, including the

Potala Palace, Jokhang Temple, Norbulingka, and Sera Monastery in the Tibetan

capital, Lhasa. He also met with senior Tibetan religious and cultural leaders,

the embassy said.

China tightly restricts access to Tibet by foreigners,

especially journalists and diplomats. In response to those restrictions, the US

Congress last year passed an act that would deny entry to the United States for

those involved in formulating or enforcing such policies.

There was no immediate response from Beijing, although

Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang last week said China welcomed

Branstad to witness the “earth-shaking changes in the people’s production and

life since Tibet’s peaceful liberation more than 60 years ago.”

“I hope that this visit to Tibet can help Ambassador

Branstad make a conclusion without prejudice in the spirit of respecting the

facts... instead of being confused and disturbed by some long-standing hearsay

and defamatory speeches,” Lu said at a regularly scheduled briefing.

China says Tibet has been part of its territory for

centuries, but many Tibetans say they were effectively an independent nation

for most of that time. Beijing’s control was most recently asserted when the

Communist Party’s military wing, the People’s Liberation Army, invaded the

region in 1950.

The Dalai Lama fled to India amid an abortive uprising

against Chinese rule in 1959 and calls for genuine autonomy for Tibet under

Chinese rule. Beijing labels the 83-year-old cleric a dangerous separatist, has

refused contacts with his representatives for more than a decade and objects

strongly to any meetings between him and foreign politicians.

In recent years there has been a significant tightening of

control over Tibetan Buddhism, use of the Tibetan language and traditional

cultural expression. Following anti-government protests in 2008, Beijing

imposed a policy of “grid policing” that substantially reduces travel and

social life for Tibetans, even while China ramps up domestic tourism in the

region.

Those methods have been subsequently imposed in the neighboring

region of Xinjiang, where an estimated 1 million members of its native Muslim

ethnic groups have been confined to detention centers.