.S. Message to China: Negotiate with the Dalai Lama on Tibet March 16, 2009 ICT—With Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi in Washington last week, both President Obama and the U.S. House of Representatives stated that the U.S. government expects Beijing to negotiate with the Dalai Lama’s representatives on a durable solution for Tibet, despite repeated demands by Chinese officials to drop the Tibet issue. “The statements by the President and the House send an unequivocal message that the United States expects the Chinese government to negotiate sincerely with the Dalai Lama,” said Todd Stein, Director of Government Relations at the International Campaign for Tibet. “The U.S. government has reminded China’s leaders that their vision for a harmonious U.S.-China relationship will not materialize until they deal with Tibetan leaders on a durable solution for Tibet.” Read the full article » U.S. State Department Reports on “Severe Cultural and Religious Repression” in Tibet February 25, 2009 ICT—The U.S. State Department today issued its annual Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2008, in which it found that human rights in Tibet had “deteriorated severely during the year,” and that “official repression of freedoms of speech, religion, association, and movement increased significantly” in the wake of the protests that swept the Tibetan plateau beginning in March 2008. Read the full article »