Obama must commit to human rights in Tibet

By Michael Ruhl, University of New Mexico – Talk Radio News Service

The Congressional-Executive Commission on China held a roundtable discussion today on China and Tibet, and from it came calls for the Obama administration to place increased focus on human rights in Tibet. Elliot Sperling, Associate Professor of Tibetan Studies at Indiana University, said that China has created stability on the Tibetan region by “imposing an effective lockdown on Tibet” through “severe restrictions on movement and communication.” Sperling said that Chinese officials have blocked Internet and cell phone communication over the region and have held firm with the detention of people speaking out against the government.

Sperling highlighted that President Bill Clinton periodically threatened to revoke the Most Favored National Trade Status (or PNTR) with China if they did not reform human rights, but that revocation never happened. He felt that such empty threats were worse than if the President had said nothing. Sperling referenced Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s February 21st comment that human rights issues with China “can’t interfere with the global economic crisis, the global climate change crisis, and the security crisis” and said that Mrs. Clinton can “commit to a forceful human right agenda” without empty threats. Sperling said that the Obama administration must support, “in absolute terms, the right of Tibetans to voice their aspirations peacefully.”