WASHINGTON: Lawmakers in the US House of Representatives have approved a bill to update the 2002 Tibetan Policy Act.
This is the latest move in a series of the Congress to strengthen America’s stance towards China, international media reports have said.
The Tibet Policy and Support Act was passed with an overwhelming vote of 392-22.
With this, the legislation would now establish as US policy that the Tibetan Buddhist leaders’ succession, including a future 15th Dalai Lama, be left exclusively to the Tibetan Buddhist community, without any interference from Beijing.
According to the bill, any Chinese officials interfering with the process of recognizing a successor of the Dalai Lama will be subject to sanctions under the Global Magnitsky Act, reports said.
The bill has also called for the establishment of a US consulate in Lhasa in the Tibet Autonomous Region.
Meanwhile, the House had earlier in November voted to pass the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act, legislation that supported protesters in Hong Kong. (Agencies)
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