Cox to Lead Congressional Delegations to Tibet in 1998

U.S. Rep. Christopher Cox (R-Newport Beach) will lead two congressional delegations to Tibet in 1998, the first official trips for any member of Congress to the religiously oppressed region in China since 1992.

The goal of the trip is “to let Tibetans know that Americans care about their future,” Cox said. “It’s very important that high-level visits like this occur so it’s understood by all sides that we take Tibet very seriously.”

Cox was denied entry to Tibet during a trip to China in March when China’s National People’s Congress told him that there were “scheduling difficulties.” He even asked Chinese President Jiang Zemin personally for entry into the Buddhist region during his visit to Beijing, but “that got me nowhere,” Cox said.

But during last month’s summit with China in Washington, Jiang gave House Speaker Newt Gingrich tentative permission to send a delegation to Tibet. This week, congressional leaders ironed out details for the trips, scheduled for July and August 1998.

The first trip will be co-chaired by Rep. Doug Bereuter (R-Neb.), the chairman of the House Subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific. Gingrich, with whom Cox traveled to China in March, will co-chair the second trip.

Cox said he does not expect Tibetans to speak to him candidly because of fears of government reprisal.

“The [Chinese] government will advance my trip whether I like it or not and follow me whether I like it or not,” Cox said.

Cox has been on three congressional trips to China, but he has never been to Tibet. After he and Gingrich were denied entry to Tibet during their March trip, Cox met with the Dalai Lama, the exiled Tibetan religious leader, in Washington. The two discussed China’s refusal to grant Tibet national and religious autonomy after China’s 1959 invasion of the Buddhist country.

More than 1 million Tibetans reportedly died as a result of the invasion, and more than 6,000 Buddhist monasteries were destroyed. Human rights groups have raised concerns that Tibetan Buddhists continue to be persecuted by the Chinese government.

As chairman of the Republican House Policy Committee, Cox is the author of the GOP’s “Policy for Freedom,” a group of 11 bills targeted at China’s human rights violations, promoting free trade and cracking down on Chinese espionage and weapons sales.

All 11 bills passed the House of Representatives overwhelmingly in the final days before the winter recess. One of the bills, which requires the CIA and FBI to produce an annual report on Chinese espionage in the United States, was signed into law by President Clinton on Thursday.

Rep. Frank R. Wolf (R-Va.) also was denied official entry to Tibet last year, but he took a different tack: He posed as a tourist from Boston and “smuggled himself in,” Cox said.