Congressman Secretly Visits Tibet Virginia Representative Says China ‘Swallowing’ Himalayan Nation

The people of Tibet are suffering “boot-heel subjugation” by their Chinese rulers and are yearning for help from the West, a Republican congressman who visited Tibet in the guise of a tourist said Wednesday.

Rep. Frank Wolf of Virginia, who said he was only the second House member to visit the remote Himalayan region since Chinese occupation began in the 1950s, told a news conference he was appalled at the human rights situation there.

“There is no freedom in Tibet, period,” he said.

In what he described as unauthorized discussions with individual Tibetans, Wolf said he was told of brutal repression, torture of political prisoners and a systematic and unrelenting Chinese effort to suppress the Tibetan culture.

“In Tibet humane progress is not even inching along and repressed people live under unspeakably brutal conditions in the dim shadow of international awareness,” he said.

“The inescapable conclusion is that China is swallowing Tibet,” he added.

The Chinese government staunchly defends its policies in Tibet, arguing that it promotes the Tibetan Buddhist religion and the indigenous culture and language. But many Tibetans resist Beijing’s campaign to discredit the Dalai Lama, Tibet’s exiled spiritual leader, and to promote loyalty to the Chinese Communist government.

Wolf said he entered Tibet Aug. 9 on a U.S. passport and tourist visa without making it known he was a member of Congress. He said only one person in the State Department knew in advance and that person, whom he did not identify, had agreed not to notify U.S. diplomats in China.

At the State Department Wednesday, spokesman James P. Rubin said the department would like to see China accommodate more official visits to Tibet.