WOLF STATEMENT ON CHINA'S CRACKDOWN ON PROTESTORS IN TIBET

China Aid Association

Washington, D.C. — Rep. Frank Wolf (R-VA) today issued the following statement regarding China’s crackdown on Tibetan protestors in Lhasa:
“I am deeply disturbed by the reports and images coming out of Tibet — monks and Tibetan youth are being beaten down in the street and rounded up in house-to-house searches for protesting China’s rule of the Tibet region.  Approximately 80 Tibetans are believed to have been killed in the violence, and hundreds of Tibetans have been arrested by Chinese police in recent days for participating in these protests.
“China has a long history of attempts to liquidate Tibet’s culture and presence in China, as well as exacting violent repression against Catholic bishops, Protestant church leaders, Muslim Uyghurs and Falun Gong practitioners.  Given this legacy of violence and discrimination by the Chinese government, I’m not surprised it would crack down with such brutal force against these Tibetan protestors.”
Wolf, co-chairman of the bipartisan Congressional Human Rights Caucus, has long been a critic of the government of China, regularly taking to the House floor to speak out on its human rights abuses and recently calling for a ban on U.S. tax dollars paying for U.S. officials’ travel to the 2008 Beijing Olympics.  He also has been to Tibet and saw firsthand in 1997 the repression and abuse of Buddhist monks and nuns taking place then.