US lawmaker favors independent status to Tibet

ANKARA

US lawmaker Scott Perry on Thursday urged President Donald Trump to recognize Tibet’s independent status.

In a letter to Trump, Perry, a Republican member of the House of Representatives from Pennsylvania, praised the president for taking note of the Chinese Communist Party’s “rough behavior”.

Perched in lofty Himalayan mountains and bordering India, Nepal, Bhutan, and Myanmar, China incorporated Tibet in 1950 and later granted the area autonomy.

Perry recalled that the US has provided financial support to Tibetan communities living in China, India, and Nepal. He urged Trump to secure the independence of Tibetans.

Perry introduced a bill in the House in May that aimed to "authorize the president to recognize the Tibet Autonomous Region of the People’s Republic of China as a separate, independent country, and for other purposes”.

China has long invested billions of dollars in Tibet and views the mountainous territory as a natural protection against its borders.