Exiled Tibet PM urges US pressure over protests

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Source: AFP

Exiled Tibet PM urges US pressure over protests
By Shaun Tandon | AFP – 41 mins ago



Tibetan Prime Minister-in-Exile Lobsang Sangay testifies before the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission in the Rayburn House office building on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC. Sangay is urging the United States to pressure China for access to China's south-western regions which have witnessed several self-immolations by ethnic Tibetans in recent months. (AFP Photo/Mandel Ngan)

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Tibet's prime minister-in-exile urged the United States on Thursday to step up pressure on China after a wave of self-immolations, which he said showed the failure of Beijing's rule.

Lobsang Sangay, who was elected to the government-in-exile's new post as the Dalai Lama tries to ease out of his political role, met lawmakers in Washington while a nun became the 11th Tibetan monk or nun to set herself on fire this year.

Testifying to Congress, Sangay appealed to the United States "to prevail on the Chinese government to make them realize the tragedy unfolding in Tibet, that this kind of a hardline policy of the Chinese government is not working."

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Specifically, Sangay asked the United States to press for a fact-finding mission into the Kirti monastery at the center of the self-immolations, which has been strictly off-limits to visitors since tensions erupted.

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