US bipartisan delegation to visit India to strengthen ties, meet Dalai Lama

A bipartisan delegation of US lawmakers, led by House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul, will visit India to strengthen bilateral ties and meet exiled Tibetan leader the Dalai Lama.
 

The delegation including former House speaker Nancy Pelosi will meet with the 14th Dalai Lama, Indian officials and representatives of US businesses in the country, according to a statement issued by the Foreign Affairs Committee Friday, which doesn’t say when they’ll visit. Local media including ANI News reported the trip begins this week.

“Tibetans are a democracy-loving people who wish to practice their religion freely. This visit should highlight the bipartisan support in the US Congress for Tibet to have a say in their own future,” the statement quoted McCaul as saying.

Tibet has been an autonomous region of China since the People’s Liberation Army entered the country in 1950, leading to the eventual flight of the Dalai Lama to India nine years later. China opposes anyone who voices support for Tibet and the Tibetan spiritual leader.

Diplomatic relationship between US and China nearly froze after then-House Speaker Pelosi visited Taiwan in late 2022, despite repeated warnings by the Chinese government against contact with the self-ruled island Beijing claims as its own.

McCaul and Pelosi are joined by House members Gregory W. Meeks, Jim McGovern and Ami Bera, and Representatives Mariannette Miller-Meeks and Nicole Malliotakis.

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