Amidst the rising tension between the United States of America and China, a US lawmaker has tabled a bill in Congress to allow the American President to recognise Tibet as an independent nation.
In a decision which could escalate tensions between two countries, the US Congressman Scott Perry introduced a bill to declare the Tibet Autonomous Region as an independent country. Perry, a military veteran and a Republican from Pennsylvania, has moved a similar bill to declare another Chinese-ruled Hong Kong as an independent territory.
The two bills introduced by the Republican from Pennsylvania have been referred to the House Committee on Foreign Affairs.
The bills will have to be passed in both the House of Representatives and the Senate before getting assent from the President to be an act.
Tibet is situated in the south-west of China, bordering India, Nepal, Myanmar and Bhutan. The People’s Republic of China had invaded Tibet in 1949 and completed the occupation of the territory in 1959. The Tibetans have accused the Communist country of carrying out large scale human right violations and demographic changes.
Many Tibetan activists have welcomed the move.
US lawmakers to de-list Chinese firms from stock exchanges
Earlier, the United States Senate had initiated a legislation to block Chinese firms from getting listed on the American stock exchanges. There has been some controversy in the US regarding Chinese companies like Alibaba being listed at the New York Stock Exchange and the NASDAQ.
Reportedly, the Chinese companies listed at the New York Stock Exchange do not report earnings just like American companies do.
The bill, introduced by Senator John Kennedy, a Republican from Louisiana, and Chris Van Hollen a Democrat from Maryland, had sought to delist companies not abiding by the US accounting laws.
Earlier, the Trump administration, in a major escalation, had issued a new rule on Friday barring Huawei and its suppliers from using American technology and software.
Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said in a statement said that the rule change is to “prevent U.S. technologies from enabling malign activities contrary to US national security and foreign policy interests”. He added that Huawei and its affiliates “have stepped-up efforts to undermine these national security-based restrictions.”
US President Donald Trump threatens to cut ties with China
In a sign of further deterioration of ties between US and China, US President Donald Trump on Thursday had said that he had lost interest in speaking to President Xi Jinping and went on to suggest that his country could even cut ties with China following the outbreak of deadly pandemic of the Wuhan Coronavirus.
Donald Trump, speaking to Fox News on Thursday, had said he was very disappointed with China’s failure to contain the disease and that the pandemic had cast a shadow over the US-China trade deal.
