Dana Rohrabacher: “What happens when the United States remains silent? What happens is repression and torture and the expansion of…”

“What happens when the United States remains silent? What happens is repression and torture and the expansion of dictatorship, and, in the end, it makes the United States vulnerable. We have sat back and permitted the Chinese to take whatever course they want to suppress the people of Tibet for over three decades now. And has it made Tibet any better, the people any freer that we haven't put any demands on the Communist Party in Beijing? Has it made war less likely between the United States? Has there been any more, because we have given them such elbow room, that the Chinese dictators in Beijing have decided to move on and treat their people a little bit better? No. What has happened is there has been a growing repression and a growing chance of an altercation, an international altercation between China and its neighbors and, yes, the United States. It is time we stand up for the people of the world who are fighting, struggling for their freedom, knowing that is what will make us secure, and nowhere is that more clear than in Tibet. The people of Tibet are not Chinese people who are just reunited by the Communist Chinese with the motherland in China. It has been a distinct culture for centuries. And it wasn't until long after the Communist Chinese had taken over the rest of China that they invaded Tibet and subjugated its people. The Dalai Lama is the spiritual leader, but also a symbolic force for freedom of religion and humanitarianism in this world.…”