The United States has restored $6.8 million in funding for Tibetans in South Asia, the U.S. State Department told Reuters on Tuesday, confirming comments by Tibet's government-in-exile.
The aid had been cut by President Donald Trump's administration as part of its "America First" policy that hit a number of programmes, including those aimed at securing food and preventing the spread of HIV in some of the world's poorest regions.
Last week, the leader of the Tibetan government in-exile in India, Penpa Tsering said Tibetans became "collateral damage" in U.S. foreign aid cuts, and the funding had since been restored. He was speaking on the sidelines of the 90th birthday celebration of Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama.
"The (State) Department re-instated $6.8 million in aid for Tibetans in South Asia," a spokesperson said in response to a query from Reuters by e-mail, without saying when the funding was restored.
The U.S. has called on China to cease what it describes as interference in the succession of the 14th Dalai Lama, who fled from Tibet in 1959 in the wake of a failed uprising against Chinese rule and took shelter in India. China has said that the succession will have to be approved by its leaders.
"The United States has had a decades-long, bipartisan commitment to support and help advance the dignity and human rights of Tibetans, as well as help Tibetans preserve their distinct religious, cultural, and linguistic identity," the State Department spokesperson added.
China says US is in 'no position' to point fingers
China's foreign ministry said on Tuesday that the United States was in "no position" to point fingers at the country on Tibet-related issues, urging Washington to fully recognise the "sensitivity" of the issues.
Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning made the remarks when asked to comment on U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio's statement on the Dalai Lama's birthday.
Mao said at a regular press conference that the Dalai Lama "is a political exile who is engaged in anti-China separatist activities under the cloak of religion", and has "no right" to represent the Tibetan people.
