Bill for official resolution of remembrance expressing bereavement*
PREAMBLE
United States Senator John S. McCain III was born on August 29, 1936, at Coco Solo Naval Air Station in the Panama Canal Zone, to US naval Admiral John S. McCain Jr., his father, and Roberta McCain, his mother. The sad event of his passing away occurred at 4:28 pm on the 25th of August 2018 at the age of 82.
The late senator McCain had, from a young age, succeeded in rising through the ranks to take positions of leadership and was known for the strength of his commitment to all the pursuits that he took up. In 1954 he joined the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis, from which he graduated in 1958. Following in the footstep of his father and grandfather, he chose to become a public servant and joined service as a United States naval officer and became a naval aviator. He came to be recognized as a good pilot.
He undertook numerous flight missions during the Vietnam War. In 1967, while undertaking a bombing mission, his plane was shot down and McCain got captured. As a result, he remained a prisoner of war until 1973. After being freed on the 14th of March in 1973, he won many national awards as a hero for his courage and patriotism during his continuing military service.
In 1982, McCain got elected to the United States Congress. He continued to win election and re-election to the House of Representatives and the Senate, which he served for 35 years, until his passing away. During those years he served in numerous important committees in the Congress with significant roles. He also came to be recognized as an important person for establishing friendship and other types of diplomatic relationships between the United States and a number of other countries.
After many years of the settlement of the Vietnam War in which the United States was heavily involved, McCain especially visited Vietnam. He set aside the bitterness towards the country for the war of the past and made moves to establish friendly ties between the two countries. This is recognized as one of his noble accomplishments. He made frequent visits to NATO sites, the international defence alliance led by the United States, and was known for his liberal attitude during his deliberate and detailed inspections and scrutinies of the military establishments.
In the year 2000, and again in 2008, Senator McCain stood for election as the President of the United States of America as the Republican Party candidate.
On account of his past service as a naval officer, Senator McCain was, in 2015, made the Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee.
Throughout his life, the late Senator John McCain rendered outstanding services to both the government and the people of the United States of America to the best of his ability. Besides, he acted with keen concern for democracy, the natural environment, and human rights issues in the international community. In the Congress of the United States too, he was always among those who spoke up in support of these issues. In particular, he was a person with a special concern for the issue of Tibet and kept criticizing in the United States Congress the policies and actions of the government of China. He was an important personage who sought to rally the international community with his concerns about the situation of human rights and about the destruction and the resultant serious damage to natural environment of Tibet under Chinese rule.
Likewise, when he stood for election as the President of the United States of America in 2008, Senator McCain made clear his intention to make the issue of Tibet a major focus of his concern if he got elected. Also in 2008, when peaceful uprising protests were carried out throughout Tibet, Senator McCain took it upon himself to assume great responsibility to express utmost concern over the brutally violent repression of the government of China and the resultant killing of Tibetan people. In this connection he issued on the 18th of March 2008, a strongly worded press statement. This statement said that the tragic and distressing situation in Tibet had drawn the attention of many countries across the world, becoming an object of serious concern. With utmost concern and strong emotions, he said the Tibetan people cherished and nurtured their own religion and culture and the government of China cracked down on them with violent repression with the use of its armed forces. The late Senator McCain further said His Holiness the Dalai Lama was a man of peace and an object of great hope and faith to the Tibetan people. And he suggested that the government of China hold a dialogue with His Holiness the Dalai Lama to find out what the root cause of the Tibetan uprising protests of the Earth-Bird Year was. The Statement said, in part: “The unfolding tragedy in Tibet should draw the attention of the entire world. I deplore the violent crackdown by Chinese authorities and the continuing oppression in Tibet of those merely wishing to practice their faith and preserve their culture and heritage. I have listened carefully to the Dalai Lama and am convinced he is a man of peace who reflects the hopes and aspirations of Tibetans. I urge the government of the People’s Republic of China to address the root causes of unrest in Tibet by opening a genuine dialogue with His Holiness, the Dalai Lama.” In the year 2008, Senator McCain met with His Holiness the Dalai Lama in Aspen city in the United States state of Colorado. He met with His Holiness the Dalai Lama on several more occasions in the following years. Likewise, he also met with prominent figures in the Central Tibetan Administration setup.
In his condolence message to Senator McCain’s widow, Cindy Lou Hensley McCain, His Holiness the Dalai Lama spoke of the pleasure he had of meeting with her husband in 2008 in Aspen after long admiring his many years of dedicated service to the American people. His Holiness also expressed his appreciated for the late Senator’s genuine concern for democracy, human rights and the environment in general and particularly in Tibet, saying he remained deeply grateful to him for these.
The late Senator John McCain was known to be a person whose political ideology was marked by liberalism of outlook and commitment to justice. On the issue of Tibet especially, he was unequivocal, both in word and deed, in having serious concern and extending strong support and was therefore an unswerving friend of the Tibetan people. A resolution to express our feeling of sadness, mourning, and tribute at his passing away is therefore an apt timely gesture for this session of the Tibetan Parliament in Exile to adopt.
RESOLUTION
With great reverence and admiration in tribute for his splendid deeds, the Tibetan Parliament in Exile offers homage to the late United States Senator John McCain. The passing away of Senator McCain meant a tragic loss to the Tibetan people’s struggle too and therefore on behalf of the entire Tibetan people in Tibet and in exile, the Tibetan Parliament in Exile offers heartfelt condolences to his entire surviving family members. And we offer ardent prayers that all the noble wishes of the late Senator may be seen fulfilled, with all the wrongly, negatively classed of his accumulated deeds, if any, being seen dispelled by being cleansed, setting him on an unrelenting course of an ever brighter future.
Adopted by the Tibetan Parliament in Exile on this the 18th of September in 2918
The above resolution was adopted unanimously by the 16th Tibetan Parliament in Exile during its sixth session on 18 September 2018
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* In case of any discrepancy between this English translation and its Tibetan original, the latter should be considered authoritative and final for all purposes.
