[Central News Agency] Penpa Tsering, the top executive of the Tibetan government-in-exile, told the US Congress via video conference that Tibet is "slowly dying" under Chinese rule.

Reuters reported that Pemba Tsering spoke to the Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC), a bipartisan group of U.S. lawmakers, yesterday via video conference.

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"If the People's Republic of China does not reverse or change its current policies, Tibet and the Tibetan people will definitely slowly die," Pepa Tsering said at this hearing.

U.S. Undersecretary of State for Democracy and Human Rights Uzra Zeya said at the hearing that China continues to launch a campaign of repression in an attempt to forcibly Sinicize the 6 million Tibetans in the country and to erase Tibetan religious, cultural and linguistic heritage.

The chairman of the committee, Republican Rep. Chris Smith, said that while the world is concerned about Taiwan, Hong Kong and Xinjiang, "we cannot ignore the current genocide against Tibetans."

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