Hunger and poverty said to be on rise Tibetan Deputies dispute claims of improved conditions Tibetan delegates to a Chinese government body charged that in spite of the glowing reports of economic improvements in Tibet, Tibetans in some areas are now weak with hunger and poverty is increasing. The startling charges were made by Tibetan delegates to the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, an advisory body to the government and Party. The charges were described in rare detail in hundreds of pages of documents and transcripts of meetings of the Consultative Conference in May, 1994. The documents, obtained by ICT, are being made available to scholars, policy makers and the media. The Tibetan deputies also charged that rampant inflation, widespread corruption, poor education and high illiteracy are plaguing Tibet. In Sog county, located in the northern rim of the Tibet Autonomous Region, 4,446 people are said to be in a state of severe hunger and 40% of the population lives below the poverty line.

The documents provide some of the most stinging criticisms and details of social and economic policies in Tibet and are evidence of divisions and bitterness amongst a core of people who were thought to be loyal and supportive of the government. Amongst the revelations are that refugees fleeing out of Tibet in recent years exceed the mass exodus in 1959 when the Dalai Lama fled during an abortive uprising. The deputies also denounced extravagant spending by Chinese government departments on luxury cars when many Tibetan children cannot even go to school. Some Tibetan deputies also questioned the reliability of the official Chinese statistics on the improvement of education and income growth. The documents, which comprise one of the largest batches of official material to reach the West in recent years, indicate that debate within the Consultative Conference is much more open, rancorous and divisive than previously believed. (EuroTibet News N·9)