By William Branigin

Washington Post Foreign Service

From: World Tibet Network News, Monday, August 21, 1995

As the U.N. World Conference on Women approaches, thousands of women are effectively being barred by the Chinese government from attending a parallel private forum outside Beijing, women's groups say.

Some women, particularly those representing Tibetan groups that China considers hostile, have been refused visas outright. Many others have encountered bureaucratic obstacles and delays in the visa process that some groups fear are aimed at limiting attendance at the forum generally.

Inevitably, women's groups say, the massive gathering of nongovernmental organizations, known as NGOs, 35 miles from Beijing from Aug. 30 to Sept. 8 will challenge the Chinese government on freedom of expression. Many groups plan to bring in publications and other material in defiance of Chinese warnings that politically offensive materials will be confiscated.

The had lobbied hard to host into a major international embarrassment.

A growing chorus of complaints about the situation comes amid debate in the Clinton administration over whether First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton should head the U.S. delegation to a gathering that nominally represents half of humanity.

"The reduction of numbers [at the NGO Forum] is clearly one goal of the China Organizing Committee," which is in charge of arrangements for the conference, said Alice M. Miller of the International Human Rights whose members range from Australian Aborigines and native Hawaiians to Taiwanese and Tibetans. China regards Taiwan as a breakaway province and forcibly occupied Tibet in the 1950s.

Berriault said that although she had submitted all the required documentation and paid a $40 fee last week, the Chinese Embassy returned her passport Wednesday with no visa or explanation. She said a consular official told her only, "This is the Chinese way. We reserve the right to deny a visa to anyone." Pressed further, another official simply repeated, "I think you know the reason," Berriault said.

The embassy's press office did not reply to questions about the matter.

In another case, Dechen Wangdu, the American daughter of prominent Tibetan activists, said she received her passport from the Chinese consulate in San Francisco with a visa in it stamped "canceled." She said the consulate gave no explanation.

More common than outright rejections, women's groups say, are delays in accepting visa applications on grounds that the women do not have letters confirming their hotel accommodations or that their names are not on a Chinese list of those registered with the forum.