_________________ WTN-L World Tibet Network News _________________

Published by: The Canada Tibet Committee

Editorial Board: Brian Given, Conrad Richter, Nima Dorjee,

Tseten Samdup, Thubten (Sam) Samdup

WTN Editors: wtn-editors@tibet.ca

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Issue ID: 00/02/11 Compiled by Thubten (Sam) Samdup

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Friday, February 11, 2000

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Contents:

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1. TIBET UNDER SIEGE

2. T-shirt gets MP the boot

Rob Anders asked to leave Chinese New Year's party

3. Concern over birth controls for Tibetans

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1. TIBET UNDER SIEGE

China is destroying the culture and identity of a gentle people

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By Brian Eads

Reader's Digest

Australia, February 2000

IT WAS A Sparkling summer's day when Ngawang Choephel arrived in the

crowded marketplace of Shigatse, Tibet's second city. The young music

student was nervous. His video camera attracted a lot of attention since

he arrived in July 1995, and Chinese police already had questioned him

twice. Still, his documentary on Tibetan music and culture was taking

shape. He'd shot an opera troupe, an ancient dance to drive off demons,

children singing nursery rhymes and much more.

Born in western Tibet, Choephel had been carried into exile in India at

the age of two, but his mother had sung native Tibetan folk songs to him

from an early age. He became absorbed by the music and, as a teenager,

he had fashioned a dranyan, a six-string Tibetan guitar, from a gourd

and fishing line and taught himself to play. After graduating from the

Tibetan Institute for Performing Arts in Dharamsala, northern India, he

won a Fulbright Scholarship to the US and spent a year studying and

teaching at Middlebury College in Vermont.

But Choephel knew that Tibetans were being reared on pop music and

karaoke, and so, with American photographer Kathryn Culley, Choephel was

preserving what he could of traditional culture before it was too late.

When Culley returned to America, Choephel travelled alone. He wasn't in

Shigatse long before policemen blocked his path between the stalls in

the marketplace and marched him to jail.

He was held incommunicado for more than a year. Finally, in reply to a

letter from American senator James Jeffords, a counsellor at the Chinese

Embassy in Washington acknowledged that Choephel was in jail. He was

accused of gathering "sensitive intelligence" and engaging in un-

specified "illegal separatist activities."

Two months later, Chinese-controlled Radio Tibet declared that Choephel

had been sentenced to 18 years imprisonment. His crime was "spying for

the Tibetan government-in-exile." The authorities offered no evidence to

support the charge.

Choephel was said to have "confessed," and Tibetan sources say he is in

Powo Tramo, an isolated forced labour camp 500 kilometres east of Lhasa.

No foreign delegation has ever visited the prison, and inmates are

denied all visitation rights.

Beaten with cattle prods.

The violation of Ngawang Choephel's rights is by no means unique.

According to the India-based Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and

Democracy, no fewer than 1200 Tibetans, mostly political prisoners, are

being held in Chinese jails.

Like Choephel, most are denied legal representation or contact with

their families, and many are tortured.

One of them, Palden Gyatsu, fled Tibet after 33 years in detention,

taking with him a collection of manacles, thumb cuffs and electric

cattle prods used by prison guards. The 69-year-old Buddhist monk lost

all his teeth after a guard jammed an electric prod into his mouth. His

gums and tongue still bear the scars.

"Many of my friends are still in prison," he told Reader's Digest. "By

the time one of them completes his sentence in 2011, he'll have spent 44

years in jail.'

The reason for this cruelty is China's desire to bring this land under

direct control. Sandwiched between India and China, Tibet is

strategically important. It is rich in minerals, timber and

hydroelectric potential. For centuries, its people paid tribute to

Chinese emperors to preserve their independence. But soon after the

Chinese communists came to power in 1949, they invaded. Beijing

continues to insist that Tibet historically has been part of the Chinese

nation.

Over the past 40 years, an estimated 6000 monasteries have been

destroyed. Chinese officials deny the charge, pointing out that they

have in fact helped renovate many temples. But there is no disputing the

fact that pro-independence Tibetans, including monks and nuns, are

subjected to what the Chinese call "patriotic re-education."

Unwilling to be re-educated, some 4000 Tibetans made the perilous

mountain trek into Nepal and India in 1998, according to the Tibetan

Centre for Human Rights and Democracy.

Tsering Choekey is typical of hundreds of former political prisoners who

have sought refuge. She was 14 years old on the December morning in 1993

when she and two friends from her Lhasa nunnery walked through the city

streets waving a Tibetan national flag and shouting "Chinese Quit Tibet"

They were quickly arrested, but refused to admit any wrongdoing or

implicate others. "I knew the consequences," she says.

From midday to sunset, every day for a month, Choekey was questioned,

punched, beaten and prodded with electric batons. "They showed no pity,"

she recalls, "They beat me more because I was the youngest."

Denied medical treatment, the wounds on Choekey's feet, ankles and hands

became infected. Even today her feet are swollen and scarred with

running sores.

Choekey was detained for a year, without charges, legal representation

or visitors. Eventually she was sentenced to three years in prison for

her pro-independence demonstration. In official jargon, she was guilty

of "splitism." She served the remainder of her sentence in a labour

camp.

As soon as she was strong enough, she made a hazardous 30-day journey

with 85 other Tibetans crossing the wide Yarlung Zangboo River on in-

flated inner-tubes and scaling snowclad peaks to freedom in India. She

lives in the Shugseb nunnery-in-exile, home to 42 other Tibetan nuns,

many of them former detainees who survived similar abuse.

At least Choekey is safe. Sherab Ngawang, a 15-year-old nun caught

singing a song about free Tibet, died of kidney failure after being

beaten with electric cattle prods and plastic tubing filled with sand.

At least 35 Tibetans are known to have died from beatings sustained in

prison over the past decade.

Acts of defiance.

Human rights groups and foreign diplomats say that the situation is

getting worse. "Many Tibetans are convinced that increased repression is

a direct result of the easing of international pressure on China," says

Mike Jendrzejczyk, director of the Asia Division of Human Rights Watch

in Washington.

In 1998, police arrested 490 monks and nuns and expelled more than 9900

from their monasteries. These are three times the numbers arrested or

expelled the previous year. Political prisoners are now detained simply

for expressing their support for the Dalai Lama, their exiled religious

leader, and for an independent Tibet. Such speech is classified by China

as endangering state security."

Still, some Tibetans refuse to he cowed. In a large monastery near

Lhasa, I met a young monk praying openly before a forbidden photograph

of the Dalai Lama. It was an almost theatrical act of defiance, lit by

smoky yak-butter candles. On a nearby wall was a large portrait of the

late Chinese communist leader Mao Tse-tung in a heroic, revolutionary

pose. Wasn't the monk afraid? 'No," he said. "It is my duty as a

Tibetan."

A few days later, in another city, a woman led me to a small, curtained

attic. Behind the heavily padlocked door was a secret shrine, its walls

and ornate cabinets festooned with pictures of the Dalai Lama, the air

scented with sandalwood incense. A made-up bed lay along one wall.

"This room is for His Holiness," she explained. "We pray that one day he

will come."

Such displays of courage notwithstanding, the odds are badly stacked

against these gentle people, for Tibetans have become a minority in

their own land. A comparison of Tibetan and Chinese maps shows that

neighbouring Chinese provinces have incorporated over half of Tibet's

original territory. Using pre-invasion maps, the Dalai Lama's

government-in-exile estimates that 6 million Tibetans are now

outnumbered by 7.5 million Chinese.

Beijing's latest initiative may tip the balance even further. With World

Bank funding, tens of thousands of Chinese farmers are to be relocated

onto land traditionally part of Tibet. Chinese officials insist the

impoverished farmers are being relocated for economic reasons. The US

government has denounced the plan. "The project would result in the

dilution of the local Tibetan population," says Kate Saunders of the

Tibet Information Network in London.

A former Chinese Communist Party member, Migmar, told Reader's Digest

that at closed door meetings party bosses admitted they had failed to

win Tibetan hearts and minds. Henceforth, they would crush dissent. 'A

top official told us their goal was to wipe out Tibetan language,

culture and identity at the grassroots level," Migmar recalled.

Entrusted with distributing and exhibiting party propaganda films,

Migmar rethought his loyalties. He set up a clandestine pro-independence

network, and for 16 months waged a poster and letter-writing campaign

calling for a free Tibet. Identified by his handwriting, he was

arrested, tortured and jailed for three years.

A heartfelt plea.

Ngawang Choephel's mother is a frail widow who lives in southern India.

After Chinese diplomats in Delhi repeatedly refused a visa to visit her

son in prison, Sonam Dekyi took her protest to the streets of the Indian

capital. For the next 15 months she lived and slept on a city centre

footpath to draw attention to his case. In October 1998, she travelled

to the US and Europe to seek support for his release. Clad in

traditional dress, day and night, she cradled in her arms a framed

20-by-25-centimetre portrait of her son.

Everywhere Dekyi went her pleas excited wholehearted support - from

politicians, human rights groups, her son's teachers and fellow students

in America, and ordinary people. Children at one Boston school donated

return tickets for Dekyi and her son to visit America as soon as he was

freed. But the Chinese government will not budge.

Now back in Delhi, Dekyi has resumed a roadside vigil. Squatting on a

tattered length of cloth, amid diesel fumes in searing 38 degree heat,

she looks much older than her 65 years. "I am old, and my time is

short," she said in an interview. "All I ask now is to see my son just

once before I die."

Those interested in learning more about Tibet can visit the website of

the Tibetan Government in Exile (www.tibet.com), Human Rights Watch

(www.hrw.org) or the Tibet Information Network (www.tibetinfo.net).

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2. T-shirt gets MP the boot

Rob Anders asked to leave Chinese New Year's party

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BY BILL CURRY

The Ottawa Citizen, Friday Feb. 11, 2000

Reform MP Rob Anders was asked to leave a Chinese New Year celebration

on Parliament Hill because he was wearing a T-shirt calling for China to

get out of Tibet.

The 27-year-old MP for Calgary West appeared at the Wednesday night

event wearing the T-shirt, which a1so bore the slogans Stop Tiananmen

tanks, forced abortions, burning books, and independent Indo-China,

Korea and Taiwan.

Mr. Anders stood quietly at the back of the room and was asked

repeatedly to leave the event which attracted more than 200 people,

including a number of MPs, deputy Prime Minister Herb Gray, Chinese

Ambassador Mei Ping, and the ambassador's wife, Lin Sha.

It is not clear exactly who asked Mr. Anders to leave the event. The

Chinese embassy denies it was behind the request. But Mr. Anders left

after about 15 minutes, walking out with his hands in the air.

Mr. Anders' political fashion statement - which some of his fellow

parliamentarians have called "stupid" and "disgraceful" - has drawn fire

from MPs of all parties, including his own.

"There's places to protest and there's places not to protest," said his

Reform colleague Inky Mark who also attended the event. "(Mt Anders) has

to understand that he represents the party and he should ask his

colleagues before doing something like this."

"He 'was invited as a guest at a non-partisan event," said Liberal MP

Sophie Leung, who hosted the event. "To me, it was childish and petty.

The Chinese philosophy is that you overlook those petty things."

Conservative MP Elsie Wayne said Mr. Anders' protest was a total

disgrace and that one Chinese woman was so upset by his T-shirt that she

started to cry.

"I thank God he's not in my party," said Mrs. Wayne, who added she has

recommended to other Reform MPs that the issue should be discussed with

their leader.

"As an MP, regardless of what party you're in, when you see something

like that, it reflects poorly on everyone."

But Mr. Anders was unapologetic yesterday. "I don't believe being silent

on these issues is somehow going to bring about change," he said.

Yesterday, officials at the Chinese embassy said Mr. Anders' protest

"only betrayed his ignorance."

"Tibet has been part of China since the i3th century," said embassy

press attaché Xin Qin.

China has ruled Tibet since 1949, when the Communist state invaded the

previously independent Buddhism mountain kingdom.

Tibet's spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama has lived in exile since 1959,

when he fled after a failed uprising against the Chinese. From exile in

India, he leads an international campaign to free his homeland. In

January, he was joined by the 14-year-old Karmapa Lama who ranks second

to the Dalai Lama and who also escaped to India.

China has been encouraging migration of Hans, the main Chinese ethnic

group, into Tibet. "They are trying to smother Tibet by making them a

minority in their own land," said Carleton University international

relations professor Carl Jacobsen, who says Tibet has historically

slipped in and out of China's grasp, depending on China's strength.

"There is no imminent sign of compromise (by China on this issue)," he

said.

Mr. Anders, who became interested in Tibet while he was a university

student, argued yesterday that his T-shirt was just a way to promote his

opinion, and officials at the Chinese embassy overreacted." All I did

was wear a T-shirt," he said. "Certainly everyone from the People's

Republic of China had their little badges on, which someone like me

might find offensive. Free speech is a two-way street."

Liberal MP Mac Harb, who wore an elaborate Chinese costume for the

event, said the guests were members of the Canadian Chinese community

and are not responsible for China's role in Tibet. 'To come to a

dignified celebration that is the highlight ... (sorry, lost this bit of

the article but Harb said Anders conduct was "disgusting" - he doesn't

seem to find mass-murder so disgusting it seems!)

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3. Concern over birth controls for Tibetans

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BEIJING, Feb. 11, 2000 (Agence France-Presse) -- China has been accused

of having tightened its birth control measures in Tibet, only days after

Beijing said Tibetans could have as many children as they wanted.

The London-based Tibet Information Network (TIN) said it had heard for

the first time that some Tibetan women have been instructed to have only

two children, or face compulsory sterilisation.

The report stands in stark contrast with comments by a leading Chinese

family planning official on 31 January that Tibetans did not face

restrictions under national population policy, which is supposed to be

more lax for ethnic minorities than for the majority Han Chinese.

Jiang Yiman, director general of the policy and legislation department

of the State Family Planning Commission, said birth control regulations

varied in ethnic minority areas, with couples allowed anywhere from two

to as many children as they wanted, as in Tibet.

But the network said it had been told new restrictions in four counties

in the Tibetan prefecture of Shigatse meant that ``women in these

counties who have already given birth to two children have been

sterilised''.

A 30-year-old unnamed Tibetan man told the network that ``in 1998, about

two-thirds of the women from approximately 300 households in his

township had been sterilised''.

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