_________________ 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

______________________________________________________________________

Issue ID: 00/02/12 Compiled by Thubten (Sam) Samdup

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Saturday, February 12, 2000

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Contents:

----------------------------------------------------------------------

1. New birth control policies to "help families become richer"

2. EU Urged To Support China Criticism

3. Trading One Cage for Another - Karmapa Kept Segregated From Others

4. A Defiant One

----------------------------------------------------------------------

1. New birth control policies to "help families become richer"

----------------------------------------------------------------------

TIN News Update

9 February 2000

ISSN:1355-3313

The authorities in Kandze (Ganzi in Chinese) Tibetan Autonomous

Prefecture (TAP), Sichuan, have proposed changes to their existing

family planning policies to reduce the number of children allowed to

Tibetans in the prefecture. The proposals call for a reduction in the

numbers of children that Tibetan workers and urban residents in the

prefecture can have from two to one and from three to two for farmers

and herders. Unofficial sources indicate that the changes, which are

likely to be highly unpopular among Tibetans, have already been imposed

in Kandze county in Kandze TAP, which comprises part of the traditional

Tibetan area of Kham. TIN has received further reports that reduced

child quotas are also being imposed on Tibetans in some areas of the

Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) and Gansu and Qinghai provinces, which

comprise part of the Tibetan area of Amdo. Reductions in the number of

children permitted would enable the local authorities to collect extra

revenue from Tibetans in the form of penalties and fines for "excess"

children.

The proposed family planning restrictions in Kandze prefecture are

intended to "encourage new birth control concepts and help families

become richer", according to a Xinhua article on 23 June 1999, implying

that population growth rates are hindering economic development. Chinese

population statistics, however, do not demonstrate any need for

intensification of birth control policies in the prefecture. Kandze's

net population growth during the period 1990-1998 was only half that of

China as a whole - 0.6%, compared to 1.2% - and the population density

of Kandze TAP is only 5.7 people per square kilometre compared to 414

people per square kilometre in the parts of Sichuan province that are

not classified as "minority autonomous" areas.

The official justification given for the introduction of the revised

regulations is to ensure that population growth in the TAP is in line

with the authorities' plans for the prefecture's economic and social

development. Deputy director of the provincial Religious Affairs

Commission Zhou Licheng argued that the proposed regulations were a

response to a shift in the "family planning concept of local people" as

the economy develops, according to Xinhua on 23 June 1999. The revisions

are presented by Xinhua as having been adopted voluntarily by Tibetans

in the region who "want" or "would prefer" to have fewer children.

According to the Xinhua report, the population of Kandze TAP has

increased to its present 870,000 from 480,000 "five decades ago". Xinhua

attributed this growth to a combination of less stringent family

planning policies for Tibetans and an increase in the average life

expectancy in the prefecture from 29 years "before new China was

founded" (1949) to 55 in the early 1980s. The same figures, however,

represent an average population growth of only 1.33% per annum [see note

1] in Kandze, compared to a 1.71% per annum growth of the total

population of China during the same period. Half of the prefecture's 18

counties had negligible or negative growth during the period 1990-1994

[see note 2]. This slow growth in the population of Kandze as

demonstrated by official data does not appear to justify further birth

restrictions for Tibetans.

The Xinhua article fails to mention that, according to official

statistics, which tend to under-record the numbers of other ethnic

groups in Tibetan areas, non-Tibetans account for almost a quarter of

the population of the prefecture. The 1990 census recorded 627,034

Tibetans in Kandze TAP, making up almost 76% of the total prefectural

population, which would indicate that 24% or 198,000 were non-Tibetan.

The same population figures for the prefecture were reported in the 1

May 1997 edition of the China Daily, an official English language

newspaper.

The proposed changes to Kandze TAP's family planning policies, which

have been submitted to the Sichuan provincial government for approval,

would bring to an end the more flexible policies on birth control that

"national minorities" enjoy under present legislation. Existing family

planning regulations in Kandze prefecture allow for Tibetan farmers and

herders to have two children, and for those "with real problems" to have

three children, "after approval", in line with the guidelines from the

centre. Tibetan workers and urban residents in the prefecture can have a

second child "after approval".

A confidential internal document issued in 1989 and obtained by TIN

states that some Han Chinese workers and farmers have been entitled to

the same birth quotas as Tibetans in the area. The document, "The

Procedure for Planned Birth in the Kandze TAP", states that Chinese

market gardeners, Chinese couples who have been resident in the

prefecture for more than eight years and Chinese couples who have worked

in the area for more than eight years are allowed to have a second

child, while elsewhere in the PRC these families would generally be

limited to just one child. Another article in the Procedure further

allows for all Chinese farmers and herders "living scattered" in the

prefecture and "who have real problems" to have a third child "after

approval". These allowances are intended to act as incentives or rewards

to Chinese people living and working in areas that are perceived to be

remote and inhospitable. The Xinhua report of 23 June 1999 does not

mention any proposed restrictions on preferential policies tht have been

applied in the prefecture to ethnic groups other than Tibetans.

"Punishment and reward"

The Xinhua report published on 23 June last year states that for those

families who adhere to the one-child limit preferential treatment will

be given in a number of fields, "including school enrolment, medical

care and employment". The authorities throughout the PRC have

consistently used a punishment and reward policy to enforce birth

control regulations. Enforcement measures include a combination of

economic sanctions, in the form of "extra birth fees" for those who

transgress the limit and administrative penalties, such as the denial of

birth certificates for any additional child born outside the quota. This

potentially allows the local authorities to generate income through

collecting birth fines and to evade responsibility for providing

education and medical care for "excess" population. Many Tibetan

families in rural areas, particularly herding areas, have exceeded the

quota of three children set under the existing family planning

regulations. The reduction of approved family size to two children in

these areas will have the effect of increasing the incidences of levying

of "extra birth" fines.

Another result of the new family planning policy may be an increase in

sterilisations and in the use of contraceptive measures, the most common

of which are intra-uterine devices (IUD) and contraceptive pills. A

confidential internal document acquired by TIN states that "one member

of a couple [...] of minority-nationality peasants and herdsmen with three

children, should adopt the method of sterilisation" (The Procedure for

Planned Birth in the Kandze TAP, 1989). A follow up document from the

Kandze TAP Planned Birth Committee, dated 20 July 1989, stated that

sterilisation was an "important, effective and technical method for

controlling multiple births". The document also states: "it is

especially necessary in the agricultural and herding areas where

contraceptive and planned birth knowledge is not popularised enough and

the practice of giving contraceptive pills and equipment cannot

continue".

The 1992 TAR birth control regulations stipulate that women who "adopt

corrective measures", or undergo sterilisation and women who have

"induced births in the mid-term of their pregnancy" (officially

sanctioned abortions) are to be given a set time off work determined by

which of the operations they have. The women who have the operation are

rewarded with a supply of "10 jin [5kg] of flour (glutinous rice) and

two jin [1kg] of edible (butter) oil", according to the regulations.

Family planning policy in Kandze prefecture is based on the perceived

need to "advocate and encourage" couples to have only one child, in

common with the rest of the People's Republic of China (PRC), according

to the Chinese White Paper on Birth Control (August 1995). The practice

of family planning has been a constitutional requirement for Chinese

citizens since 1982. The first two legal constitutions of the PRC,

introduced in 1954 and 1975, did not mention family planning and the

third constitution, which came into force in 1978, stipulated that "the

state advocates and encourages family planning", but did not compel it.

The current constitution, introduced in 1982, states that "both the

husband and wife have the duty to practise family planning" (Article

49).

Implementation of reduced child quotas

There are indications that elements of the reduced child quota policy

now being recommended for Tibetans in Kandze TAP are already being

implemented in at least one of the counties under the administration of

the prefecture. Kandze county is already operating a "two child" policy

among its rural population, according to two independent accounts given

to TIN by Tibetans from the county. A 57-year old women from Kandze, who

was a farmer in the county before arriving in exile, said that her

village was notified of the two child policy in 1995, about four years

prior to the 1999 Xinhua report. The notification came in the form of an

official poster distributed to every family in the village.

Another Tibetan woman, also a farmer, from a different part of Kandze

county, told TIN in 1998 that a family planning policy had been

introduced in her "native area" restricting couples to two children per

family. The Tibetan did not specify when this policy was first

introduced nor whether her "native area" was a purely farming, or a

mixed farming and herding area. She reported that any extra births

exceeding the two-child quota resulted in the parents being fined

1000-yuan (US$118). Kandze county may have been treated by the

authorities as a pilot area for the introduction of the reduced child

quota policy for the whole of the prefecture.

A third Tibetan from Kandze TAP said that the reduced child quota policy

had not yet been fully introduced throughout the prefecture before he

left his home in mid-1998 to go into exile. The Tibetan, from a farming

family in Sershul (Shiqu/Serxu in Chinese) county in Kandze TAP, said

that the birth quota for women in his village was still three children.

Sershul was one of the nine Kandze counties that showed a small growth

in population for 1990 and 1994, according to official figures.

Restrictions on birth of children in other Tibetan areas

Changes to minority family planning policy also appear to have been

introduced in other Tibetan areas of the PRC. A Tibetan farmer from

Machen County in Golog TAP, Qinghai Province told TIN in February 1999

that farming families in his county were not allowed to have more than

two children, while herders in the county were still allowed to have

three children.

Accounts given by Tibetans suggest that in Sangchu (Chinese: Xiahe)

county in Kanlho (Gannan) TAP, Gansu province, farmers and herders are

being limited to a maximum of two children and urban residents to one

child. The implementation of a policy limiting farmers and herders to

two children in Sangchu is reported in accounts from four different

Tibetans all from different parts of the county. A 21-year-old from a

farming family in the county told TIN that the policy had been

introduced in 1997. She further reported that a one-child policy had

been introduced in cities and townships at the same time, a policy that

meant that Tibetans in these areas were subject to the same policy as

that for the Han population. The family planning policy prior to 1997

had been that in "farming and nomadic [herding] areas [people] were

allowed to give birth to three children, although restricting birth to

two children was highly recommended. In the cities and townships, people

were allowed to give birth to two children, althoug one child was highly

recommended", according to the source.

Notes:

1: This figure is based on the assumption that the figure of 480,000

given is taken from the first Chinese census in 1953. The period of

growth charted is therefore the 45 years 1953 - 1998, rather than the

round "five decades" as written in the 23 June 1999 Xinhua report.

2: This is consistent with other areas outside the TAR. Official

statistics indicate that 40% of the counties in Tibetan autonomous areas

outside the TAR had an either declining or static Tibetan population

during the period 1990-1994.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

2. EU Urged To Support China Criticism

----------------------------------------------------------------------

UNITED NATIONS, Thursday February 10, 2000 (AP) - An international

coalition urged the European Union on Thursday to support U.S. efforts

to criticize China's human rights record at an upcoming U.N. meeting.

Behind-the-scenes efforts by the EU to improve the human rights

situation in China have failed to stop violations, much less improve the

overall situation in the country, the coalition said in a statement.

With Beijing's current crackdown on dissidents and the banned Falun Gong

spiritual movement, the EU should change strategy and cosponsor a

resolution censuring China at the annual U.N. Human Rights Commission

meeting in Geneva, which begins March 20, the coalition said.

``Dialogue without pressure in the face of persistent gross violations

of human rights is simply appeasement and degrades the authority of

international human rights standards,'' the statement said.

The coalition includes Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch,

Reporters Without Borders, Human Rights in China, the International

Federation of Human Rights and the International Campaign for Tibet.

The United States announced in January it would again seek to pass a

resolution criticizing China's record at the commission's annual meeting

and launched an international campaign to get support for the measure.

Eight attempts to censure China at the U.N. commission have failed since

1990, as Beijing mobilized support from the developing countries that

dominate the 53-member group.

Last year, American officials couldn't muster enough support to even

include the question on the commission's agenda.

Many European nations didn't back the U.S. initiative then. The European

Union said last week it didn't yet have a position on the new proposed

U.S. resolution.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

3. Trading One Cage for Another - Karmapa Kept Segregated From Others

----------------------------------------------------------------------

By Lea Terhune

Special to ABCNEWS.com

D H A R M S A L A, India, Feb. 11 -- After a short talk on his religion,

the Karmapa - Tibetan Buddhism's third-highest priest - expresses

gratitude to the Indian government.

Serious and unhesitating, he often mentions democracy as he thanks his

visitors, "Asians and Westerners."

"May you all have happiness, health, prosperity and live in freedom," he

says.

He might wish for more freedom for himself, placed as he is under

virtual house arrest.

He cannot leave the small Gyuto Monastery for so much as a walk.

Religious Politics

The Karmapa, 14, is a political hot potato. The boy, born Ugyen Trinley

Dorjelanding, landed in India at a time when its often-tense relations

with China - from which he fled in January after years of another kind

of house arrest - were on the mend.

The Chinese had hoped to fashion him in their mold, and hold him up as

an example of the religious freedom they said they were allowing in

Tibet. They have controlled the independence-minded region for four

decades.

Like the Dalai Lama and Panchen Lama above him in the hierarchy, he is

historically important, with a large following in Tibet and the world.

On the first day after Losar, or New Year, Tibetan Buddhists

traditionally visit their lama. But at Gyuto Monastery, in a verdant

valley ringed by mountains, tradition is held in abeyance.

Patient visitors from Tibet and around the world are subjected to an

unprecedented - some would even say nonsensical - security exercise.

After a body search, those seeking audience after Losar were told to off

their jackets, watches and even their socks, in spite of temperatures

that often dip below freezing.

The visitors then entered a marble audience hall, where a simple chair

awaited the Karmapa. He entered with a few monks, dressed in simple

maroon robes.

Devotees accustomed to stand and then ritually prostrate themselves at

the entry of a high lama were ordered to sit down by an officious

security man from the Tibetan "government in exile."

No Gifts, Please

Tibetans, following an ancient custom, traditionally offer respected

figures long, silk scarves.

But visitors at Gyuto were not allowed to do this, nor to receive the

Karmapa's touch of blessing on their heads in the time-honored way. He

was roped off like a museum exhibit, 20 feet behind a yellow tape

barrier.

"This is terrible. There is no excuse for this," complained one

well-educated Tibetan woman in the crowd, as visitors were jostled by

Tibetan security.

Some observers have expressed worries that such strictures could revive

old resentments of earlier days, when refugee adherents of the Dalai

Lama's Gelupgpa sect received preferential treatment to those of other

Buddhist schools, such as the Karmapa's Kagyupa sect.

"They don't have this kind of security for the Dalai Lama," groused one

bystander named Dechen.

The Dalai Lama has worked hard to overcome old prejudices and inequities

carried over from theocratic Tibet - attitudes that incited ugly

conflicts in the past.

The Dalai Lama has been personally very supportive of the Karmapa, and

it is said that he and the young lama have hit it off very well. He

continues to meet the Karmapa regularly.

Some observers say Tibetans of every stripe or sect are glad to accept

the Karmapa, and some even talk of him as a possible successor to the

Dalai Lama, at least symbolically.

Reasons for Worry

But even if the Karmapa's guards seem overzealous, there is surely a

need for security: Danger could come from the Chinese or from a rival

lama who has been trying for years to grab the Karmapa's assets.

Police, too, said they have good reasons, based on intelligence reports,

to suspect someone may try to do the Karmapa harm. Foreigners are said

to be especially suspect.

Nothing official has emerged from the Indian government, though

privately officials indicate the Karmapa will likely be accepted as a

refugee.

Still, sources in the Tibetan "government in exile" say there may be

restrictions on the Karmapa's visits to certain monasteries. Murmurs

grow that the Karmapa, after his harrowing escape from Tibet, has traded

one cage for another.

To pass the time, the Karmapa prays, studies Buddhist texts,

prolifically composes poetry and music and strolls on the rooftop for

exercise.

He has learned romanized Tibetan script, and also now uses a computer.

No matter how his travels are restricted, he is obviously a lama in step

with the times.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

4. A Defiant One

----------------------------------------------------------------------

By Tracey Middlekauff

Fox News, February 11, 2000

The Free Tibet movement has become something of a chic cause in recent

years, attracting the support of celebrities like the Beastie Boys, Rage

Against the Machine and, of course, Richard Gere. The rich and famous

can be spotted wearing expensive reproductions of Buddhist prayer beads,

and an appearance by the Dalai Lama can cause the sort of frenzy once

reserved for rock stars.

In the shadow of big-ticket events like the Tibetan Freedom Concert, one

can lose sight of the fact that real individuals have been affected by

the Chinese occupation of Tibet in deeply troubling ways.

In Sorrow Mountain: The Journey of a Tibetan Warrior Nun (Kodansha

International, $25, 288 pages), by Ani Pachen with Adelaide Donnelley,

the Tibetan struggle is brought back to the individual level, and the

political becomes intensely personal.

In this memoir, Pachen tells of her childhood in Tibet as the daughter

of a powerful local chieftain. At the age of 17, she was promised in

marriage to the son of an influential family, but she convinced her

parents to allow her to pursue the monastic life.

Unfortunately, Pachen was forced to interrupt her spiritual journey. Her

father died shortly after the Chinese invasion of Tibet began, and she

vowed to take his place and lead her people in resistance. Although it

conflicts with Buddhist teachings, she resolved to kill if necessary.

After two years of living in the hills and ambushing the Chinese, Pachen

was caught in 1960 and sent to prison, where she was tortured, beaten,

put in leg irons for an entire year, and placed in solitary confinement

for nine months for refusing to denounce her actions or the actions of

her fellow Tibetans. She was not released until 1981.

Although the book deals frankly - and at times graphically - with the

murder and torture of Tibetans at the hands of the Chinese, there is

often a dreamlike quality to the narrative. Time seems oddly compressed.

Although Pachen was in prison for 21 years, only the last third of the

book deals with her time there; the rest deals with a loving recreation

of her childhood, her home life and the community's growing dread as the

Chinese drew closer to her village.

Memories of her former life float back to Pachen during some of her most

difficult times; sometimes offering comfort, at other times causing

aching pain. When Pachen is locked in a pitch-black cement room, she

calls for her mother, her father, her aunt: "I fell to my knees and

began to sob. 'Mama,' 'Papa,' 'Ani Rigzin.' I cried for my family, I

cried for my home, I cried for Gyalsay Rinpoche [her teacher]. After I

could cry no longer, I prayed."

Pachen's intense religious conviction and deep desire to eventually meet

the Dalai Lama is what ultimately kept her alive throughout her long

ordeal, she writes. When a Chinese guard repeatedly urges Pachen to

accept Mao Tse-Tung as a great leader, Pachen, as she does throughout

the story, simply closes her eyes and visualizes "the face of His

Holiness."

It was sudden and unexpected when Pachen was finally released from

prison.

She began to lead protests against the Chinese shortly after her

release, and soon became a marked woman. Fearing further imprisonment,

she fled to India and was finally able to fulfill her dream of meeting

the Dalai Lama.

Pachen eventually settled in Dharamsala, India in 1989, where she still

lives and takes part in demonstrations for a free Tibet.

** Tracey Middlekauff is a features reporter for FOXNews.com

___________________________________________________________________________

Send articles to: wtn-editors@tibet.ca

Subscriptions to: listserv@lists.mcgill.ca (SUB WTN-L [your name])

Cancellations to: listserv@lists.mcgill.ca (SIGNOFF WTN-L)

WTN Archived at: http://www.tibet.ca

___________________________________________________________________________