Published by: World Tibet Network News 96/04/03 24:00 GMT

By Uli Schmetzer Chicago Tribune

Distributed by Knight-Ridder/Tribune Information Services.

BEIJING, April 3,--Human rights groups believe that 6-year-old Tibetan Gedhun Choekyi Nyima is under house arrest somewhere in Beijing. Chinese officials insist the boy is "leading a normal life" but won't say where.

Nyima's fate has become an issue in the dispute over a proposed United Nations resolution condemning China for human rights abuses. He was chosen last May as the reincarnation of the 10th Panchen Lama but was stripped of his status six months later by Beijing.

The reincarnation controversy has caused a schism in Tibetan Buddhism over the succession to Tibet's most senior spiritual leader, who died in 1989. It also has focused attention on China's recent history of falsely claiming that Tibet political prisoners had been released when they actually were still in custody.

In an 82-page report issued over the weekend, two humans rights groups, Tibet Information Network and Asia Watch, have drawn a grim picture of China's campaign to control Tibetan spiritual life and education. Beijing also is demanding loyalty oaths from minor bureaucrats while banning religious items in their homes.

Human rights organizations contend that the international community ignores Tibet's plight because it doesn't want to jeopardize access to China's lucrative markets.

The report said 610 Tibetans have been jailed since January for advocating separatism and opposing the immigration of more Chinese settlers. It also reports protests by peasants against excessive levies and the arrest of nuns and monks over independence posters in monasteries and temples.

Among those detained are 52 monks and senior lamas who refused to go along with a finding by a special Chinese investigative committee that Nyima was a false reincarnation imposed by the Dalai Lama, Tibet's god-king who lives in exile in India. Chinese officials replaced the entire lama leadership of Tashilhumpo Monastery in Shigatse, the headquarters of the Panchen Lamas.

The human rights report described the Nov. 29 ceremony during which the name of Beijing's latest choice, 6-year-old Gyaincain Norbu, was plucked from a golden vessel. It said the ceremony was held secretly at 2 a.m. behind locked doors and with armed guards on the roof of the Jokhang Temple in Lhasa.

The report blames international apathy and the Clinton administration's decision to unlink trade from human rights in 1994 for encouraging China to embrace a more repressive policy in Tibet. It said political and religious repression had risen sharply since 1994, along with vilification of the Dalai Lama.

The report's release coincides with the 52nd U.N. Commission on Human Rights in Geneva this month. The commission will consider a U.S. co-sponsored resolution proposing to censor China for human rights abuses. The European Union has agreed to support the resolution despite a strong Chinese lobbying effort against it.

One of the key issues is the fate of Nyima, who had been chosen by a search party of monks lead by the venerable Chatral Rinpoche, abbot of Tashilhumpo Monastery in Shigatse. The abbot has been missing since he was denounced as a "criminal" for informing the Dalai Lama of Nyima's selection before informing Beijing.

A spokesman at China's Bureau of Religious Affairs said this week he had no idea of the whereabouts of the "fake Panchen Lama." Last month a senior, Chinese-approved Tibetan official told a press conference: "It's ridiculous to think we would detain a 6-year-old boy."

"As for the boy appointed by the Dalai Lama, he is now in good health and leading a normal life. The so-called arrest and persecution of him is nothing but a pure rumor," said another official, Gunchok Tsering, a Tibetan member of the Chinese delegation in Geneva.

The human rights report cast doubts on such affirmations, even at high levels.

It points out that Chinese Vice-Foreign Minister Jiang Enzhu, now ambassador to Britain, had told the European Union in 1993 that activist Damchoe Pemo had been released. In fact she was reported still in prison a year later.

In another case, the European Union was informed by Chinese authorities in March 1994 that 15-year-old nun Gyaltsen Pelsang had been released from prison. In fact she remained in Gutsa detention center for another 11 months, the report said.

The report detailed "a three-stage purge" of those at the Tashilhumpo monastery who had refused to accept the denunciation of the "fake lama." The monastery's leadership, officially described as "the scum of Buddhism" was replaced by lamas who supported Chinese authorities, the report said.

Eight hours after the denunciation meeting organized by Chinese officials, police raided the monastery and arrested 32 monks. Another 20 monks elsewhere in Tibet who refused to denounce the Dalai Lama were detained, the report said.

At the same time, Chinese authorities issued a statement that has become the new guideline for the practice of religion in Tibet:

"A qualified religious believer should, first of all, be a patriot. Any legitimate religion invariably makes patriotism the primary requirement for believers. One can talk about love of religion only if one is a patriot. A person who is unpatriotic and has even rebelled against the country cannot be forgiven by the country but can also not be tolerated by religion."