From: DEBRA@OLN.comlink.apc.org (Debra Guzman)

Source: Voice of America

Date: APRIL 13, 1996

CONTENT: This is the only editorial being released for broadcast

ANNCR: the Voice of America presents differing points of view on a wide variety of issues. Next, an editorial expressing the policies of the United States government.

Voice: the Voice of America tibetan service recently celebrated its fifth anniversary. The broadcasts were started in March 1991 to meet the need of the tibetan people for uncensored news and information about events in China and the rest of the world. The first broadcasts were fifteen minutes a day, but for the past year the tibetan service has been on the air two hours every day.

VOA and all-India radio are the only international broadcasters in the tibetan language. Despite chinese government jamming, VOA has many listeners in tibet. Like VOA broadcasts in mandarin, cantonese and more than forty other languages, the tibetan broadcasts include news, editorials and feature stories on science, health, economics, the arts and other subjects. The tibetan service adheres strictly to the VOA charter, which requires that the news be presented in an accurate, objective and comprehensive manner.

In tibet as in other parts of China, citizens have limited access to accurate, objective news. The chinese government controls print and broadcast media. Many people have been jailed solely for the peaceful expression of their political, social or religious views. During the past year, as the U.S. state department recently reported, "chinese government authorities continued to commit widespread human rights abuses in Tibet, including instances of torture, arbitrary arrest, detention without public trial and intensified controls on freedom of speech and the press, particularly for ethnic tibetans."

The United States has long been concerned about the preservation and development of the unique religious, cultural and linguistic heritage of the tibetan people. The U.S. continues to urge the chinese government to resume a dialogue with the Dalai Lama, the exiled spiritual leader of tibetan buddhists. That dialogue should be resumed without delay or preconditions.

ANNCR: that was an editorial expressing the policies of the United States government.

If you would like to be heard on this issue, please write to editorials, Voice of America, Washington, DC, 20547, USA. you may also send us a fax at (202) 619-1043. your comments may be used on the air.