Published by: World Tibet Network News, Monday, June 24, 1996

BEIJING, June 23 (Reuter) - China announced on Sunday it had scrapped a July visit by German Foreign Minister Klaus Kinkel in protest against a Bonn parliamentary resolution accusing China of human rights abuses in Tibet.

Germany was to blame for the damage to bilateral ties, state radio quoted a Foreign Ministry spokesman as saying.

"The recent damage to Sino-German relations was completely caused by the German side," he said.

"The Chinese side has protested and expressed its strong opposition and indignation," he said.

"The parliament's action publicly trampled international law and grossly interfered in China's internal affairs," the Foreign Ministry said, adding that the resolution had also seriously hurt the feelings of the Chinese people.

"In these circumstances, the Chinese side feels the atmosphere is clearly not appropriate for a planned visit to China by Foreign Minister... Kinkel on July 11 to 14," it said.

China had decided to postpone the visit, it said. The Foreign Ministry summoned German Ambassador to Beijing Konrad Seitz on Saturday to voice its protest and called him in again on Sunday to notify him of the cancellation of Kinkel's visit, German sources said.

In Bonn, the German Foreign Ministry declined to make any immediate comment.

The German parliamentary resolution condemned a list of alleged human rights abuses in Tibet including "forced sterilisation of women and forced abortions; political, religious and cultural persecution, and the subordination of the country to a Chinese-controlled administration."

China rejects the charges.

However, Beijing held out room for relations to recover before a visit pencilled in for late this year by Germany's President Roman Herzog.

"China hopes the German side can take concrete and effective measures based on the mutual interests of their two peoples to ensure the healthy development of Sino-German relations without interference," the Foreign Ministry said.

China has slammed Thursday's resolution in Bonn as "an open, flagrant violation of international law and a serious case of interferenc security around The Dalai Lama following intelligence reports of a possible attack on Tibet's exiled spiritual leader, a newspaper reported Sunday.

Officials in the snow bound tribal district of Kinnaur in northern Himachal Pradesh state have sounded a "red-alert" for the security of The Dalai Lama during his stay for the millennium celebrations of the Tabo monastery, The Indian Express newspaper said.

India's Home Ministry has asked the Himachal Pradesh state to tighten the security ring around the spiritual leader. Many of the Tibetan monks also may not be allowed entry into the ancient monastery for the celebrations due to the security risk, the news report said.

Indian authorities already have provided The Dalai lama with a security which is generally reserved for the visiting head of a nation. The spiritual leader has been provided with bullet-proof Mercedes Benz cars and armed escorts around the clock.

Metal detectors and baggage X-ray scanners also have been put up at Tibet's government-in-exile headquarters at northern Indian city of Dharamsala.

In November, the authorities had arrested three Tibetans who were allegedly Chinese spies operating in Dharamsala.

The Dalai lama and his 100,000 followers fled Tibet in 1959 after a failed uprising against Chinese rule. Since then, the Tibetan spiritual leader has led a government-in-exile from India.

Tibet, which won independence from China in 1911, was reoccupied by Beijing's Communist regime in 1951.

In 1989, The Dalai Lama was bestowed with the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to promote religious freedom in Tibet.