Published by: World Tibet Network News, Sunday, October 6, 1996

Beijing's liberal propaganda chief invites Tibet's leader to 'return to the motherland'

The Guardian - London

2 October 1996

CHINA has sent an un-usually positive signal to the Dalai Lama, de- spite growing tension in Tibet, through an interview given by one of Beijing's more liberal leaders.

Li Ruihuan, the propaganda chief, has drawn a careful dis-tinction between the Tibetan religious leader and the "clique" around him, suggest-ing that an agreement could still be reached with the Dalai personally.

Beijing's proposals have been blocked by the "Dalal side", Mr Li says, but the Dalal himself would be wel-come to return to the moth-erland so that we can do something beneficial for the people of Tibet".

His distinction is sharply at odds with the rest of Beijing's pronouncements on Tibet, which have reached new heights of invective against the Dalal in person.

Last week an official Chi-nese news commentary de-scribed him as "the chieftain of the splittist [separatist] clique", and a "conspirator" who was "begging foreigners for support".

Mr Li, by contrast, in an in-terview on September 18 while visiting Switzerland, passed no judgment on the Dalai's motives or behaviour. In a key passage he said: "The Dalai clique's political nature has been decided by what it has done in history, but as for the Dalai himself, we have al-ways ... given him a way out".

The interview in Bern was almost entirely concerned with Tibet and was given un-usual prominence in the offi-cial People's Daily.

It coincided with a remark-ably mild speech by the Dalai Lama at the National Press Club in Sydney on the same day.

He suggested that "a change for the better" was coming in Tibet and that a post-Deng Xiaoping leadership would be more amenable to talks with-out preconditions.

His tone was remarkable in view of the increased severity of Chinese repression in Tibet. Tibetan monks are being forced to take what amounts to a loyalty test, and threatened with arrest or ex-pulsion from their monaster-ies if they do not denounce the Dalai.

Chinese army units are being deployed around Lhasa in an apparent show of strength.

China has also been exp-loiting the issue of its sover-eignty over Tibet in its current wave of patriotic propaganda.

Yesterday the People's Daily celebrated China's National Day with a front-page colour picture of the Tibetan boy chosen by Beij-ing as the reincarnation of the Panchen Lama, Tibet's second religious leader.

The boy is a rival candidate to the one already chosen, ac-cording to religious practice, by the Dalal Lama.

In his interview, Mr Li repeated the standard Chi-nese position: that the Dalal must recognise that Tibet is part of China and stop advo-cating independence before talks can be held. This is pushing at a door already half open.

Since 1987 the Dalai has acknowledged that independence is not a realistic demand. He asks rather for Tibet to enjoy genuine auton-omy and become a non-mili-tary zone under Chinese sovereignty.

China has made no serious attempt to explore the negoti-ating possibilities offered by the Dalai's proposal since its policy hardened in the early 1990s.

Mr Li's shift of line may also reflect his personal position as one of the more mod-erate Chinese leaders.

He is a member of the elite standing committee of the Communist Party's ruling po-litburo and chairman of the people's political consultative conference.

This body and the national people's congress are forums for non-party opinion which may, some observers believe, gain ground after Mr Deng dies.