Washington, December 5, 1996 (ICT) -- The International Campaign for Tibet today called on Defense Secretary William Perry in his meetings with Chinese Defense Minister Chi Haotian to ensure that future military cooperation with China does not strengthen China's military control over Tibet. While the United States has an obligation to reduce military tensions with China and all other major military and nuclear powers, normalization of Sino - U.S. military relations must be contingent on steps toward ending China's military occupation of Tibet.

"The U.S. should refrain from any training, cooperation or technology transfer which have specific high-altitude applications that could be used on Tibetan plateau against the Tibetan people," said Lodi Gyari, President of ICT. Mr. Gyari also added that "this visit has the potential to send the wrong messages to the people of China and Tibet by rolling out a red carpet to a General responsible for massacring his own people."

The International Campaign for Tibet strongly condemns past sales of military equipment for use in Tibet. For example China now uses U.S. built S70C Black Hawk Sikorsky helicopters to support military operations in Tibet. The helicopters were used to monitor Tibetan demonstrations in 1988 and 1989, during which hundreds of Tibetans were detained and brutally tortured. The aircraft were deployed in Tibet in 1985 where they conducted operations at record or near-record altitudes. Sikorsky originally trained eight Chinese pilots in West Palm Beach, Florida, according to Aviation Week & Space Technology.

In 1988, Chinese interest in another helicopter prompted Boeing to rent a transport plane from the U.S. Air Force to ship a Boeing CH-47 helicopter to Tibet for demonstration flights to test its capabilities at altitudes over 10,000 feet. A Boeing official said the flight tests in Tibet had "no political implications." However, these tests have obvious political implications in Tibet, where demonstrations and unrest in remote areas with poor or non-existent road connections would make helicopters the most reliable method for quelling Tibetan unrest.

The People's Liberation Army continues to be a major instrument of control and repression in Tibet, and provides an infrastructure for Chinese rule. Transportation, communication and other major construction projects all have predominant military uses in Tibet. The Dalai Lama has called on China to demilitarize the Tibetan plateau by withdrawing troops and military installations from the plateau simultaneous with India's withdrawal of troops from border areas. The military occupation of Tibet is now in its 47th year.