January 6, 1997

New York Times email: letters@nytimes.com 229 West 43rd Street

New York NY 10036-3959

To the Editor:

The editorial column of the New York Times on Thursday, January 2, 1997, "A Prison Term in Tibet", rightfully decries the treatment of Tibet and Tibetans by the Chinese Government. Over the past several years, the New York Times, and many other publications both here and abroad have drawn attention to the appalling lack of human rights in China, and Tibet. This latest editorial condemns the Chinese Government's repressive policies in connection with the 18-year sentence imposed on Ngawang Choephel, accused of spying for the US government, although he was doing nothing more than attempting to record traditional songs and dances.

Lest the readers of the New York Times think that the harsh treatment accorded the Tibetans is prejudicial as far as the minority peoples of China go, I would like to point out that similar treatment is shown the other non-Han minority peoples of China, the Mongols in particular. On December 6, 1996, just before Ngawang Choephel was being sentenced to 18 years, two young Mongol intellectuals, Hada and Tegexi were handed 15 and 10 year sentences respectively, for alleged separatist activities.

Just as Ngawang Choephel was trying to preserve pieces of Tibetan culture which he understood was in danger of being lost in the face of Chinese assimilation, Hada and Tegexi, members of the Southern Mongolian Democracy Alliance, were similarly engaged in the cultural preservation of the Mongol minority in China. Their only crime was participation in an organization that was attempting to preserve Mongol identity, an organization essentially social, humanitarian and cultural in nature, very much like the NAACP in the United States in its relations to the larger society.

I have no allusions that drawing attention to the plight of the other minority peoples in China will have much influence on the Clinton administration's policies toward the Chinese Government. But at the very least, the readers of the New York Times should know that when it comes to the minority peoples of China, the Chinese Government has had a reprehensibly evenhanded approach at ignoring the human rights of her citizens.

The Tibetan story needs to be heard, but the New York Times does a disservice when the equally tragic Mongol story remains unheard.

Sanj Altan, Ph.D.

1917 Arlington Avenue

North Brunswick NJ 08902

Tel : (908) 297 - 1140