Published by: World Tibet Network News 97/05/17 24:00 GMT

This is the only editorial being released for broadcast May 17, 1997

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:

It was announced this month that a senior Tibetan monk and two associates

had been given prison terms following a secret trial by the Chinese

Government. Chadrel Rinpoche, abbot of the Panchen Lama's Tashilhunpo

monastery, was sentenced to six years. Chamba Chung, deputy director of the

Panchen Lama's residence, was sentenced to four years. Samdrup, another

associate, received two years in prison.

The Tibetans had played a role in the 1995 search for the reincarnation of

the Panchen Lama, the second most important leader in Tibetan Buddhism,

after the exiled Dalai Lama. The search committee was led by Rinpoche. The

selection of Gendhun Choekyi Nyima, a six-year-old boy, as the eleventh

reincarnation of the Panchen Lama was announced by the Dalai Lama. In

response, the Chinese Government detained Rinpoche, along with abut forty

other monks involved in the selection process.

Chinese officials chose a different boy and held an elaborate investiture

ceremony in December 1995. Since then, the boy picked by the Chinese

government has appeared publicly on two occasions but has otherwise been

held incommunicado. Gendhun Choekyi Nyima, the boy identified by Tibetans

as the reincarnation of the Panchen Lama, continues to be detained, along

with his parents.

The United States calls on China to release the Tibetan abbot Chadrel

rinpoche, his two associates, and all others imprisoned for their religious

beliefs. The U.S. further calls on China to allow the boy Gendhun Choekyi

Nyima to return freely to Tibet with his family and receive visitors.

"If it can be rectified,

Why worry about it?

If it cannot be rectified,

What is the use of worrying about it?"

-- Gyalsey Shiwalha