by gil butler voice of america (VOA)

background report - 9/8/97

tibet overview by gil butler voice of america

beijing voa beijing correspondent gil butler has just returned to the chinese capital from a week-long tour of tibet. in this overview of his visit, correspondent butler reports on how china has secured its control during the past 30 years.

the remote tibet autonomous region has been under chinese control since the 1950's and while exiled leader the dalai lama has wide support outside the country, inside tibet, chinese rule seems secure.

foreign estimates put the number of chinese soldiers stationed in tibet at around 300 thousand, but according to government officials there are fewer than 200 thousand.

nonetheless, they seem to be present everywhere. gyamtso, vice chairman of tibet's government, says the troops are needed because of the region's long borders. however, many of the soldiers are in interior cities such as the capital, lhasa. a tibetan professor says they are needed for social stability.

the religious fervor of the tibetans is one of the most striking aspects of the region. the exiled dalai lama is still revered. his old summer palace is a destination of many pilgrims and reporters saw tibetans prostrating themselves beside his bed.

inside tibet's many monasteries, however, the government has cracked down on independence sentiment or overt symbols of support for the dalai lama. special teams conducted mandatory sessions in every monastery to teach chinese political correctness. some of them are still operating.

vice chairman gyamtso acknowledges that some lamas and nuns have been imprisoned. he says they make up about nine per cent of prisoners who have been sentenced for national security violations those the rest of the world calls political prisoners.

mr.gyamtso says the dalai lama could return to tibet if he admits that it is part of china and stops what beijing calls his "splittist" activities. the dalai lama says he wants cultural autonomy for tibet, not independence. but vice chairman gyamtso says a high degree of autonomy is impossible.

during this government-sponsored tour by reporters, officials have stressed the large amount of money the central government has spent on restoring monasteries and temples that were damaged by red guards during the cultural revolution.

chinese officials point with pride to another aspect of their control economic growth. they say ordinary tibetans are much better off now than they were under what they describe as the dalai lama's feudal rule.

according to official figures, the average yearly income of a farmer or herdsman has risen to about 118 dollars. city dwellers make about six times that amount.

there are more schools, medical facilities, and electric power than in the past.

at a primary school, both han chinese and tibetan children study under the same roof. both learn chinese, but the tibetan pupils also study their own language. the chinese students do not learn tibetan.

business cards of tibetans are usually printed in chinese and english not chinese and tibetan.

a leading professor of tibetan studies at the tibet academy of social sciences says many books are published each year in tibetan. other sources said there were very few technical or scientific works in the regional language.

despite the visible changes in tibet han chinese officials and businessmen, new schools, a working telephone system, new roads with truckloads of people's liberation army soldiers using them some things have not changed.

in small fields along the streams and rivers, farmers still plow with yaks or mules and harvest their wheat and barley crops by hand. tibetan herdsmen water their sheep in lakes that mirror towering mountains.

and in the monasteries, the lamas rise before dawn to read buddhist scripture and chant their prayers, though without the presence of the leader of their religion, the dalai lama.(signed)