Published by: World Tibet Network News Friday, November 7, 1997

by Sarah Jackson-Han

WASHINGTON, Nov 6 (AFP) - The State Department's new coordinator for Tibet said Thursday he plans to visit the Himalayan region, the first senior US official to travel there since 1993.

"I've not yet made a formal request, but it's quite clear that that is contemplated," Clinton appointee Greg Craig told a congressional panel.

Craig, 52, who also serves as State Department director of policy planning, has said he hopes to promote talks between Chinese authorities who control Tibet and the region's exiled spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama.

Later this month Craig will visit India -- home to about 100,000 Tibetan exiles -- with Secretary of State Madeleine Albright. Officials may also stop at Dharamsala, where Tibet's exiled leadership is based.

Under tough questioning by members of the House International Relations committee, Craig said Washington, Beijing, and the Dalai Lama all agreed that Tibet is legally a part of China.

But he said Chinese authorities who have controlled Tibet since 1949, want the Dalai Lama to state that Tibet was never independent before they join him in negotiations.

"It appears to me that this is a dispute about the historical status of Tibet," Craig said.

Alluding to the frustration many young Tibetans feel under Beijing's rule, Craig said Washington discouraged violence, and would seek to consult both Chinese officials and Tibetans on peaceful solutions to the stand-off.

"I hope to gather from these meetings creative ideas on how to encourage dialogue between the Dalai Lama and his representatives, and the Beijing government," he said, adding: "Substantial obstacles lie in the way."

Craig characterized Chinese rule in Tibet as "repressive," saying Beijing had committed widespread human rights abuses in the territory, including torture and arbitrary arrest.

If he succeeds in getting a visa, Craig would be the first senior official to visit Tibet -- China's poorest region -- since Assistant Secretary of State for Human Rights John Shattuck went there in October 1993, according to US officials.

After that trip, Shattuck described a tightly-controlled visit to Drapchi

Prison, during which he met with prisoner Yulo Dawa Tsering, jailed for

voicing support for he Tibetan independence movement.

To China's chagrin, the State Department named Craig to the newly-created post of special coordinator on October 31, to support the preservation of Tibet's unique culture and promote Sino-Tibetan dialogue.

Craig, a lawyer, served in the 1980s as senior adviser on foreign and defense issues to Senator Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts.

The Clinton administration found itself in an awkward spot in making his appointment -- having pledged under congressional pressure to name an envoy by November 1, then scheduling a visit by Chinese President Jiang Zemin overlapping that date.

A Chinese government spokesman travelling with Jiang in Boston rejected Craig's appointment a day later as heavy-handed American meddling, and reiterated Beijing's view that the matter is an "internal affair."

"No government has the right to interfere on this issue," Shen Guofeng said.