Published by: World Tibet Network News Tuesday, December 23, 1997

By Joe Mcdonald, Associated Press

BEIJING, December 23, 1997 (AP) -- China rejected a call today by an international group of jurists for a Tibetan independence referendum, and dismissed claims of human rights abuses in Tibet as slander.

"The so-called self-determination is out of the question. Tibet is a part of China," said Tang Guoqiang, a spokesman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, at a twice-weekly press briefing.

The International Commission of Jurists, based in Geneva, called Monday for a U.N.-sponsored referendum in Tibet on whether to remain under Chinese control.

The group said repression in Tibet has "increased steadily" since early 1996 and that torture was widespread.

In a 365-page report, the group said an intensive political re-education drive is under way in monasteries.

It said Buddhist nuns and other women had been raped using cattle prods, and that prisoners have died in recent years from torture or negligence. It called for a special U.N. human rights investigator for Tibet.

Chinese Communist troops arrived in Tibet in 1950 to assert Beijing's claim to the territory. Its ruler, the Dalai Lama, fled in exile to India in 1959. He received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1989 for his nonviolent campaign for Tibetan autonomy.

Beijing says it has spent millions of dollars raising Tibetan living standards and restoring Buddhist monasteries. Tibetan activists say other important sites have been destroyed and economic benefits go mostly to ethnic Chinese settlers.

The Chinese government has denied accusations of torture and religious persecution. It has blocked U.N. attempts to investigate, rejecting outside interest in human rights in Tibet as subversive interference.

"Tibet has since ancient times been an inalienable part of Chinese territory, and no foreign country has the right to interfere in Tibetan affairs," Tang said.

"This report, in total disregard of the territorial sovereignty of China, openly propagandizes for Tibetan self-determination, and slanderously said China violated human rights in Tibet."

The jurists' group said a Tibetan referendum could result in independence, self-rule as part of China, a continuation of the current situation or any other status chosen by Tibetan voters.

The authors of the report visited the Dalai Lama in India, but said they were not allowed to travel to Tibet.