World Tibet Network News Monday, March 30, 1998

From: TIBET INFORMATION NETWORK

The Chinese authorities have given two conflicting reports about the whereabouts of the eight-year old boy recognised by the Dalai Lama as the reincarnation of the 10th Panchen Lama. The comments were made to two Western delegations to Tibet, one of which included the Austrian Foreign Minister Wolfgang Schuessel and the other a group of American religious leaders of three different faiths. The Evangelical Christian member of the group, in a controversial remark made on his return to America, appeared to express approval for the activities of missionaries in Tibet when he stated that Tibetans were in "spiritual bondage" due to their Buddhist faith.

Neither delegation mentioned the information about the location of the young Panchen Lama in their official reports published two weeks ago. The vice-governor of the Tibet Autonomous Region Yang Chuantang told the Austrian group that the boy, Gendun Choekyi Nyima, was living in Tibet, in the village of Lhari. Lhari, which is in Nagchu prefecture, 250 km from Lhasa, is the boy's birthplace. The group of US clerics had been told that the boy was in Beijing, as previous reports have indicated.

A spokesperson for the Austrian Foreign Ministry felt that the details given about the boy's whereabouts were less significant than the fact that the Chinese authorities had responded to questions with detailed information. "We see this as a message," said Florian Krenkel, spokesperson for the Austrian Foreign Ministry in Vienna. "Of course the Panchen Lama could be moved from place to place, but we were told of his whereabouts so frankly and directly that we felt the authorities might allow future groups to visit him." The boy was last mentioned in the Chinese press in September of last year. Ragdi, the Executive Deputy Secretary of the Tibet Communist Party, was reported by a Hong Kong news agency on 16 September 1997 as saying: "He goes to school as every other child does and is perfectly free without restraint." Gendun Choekyi Nyima was recognised in May 1995 by the Dalai Lama as the 11th Panchen Lama, one of the most senior religious figures in Tibet. Within days of his recognition, he is believed to ha

ve been escorted to Beijing from his home in Lhari and the Chinese authorities installed a different child, Gyaltsen Norbu, as the official Panchen Lama six months later.

The group of three US clerics, whose three-week tour of China in February included a visit to Tibet, claimed to be the first delegation of its kind to begin a dialogue with high-level officials on religious freedom and visit a Tibetan prison. Approximately ten Western delegations made official visits to Tibet in 1997, including representatives from the Swiss government, the German Federal Assembly and the Canadian, French and Israeli ambassadors to China. Several of these groups, including Swiss and German representatives and the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, made official visits to Drapchi prison. Dr Antje Vollmer, from the German Parliament, issued a statement on 3 September 1997 objecting to Xinhua's report about her visit to the prison. She said that she had the impression that her visit was "manipulated".

A member of the American religious delegation, which included representatives of three different faiths, told TIN that the Chinese authorities appeared to give incorrect names for two political prisoners interviewed by the group in Drapchi prison, Lhasa. "When we asked to meet some political prisoners, the Chinese authorities brought forward two nuns," said Reverend Richard Cizik, a policy analyst from the National Association of Evangelicals who was a staff member on the trip. "One of the nuns was in her forties and the other was in her twenties. When we asked for their names later, the officials seemed to misspell them purposely." Rev Cizik added: "I will never forget the face of the younger nun who had been picked from a line-up of prisoners - it was a look first of hesitation, then of fear. It was a real impression of what a system does to people imprisoned for a religious reason."

The group was not allowed access to monks and nuns in the Jokhang, Tibet's most important Buddhist temple in the centre of Lhasa. According to Revd Cizik: "While the square was jammed with people there was no one in the main area of the temple. The monks and nuns were certainly not put in the position where they could talk to us," he said. The Austrian delegation, however, claimed to have had freedom of access to religious sites in the area. Florian Krenkel said: "We visited Drepung monastery and the Jokhang in Lhasa and we were able to wander around freely. We met monks and nuns there in a very good atmosphere."

On his return to the US, the leader of the American religious group, Reverend Donald Argue, President of the National Association of Evangelicals, argued against imposing economic sanctions on China to deal with religious persecution. He said that Christians he had spoken to in China supported his position against sanctions. According to a Knight-Ridder report in the South China Morning Post on 4 March, Revd Argue told a meeting of the National Association for Evangelicals in Florida that Tibetans were "in spiritual bondage" due to their faith in Buddhism, and that they were "ripe for Christian Evangelism". A member of the delegation later said that the meeting had been private, and that comments by the Revd Argue had not been intended for publication.

The term "spiritual bondage" is commonly used by Evangelical Christians, a number of whom have been active in Tibet for nearly ten years. A fundamentalist Christian group issued a number of calls, the latest in 1997, for missionaries to go in disguise to convert Tibetans to Christianity. The call was made by a US-based organisation called "The Sowers Ministry". The group describes Tibetan Buddhism as "demonic spiritual bondage" and states in its leaflets that: "through intercession we can prepare the way for Christian evangelism into Tibet".

Rev Richard Cizik was not prepared to comment on Don Argue's remarks but told TIN that during their visit: "At all times we made it clear that the persecution and repression of the Buddhist faith is completely unacceptable and a violation of international norms."

Achievements of the Chinese in Tibet

Both delegations commented on the positive activities of the Chinese in Tibet. Revd Donald Argue said: "The Chinese government has done many things that were positive for Tibet." Austrian Foreign Minister Wolfgang Schuessel praised the Chinese government for its development of the economy in Tibet, and for their efforts to protect the Tibetan cultural heritage.

Florian Krenkel, the Foreign Ministry spokesperson, said that Austria currently sponsors the renovation of several monasteries in conjunction with the Chinese authorities. According to Xinhua on 25 March, quoting He Feng, an associate research fellow at the Qinghai Social Science Academy's Tibetology Research Institute, the Chinese government has spent 300m yuan ($36m) since 1978 on repairs to Tibetan temples damaged during the Cultural Revolution.

Both delegations raised the issue of patriotic education campaigns in Tibet, which require monks and nuns to denounce the Dalai Lama and give set answers

to questions on Tibetan history. If the wrong answers are given, they face expulsion from their monasteries and nunneries. The importance of patriotic education has been emphasised in a number of official speeches recently. Ragdi, chairman of the regional Congress in Tibet, said at a press conference in Beijing earlier this month that Tibetan people enjoyed greater religious freedom and prosperity than before. He said that 35,000 monks and nuns at more than 700 religious sites had been "rectified" in patriotic education campaigns. "The education has produced very good results," he said. "The situation in the three major monasteries (Sera, Drepung and Ganden) is stable and normal religious activities are going on as usual."