World Tibet Network News Monday, April 27, 1998

NEW DELHI, India, April 27, 1998 (AP) -- Indian police forced Tibetans protesting Chinese rule to end a 49-day hunger strike Monday, as China's military chief began talks with Indian officials on a longstanding border dispute.

The police claimed to be acting on humanitarian grounds, but the Tibetans accused India of stopping their strike so as not to embarrass Gen. Fu Quanyou, the first Chinese military chief ever to visit India.

Responding to the forced end to the hunger strike, a Tibetan exile set himself on fire in New Delhi on Monday. The 60-year-old man, who was not among the six hunger strikers, was burned over his entire body and doctors said his chances of survival were slim.

Fu met with Indian Defense Minister George Fernandes, a former trade union leader and human rights activist who has campaigned tirelessly for the Tibetans' cause. The two discussed regional security issues and the need for a world free of nuclear weapons, the United News of India reported.

India has expressed concern about neighboring Pakistan's recent test of its long-range Ghauri missile and its claims of nuclear capability.

Two weeks ago, Fernandes accused China of repeated military intrusions into a frontier area in the northeastern state of Arunachal Pradesh, over which both nations fought a war in 1962.

Indian-Chinese relations have improved in recent years, but differences remain over the border dispute, despite 10 rounds of talks since 1988.

Beijing claims India is holding 36,000 square miles that belong to China. India says China illegally occupies 14,500 square miles that it seized in the 1962 war in a barren Himalayan region adjoining India's Kashmir state.

Fu was also to meet with Prime Minister Vajpayee later Monday.

The hunger strikers were being fed intravenously and were expected to be released from the hospital in a day or two. Three were forced to stop their strike Monday, while three others were forcibly hospitalized Sunday.

Several said they would resume fasting as soon as they were released.

The hunger strikers, Tibetans aged 25 to 70, had lived on only water flavored with lemon juice since March 10.

The strikers want the United Nations to send a human rights investigator to Tibet, which China invaded 48 years ago, and supervise a referendum allowing Tibet to chose independence, autonomy within China, or some other status.

India has offered a home in exile to the Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, but has discouraged him from political activities here. The hunger strike was longest staged in India by Tibetans, reflecting a growing frustration among the 100,000 exiles in India.