World Tibet Network News Thursday, April 30, 1998 (I)

by H. Asher Bolande and Andre Viollaz

BEIJING, April 30 (AFP) - US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright was lectured by China's President Jiang Zemin on Thursday after attempting to raise the topic of Tibet, a senior US official said here.

In response to a query by Albright, Jiang averted dialogue by giving a 15-minute soliloquy on the history of religion in China, said the official.

The Chinese presence in Tibet is a sensitive issue for Beijing, which has already complained about the presence of a Tibet coordinator in Albright's delegation.

But Albright was struck by the personal tone of the meeting, the official said. Jiang walked her through the compound where Jiang and US President Bill Clinton will hold their summit in late June.

The compound, now under renovation, is "a beautiful combination of old and new China," she was quoted as saying. [...]

Clinton called for concrete progress and cooperation in specific areas of concern to support a long-term vision of progress in bilateral relations.

These areas include strategic dialogue, human rights, religious freedom, China's entry into the WTO, weapons non-proliferation, energy and environmental protection, the spokesman said. [...]

US officials accompanying her have confirmed that the US cabinet's co-ordinator for Tibet, Greg Craig, is in China as part of Albright's delegation although in another capacity.

Beijing condemned Washington's creation of the position last year as interference in its internal affairs. [...]

Some 50,000 people meanwhile gathered in northern India to pay their respects to Tibetan Thupten Ngodub who set fire to himself after Indian police broke up a hunger strike protesting Chinese rule of Tibet.

The 50-year-old Ngodub, who suffered 100-percent burns, died in a Delhi hospital on Wednesday. He will be cremated on Friday.