World Tibet Network News Wednesday, June 10, 1998

By Adrian Croft

BRUSSELS, June 10 (Reuters) - The European Union will sign agreements with China on Thursday to commit 84 million Ecus ($92 million) to four aid projects, including a controversial scheme in Tibet, EU officials said on Wednesday.

European Trade Commissioner Sir Leon Brittan and visiting Chinese Minister for Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation Shi Guangsheng will sign the financial agreements at annual high-level trade talks in Brussels.

Under another agreement to be signed on Thursday, the EU will pledge to help China build a strong financial sector in the wake of the Asian financial crisis, EU officials said.

While China has been spared the full force of the Asian crisis, foreign investment and Chinese exports have been hit.

The EU will give advice and training to help China build sound regulations for its banking, insurance and financial sectors and provide expertise to help it to modernise its banks, insurance companies and securities firms.

The agreements reflect the stronger relations between China and the 15-nation EU in recent months as the two sides put aside bitter rows over human rights.

One agreement involves the controversial Panam Integrated Rural Development Project in Tibet, which would run irrigation, agriculture, education and health schemes for an area 125 miles (200 kms) southwest of Lhasa, the Tibetan capital.

The EU will contribute 7.2 million Ecu until the end of 2002 while China will provide 14.2 million Ecu, EU officials said.

The EU suspended the project last December after authorities in Tibet refused to renew a British aid worker's visa. The education adviser with Save the Children Fund UK, who had worked in Tibet for three years on another project, was later allowed to return to Tibet, according to British newspaper reports.

A European Commission spokesman said last December that the Commission would not move forward with the project until authorities in Tibet guaranteed that non-governmental organisations (NGOs) could participate.

The Panam project was suspended once before in January 1995 following criticism in the European Parliament that it would encourage intensive wheat production to feed Chinese settlers.

China has jealously maintained its grip over Tibet since communist troops marched into the Himalayan region in 1950, despite repeated uprisings against its rule.

EU officials said on Wednesday they had been given comprehensive guarantees on the involvement of NGOs and the role of the Tibetan people in the Panam project.

``Panam is one of the poorest areas of Tibet. It is urgently in need of this kind of help,'' Nigel Gardner, a spokesman for Brittan, said.

EU officials said ethnic Tibetans would have exclusive rights to use the land and be given priority access to all management, engineering and training posts for the project. Save the Children Fund will take part in the project.

The EU will also contribute 48.5 million Ecu over five years to help the province of Liaoning, in northeastern China, combat pollution and modernise its economy.

Another 13 million Ecu over four years will used to help China make its policies more environmentally-conscious and make it better able to plan and enforce its environmental policies.

The fourth project, set to receive EU funding of 15 million Ecu over five years, aims to help China acquire the technical expertise needed to build a modern industrial base.

During Thursday's talks, Shi and Brittan were also expected to talk about China's long-standing bid to join the World Trade Organisation, customs cooperation, protection of intellectual property rights, trade in agriculture and fish, and obstacles facing European companies investing in China.