World Tibet Network News Monday, June 22, 1998

BEIJING, June 22 (Reuters) - What do Chicago Bulls super-coach Phil Jackson, Beastie Boy rapper Adam Yauch and Hollywood heartthrob Richard Gere have in common?

They are among a host of U.S. glitterati who have joined the campaign for a ``free Tibet.''

Celebrities and soft focus Hollywood films, such as ``Seven Years in Tibet'' and ``Kundun,'' have whipped up unprecedented support for the restive Himalayan region ruled by China since 1950.

Tibet fever peaked in Washington this month when 100,000 people turned up at a star-studded Tibet Freedom concert.

Thousands marched on the Capitol to urge President Bill Clinton to raise the issue with Chinese leaders.

But when Clinton meets Chinese President Jiang Zemin in Beijing this week, he will have to reconcile Western images of a mystical cloudbound Shangri-la with the staunch views of Chinese leaders on national unity and human rights.

TIBET AS PR GAME

Clinton appointed a Special Coordinator on Tibet Issues last October and promised to press Beijing to open dialogue with Tibet's exiled spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama.

Topping Washington's concerns are religious and cultural freedoms in the region.

``The Tibet issue is a high priority in our relationship with China,'' said a spokesman for the U.S. embassy in Beijing.

``We fully expect that President Clinton will discuss the

administration's concerns about Tibet during his visit and press for resumption of dialogue between the Chinese government and the Dalai Lama.''

But critics say Beijing is unlikely to bend in its refusal to negotiate with the Dalai Lama.

The media frenzy, meanwhile, threatens to turn the Tibet issue into a game of public relations.

``The whole Tibet issue is shrouded in the question of whether the people involved are driven by real political concerns or public relations,'' says Robbie Barnett, Tibet watcher and former head of the London-based Tibet Information Network (TIN).

``I think it's very likely the Americans are playing to the electorate at home that wishes to see this issue on the agenda and don't necessarily perceive a geo-strategic or national interest in actually ensuring something does happen,'' he said.

BEIJING SLAMS ``FEUDAL SERFDOM''

The Dalai Lama sounded a positive note when he said during a visit to France this month he had unofficial contacts with Beijing and was optimistic about Tibet's long-term future.

But there are no signs of a softening in China's stand on the remote region, which Beijing says has progressed dramatically since the Dalai Lama fled into exile in India in 1959 after an abortive uprising against Chinese rule.

Headlines in state media such as ``Statistics show Tibetans have more comfortable life'' and ``Rising incomes for rural Tibetans'' trumpet the region's economic development.

China's embassy in Washington this month accused the Dalai Lama of seeking ``the restoration of feudal serfdom of old Tibet.''

``The Dalai is not a purely religious figure but a political exile who has long been carrying out activities to split the motherland and destroy national unity,'' Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Zhu Bangzao told a recent news briefing.

Although the Dalai Lama says he is ready for talks with Beijing

``anywhere, anytime,'' China demands that he first renounce independence and declare Tibet an inseparable part of China.

The Dalai Lama, winner of the 1989 Nobel Peace Prize, has openly

abandoned calls for total independence, advocating autonomy within China instead. But Beijing accuses him of insincerity.

GESTURE POLITICS?

Faced with such a deadlock, Clinton may have to settle for symbolic gestures rather than substantive progress.

China could agree to release a high-profile Tibetan political prisoner, a move which would help to appease the U.S. Tibet lobby without altering Chinese policies, some analysts say.

``They are getting more sophisticated in how they handle these questions

-- the release of Wei Jingsheng and Wang Dan illustrated that very clearly,'' said one Western diplomat.

China freed veteran democracy activist Wei last November, shortly after the last China-U.S. summit, and released prominent dissident Wang Dan in April this year. Both were forced into exile in the United States.

``I think the Chinese are learning PR management and politics,'' said Barnett.

One Tibetan candidate for release may be Ngawang Choephel, 29, an

ethnomusicologist serving 18 years for espionage.

Another face-saving concession for Beijing could be to tighten controls on the flow of ethnic Chinese to Tibet, which the United States has said poses ``a serious challenge to the preservation of Tibet's special character.''

Economic opportunities have lured hundreds of thousands of ethnic

Chinese to Tibet, and half of Lhasa's population of 400,000 is

non-Tibetan, according to U.S. figures.

DIVIDE AND CONQUER

Other analysts say Clinton is likely to walk away empty-handed on Tibet. They say media attention and growing support for the Dalai Lama have tightened Beijing's resolve.

``The Chinese are in a position of strength and they know it. They are waiting for the Dalai Lama to die,'' said one Western diplomat.

The Dalai Lama holds together the 130,000-strong Tibetan

community-in-exile. When he dies, rifts between those demanding

independence and others calling for autonomy could widen.

``We have refrained from using violent methods till today so what will become tomorrow is another question,'' said Tseten Norbu, president of the radical Tibetan Youth Congress (TYC).

``We have become too non-violent, too passive,'' he said.

TYC is the voice of a growing number of Tibetan exiles frustrated by the lack of progress in almost 40 years of peaceful campaigning and disillusioned by the Dalai Lama's ``Middle Path'' towards autonomy.

``If we can create trouble without involving life, if we can do anything inside Tibet that will scare the Chinese, they will naturally try not to come to Tibet,'' said Norbu.

He cited several bomb explosions in Tibet over the past few years but declined to confirm that TYC was involved.

Frustration among exiles was highlighted last month when a 50-year-old Tibetan in New Delhi burned himself to death after Indian police broke up a hunger strike organised by TYC demanding the United Nations re-open debate on Tibet's status.

NOT A SERIOUS CHALLENGE

Analysts say TYC does not pose a serious challenge to the Dalai Lama's leadership at present but might signal a less disciplined and more extremist approach.

``It does seem that a substantial number of Tibetans inside and outside Tibet are interested in total independence and a lot also see no problem in using violence,'' said Barnett.

Pro-Tibet groups claim that more than one million Tibetans have died of torture, starvation and execution under Chinese rule. They say Beijing is tightening its grip in a ``patriotic education'' campaign to stamp out support for the Dalai Lama among monks and nuns.

A European Union report published on Friday said more than 3,000 people were dismissed from monasteries in the campaign in 1996 and 1997.

Amnesty International has said at least 96 people were jailed last year for crimes such as peacefully protesting a ban on all images of the Dalai Lama.

``There's no let up in Tibet,'' said Barnett. ``Tibet's getting worse and worse while all this is going on.''