TIBETAN REFUGEES - PRIME MINISTER CAUTIOUS ON NEXT

S E C R E T KATHMANDU 001431 SIPDIS NOFORN SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/05/2016 TAGS: PREF CH NP SUBJECT: TIBETAN REFUGEES - PRIME MINISTER CAUTIOUS ON NEXT STEPS FOR RESETTLEMENT PROGRAM REF: KATHMANDU 1398 Classified By: AMBASSADOR JAMES F. MORIARTY, REASONS 1.4 (B/D). ¶1. (C) During a June 5 meeting with Prime Minister Koirala, Ambassador Moriarty and A/DCM Schwartz raised the USG proposal to resettle Tibetan refugees in the United States. The Ambassador told the Prime Minister that the U.S. planned to offer 5000 Tibetan refugees asylum in the United States. The Ambassador acknowledged that the issue was very sensitive for Nepal because it engaged one of China,s red lines, but assured the Prime Minister that the program would be low profile -- and that only refugees who had arrived in Nepal a number of years ago would be considered for the program so as not to create a magnet for additional refugees to come to Nepal. The Ambassador stressed the importance of this resettlement program to the USG. Chinese Struck First -------------- ¶2. (C) The Prime Minister was aware of the program. He indicated that he had received a visit from the Chinese Ambassador, asking that the Government of Nepal (GoN) not permit this program to go forward. Although he was personally willing to let this group of refugees -- indeed, all refugees -- resettle in the U.S. and elsewhere, he asked the U.S. to defer the program for a while. "Give us Time" -------------- ¶3. (C) When warned by the Ambassador that the U.S. would continue to seek GoN approval for this program, the Prime Minister first asked that the Ambassador work with his Chinese counterpart to reassure him that the program was based solely on humanitarian grounds. However, he said, because Nepal was in a "fragile situation" with "democracy not yet consolidated," he preferred "not to disturb things" by getting into matters of critical concern to key neighbors who could upset the country,s peace process. Comment -------------- ¶4. (S/NF) The Mission will continue to press the GoN on this matter. The GoN is indeed in a "fragile situation" but in the near future we will again seek permission to begin the resettlement program. As reported reftel, we need to consider the timing of going public with our proposal and issuing a Request for Proposals (RFP) given possible Chinese contacts with Maoist leader Prachanda. We do not want China to use the peace process as a lever to affect the GON on the Tibetan refugee issue. MORIARTY