SURPRISINGLY SMALL INCREASE IN CHINESE HAJJ

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 BEIJING 007591 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/21/2032 TAGS: PTER PHUM PREL PGOV KIRF TI PK MY SA CH SUBJECT: SURPRISINGLY SMALL INCREASE IN CHINESE HAJJ PILGRIMS, SAUDIS FRUSTRATED REF: A. FBIS/OSC CPP20071119968182 ¶B. FBIS/OSC SAP20060916037002 ¶C. BEIJING 7550 Classified By: Deputy Political Section Chief Ben Moeling. Reasons 1.4 (b/d). ¶1. (C) Summary: Saudi Arabian Consul Majed Alshammary (protect) told Poloff December 13 that Saudi Arabia would admit 20,000 Chinese Hajj pilgrims annually if China permitted it, although China has stated it will allow 10,700 Hajj pilgrims in 2007. Alshammary said he is surprised that China did not authorize a larger increase in the number of Hajj pilgrims for 2007, given Saudi Arabia's requests for "help" in deflecting criticism within the Muslim world following the 2006 refusal (at China's request) to grant Hajj visas to large numbers of Chinese Hajj pilgrims in Islamabad. Alshammary said he is frustrated with China's failure to allow significant numbers of Chinese Muslims to participate in the Umrah and with China's rejection of King Abdullah's offer to sponsor poor Chinese pilgrims on Hajj. China began blocking Muslims from traveling to third countries around December 1, Alshammary said, but sympathetic Saudi consular officials sometimes issue Hajj visas to Chinese Muslims in third countries. End Summary. Saudi Consul "Surprised" China Has Not Authorized Larger Increase in Hajj Pilgrims, Despite Saudi Requests -------------- -------------- ¶2. (C) Saudi Arabian Consul Majed A. Alshammary (protect) told Poloff December 13 that his country would permit 20,000 Chinese Muslims to make the annual Hajj pilgrimage, although Chinese official media has stated that China will allow 10,700 pilgrims in 2007, up from 9,700 in 2006 (ref A). Each year Saudi Arabia's Hajj Ministry grants visas on a worldwide basis to 0.1 percent of each country's estimated Muslim population. Alshammary said Saudi Arabia "respects China's official statistic" of 20 million when allocating Hajj visas, even though he believes there are at least 45 to 50 million Muslims in China. ¶3. (C) Alshammary said he is "surprised" that China has not authorized a larger increase in the number of official Hajj pilgrims, following the 2006 incident in which the Saudi Embassy in Islamabad denied Hajj visas to large numbers of Chinese Muslims traveling overland from China. The Saudi Embassy in Islamabad initially refused to grant visas to 2,500 pilgrims because China had asked Saudi Arabia not to issue Hajj visas to Chinese citizens outside of China, Alshammary said, although the Saudi Embassy later granted visas to about 1,000 (ref B). Alshammary told Poloff that Saudi Arabia has been criticized in the Muslim world because "Mecca is Allah's place, not Saudi Arabia's." Other Muslims have said that Saudi Arabia had no right to deny visas to Chinese Muslims gathered in Islamabad. The Islamabad incident was so "embarrassing," Alshammary said, that Saudi Arabia asked China to help deflect criticism by boosting the number of Chinese pilgrims allowed on the Hajj. Alshammary said he had expected that China would offer around 15,000 places in 2007. Saudi Consul Frustrated With China's Response to Umrah Initiative, King's Offer -------------- -------------- ¶4. (C) Alshammary said he has been frustrated with China's tepid response to initiatives that would have extended pilgrimage opportunities to more Chinese Muslims. The Islamic Association of China asked Saudi Arabia to facilitate travel by Chinese Muslims to participate in the Umrah, Alshammary said, and yet China only approved 32 people for the Umrah pilgrimage during all of 2007. Saudi's King Abdullah offered to pay "out of his own account" for sixty poor Chinese Muslims to participate in the 2007 Hajj. However, Chinese officials delayed their response for weeks and eventually rejected the King's offer, suggesting that the Saudi Embassy should have allowed more processing time. "I could not believe it," Alshammary said, noting that "every other country" warmly welcomes and even requests the King's support for poor Muslims. Alshammary later used the Hajj spots ceded by China to assist poor Muslims from Mongolia. ¶5. (C) Alshammary said China on December 1 began blocking Chinese Muslims from leaving China. "This is a fact," Alshammary emphasized, adding that he would gladly approve a BEIJING 00007591 002 OF 002 Hajj visa for any Chinese Muslim who walked into his office, but that Chinese authorities "would not allow (the applicant) to board the plane" departing China. He said the explicit reason for the prohibition is not clear, but suggested that the reason is likely Hajj-related. Nevertheless, Alshammary stated, Saudi consular officials in third countries like Indonesia and Malaysia continue to approve Hajj visas for some Chinese Muslims. Despite Saudi Arabia's agreement not to issue Hajj visas to Chinese citizens outside of China (ref C),Alshammary said no Saudi consul in a third country wants to tell "a couple hundred crying Chinese Muslims" that they cannot have visas to perform the Hajj. Good Deal for Pilgrims Who Travel -------------- ¶6. (C) For Chinese Muslims who secure spots on Hajj pilgrimages arranged by the Chinese government, Alshammary said the RMB 20,000-30,000 (USD 2,660-3,000) price is "quite reasonable." Many Chinese Muslims, he said, would be willing to pay as much as RMB 60,000-70,000 (USD 8,000-9,330) to attend Hajj. As additional proof that the price is not excessive, Alshammary said that some Chinese Muslims have offered him bribes as high as USD 1,000 to arrange passage to Mecca. Alshammary said he thinks that 50,000 or more Chinese Muslims would travel to Mecca each year if China did not restrict the numbers. RANDT