LOCAL ISSUES DRIVE DISTURBANCES IN SOUTHWEST CHINA

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 CHENGDU 000152

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

STATE FOR EAP/CM
NSC FOR CHRISTINA COLLINS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 6/15/2017
TAGS: PGOV ECON SOCI CH
SUBJECT: LOCAL ISSUES DRIVE DISTURBANCES IN SOUTHWEST CHINA

REF: BEIJING 3831

CHENGDU 00000152 001.2 OF 002


CLASSIFIED BY: James Boughner, Acting Consul General, Chengdu,
Department of State.
REASON: 1.4 (b),(d)




1. (C) Summary: Early summer has seen the occurrence of several
public disturbances in southwest China. Efforts by authorities
to crack down on illegal vendors brought many people onto the
streets in Chongqing, and a similar case in Chengdu resulted in
the severe beating of a bystander. Although still unconfirmed,
several ethnic Tibetans may have died in a protest in western
Sichuan over mining in an area regarded as sacred by locals.
Most anger appears directed at local officials and not the
Central Government - but discussions with locals revealed
memories of the 1989 democracy movement are still alive among
older residents. End summary.

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FLASHPOINT: FLOWER VENDORS IN CHONGQING
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2. (SBU) Although local media were apparently banned from
reporting on the incident, Hong Kong and international media
carried stories about a "riot" involving as many as 10,000
people in the Nan'an district of Chongqing on June 9. According
to those reports (including one in the June 10 edition of Hong
Kong's South China Morning Post),municipal enforcement
authorities attempted a crackdown on unlicensed flower vendors,
and may have used excessive force resulting in the death of at
least one man. As locals heard about the crackdown, they poured
into the streets to protest, only to face "hundreds" of rapidly
mustered police.


3. (C) Despite the local news blackout on the disturbance,
several blogs ran descriptions of the incident. Most of those
blogs appear to have been shut down soon afterwards, but as of
June 13 one was still functioning, and included photos of angry
crowds, as well as people apparently lying unconscious in the
street after an alleged beating. See
.


4. (C) Local officials issued no statement, but one employee of
the Nan'an District City Management Team Office contacted by
phone by Consulate staff confirmed the riot had indeed occurred.
However, the employee (who did not give her name) characterized
the event as "not as serious as reported online." She said that
several illegal flower sellers had indeed been temporarily
hospitalized as the result of injuries, but claimed no one had
died. She also alleged that five city inspectors had been
injured in the fray, one seriously. She blamed the incident on
the failure of the flower sellers to obey the law, despite
repeated warnings.


5. (SBU) Background note: The Nan'an District is part of the
downtown Chongqing Municipality, with a population of
approximately 450,000. The disturbance occurred on Danzhishi
Street, which is located in an industrial and commercial area.
As is the case in Chongqing generally, the area is home to many
displaced farmers and migrant workers, and street vending is a
source of income for many of these relatively uneducated
individuals.

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FLASHPOINT: VEGETABLE SELLERS IN CHENGDU
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6. (SBU) An unusually pointed article in the June 12 edition of
the "Chengdu Today" newspaper carried a photograph of a young
man lying unconscious on the ground, with the apparently ironic
caption "City Enforcement Officials: One Man Attacked Seven of
Us." The text of the accompanying article said that enforcement
officials had swept through a vegetable market in Chengdu, only
to encounter heckling from a crowd, including the 20 year-old
man who was the subject of the photograph. Seven of the
officers then allegedly beat the young man severely, afterwards
claiming that he had attacked them. Meanwhile, other bystanders
called the police emergency number to complain about the
excessive use of force, and another photo showed a large group
of horrified-looking onlookers with the caption, "A Crowd Points
Out the Enforcement Officials." The overall tone of the article
was highly critical of the enforcement officials and of their
attempts to justify their actions. The article did not specify
the total number of people involved in the disturbance.


7. Background note: The unlicensed sale of local produce has
apparently become a source of friction between urban and rural
residents in Chengdu. Farmers seeking higher prices for their

CHENGDU 00000152 002.2 OF 002


produce often enter the city and attempt to sell from unlicensed
stalls. At the same time, the city's neighborhood associations
earn money from renting space in established produce markets,
and complain to authorities of the loss of income due to
unlicensed sellers.

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FLASHPOINT: MINING DEVELOPMENT IN A TIBETAN AREA
-------------- ---


7. (SBU) Interrnational wire services carried an article on June
11 claiming that more than 400 ethnic Tibetans in western
Sichuan's Daofu County (Ganzi Prefecture) had clashed with
police and local government officials on May 27. The action was
characterized as a protest against mining development on a
mountain (Yalashan) regarded as sacred. According to the
article, local residents alleged that several ethnic Tibetans
were killed and others arrested, although official sources
denied this. The Consulate has to date been unable to obtain
independent confirmation of this incident.

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CENTRAL GOVERNMENT SEEN FAVORABLY, BUT 1989 NOT FORGOTTEN
-------------- --------------


8. (C) Following these events, and following the recent
publication in the Chengdu Evening News of a small classified ad
expressing sympathy for those involved in the 1989 crackdown
against democracy protesters (reftel),Congenoff interviewed a
number of local residents on their attitude toward their
government, and on their knowledge of history.


9. (C) Most subjects born after 1980 had little or no knowledge
of the Tiananmen protests, or of the associated events in
Chengdu. Most expressed little or no interest in national
politics generally, and when asked about governmental
shortcomings, most pointed to corruption among local officials.
A common complaint was increased housing prices, which many
blamed on improper real estate deals by the rich and powerful.
One young woman, a doctoral student in philosophy, told of a
recent discussion with her peers on the problems of China's
government, in which the general consensus was, "the Central
Government is doing a good job, but local governments are
obstructing the implementation of its policies." She also said
that most students expressed the belief that corruption was far
more commonplace among local officials.


10. (C) When prompted, older residents recalled the events of

1989. A 55 year-old taxi driver became quite serious when asked
about the meaning of "6-4," saying "blood ran like a river in
the streets then." He added, "That was in the past, a long time
ago." Another interviewee, an artist in her 30s, said she
understood that the crackdown in Chengdu was China's second
bloodiest after Beijing, and she remembered that many students
from her middle school had gone to participate in the protests.
A member of Consulate's LES staff told of a professor at Sichuan
Normal University who maintained such indignation over the
crackdown that he had managed to buy license plates for his car
with the numbers "6489" on them.

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COMMENT: IT'S LOCAL, MOSTLY
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11. (C) At this point, most of Southwest China's recent social
disturbances appear to be limited in their focus, arising out of
perceptions of abusive or illegal actions by local officials,
perhaps exacerbated by rich-poor and urban-rural tensions (of
course, the Daofu County incident may involve more complicated
ethnic issues as well). Although older residents often remember
the 1989 crackdown vividly, their memories do not seem to
translate into anger against China's Central Government - and
those memories may be fading quickly. Even though the sources
of anger may be local, though, they may also indicate a deeper
shift in attitudes: heightened expectations of the fair
administration of government, and an increased willingness to
express anger when those expectations are not met.
BOUGHNER