Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
07CHENGDU157
2007-06-25 07:58:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Consulate Chengdu
Cable title:  

CONVERSATIONS IN NORTHERN TIBET

Tags:  PHUM ECON PGOV EAID SOCI CH 
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C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 CHENGDU 000157 

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DEPT FOR EAP/CM AND G/STC
DEPT ALSO FOR DRL/IRF AND TIBET COORDINATOR

E.O. 12958: DECL: 6/25/2032
TAGS: PHUM ECON PGOV EAID SOCI CH
SUBJECT: CONVERSATIONS IN NORTHERN TIBET


CHENGDU 00000157 001.2 OF 003


CLASSIFIED BY: John Hill, Acting Consul General, United States
Consulate, Chengdu.
REASON: 1.4 (b),(d)



C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 CHENGDU 000157

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR EAP/CM AND G/STC
DEPT ALSO FOR DRL/IRF AND TIBET COORDINATOR

E.O. 12958: DECL: 6/25/2032
TAGS: PHUM ECON PGOV EAID SOCI CH
SUBJECT: CONVERSATIONS IN NORTHERN TIBET


CHENGDU 00000157 001.2 OF 003


CLASSIFIED BY: John Hill, Acting Consul General, United States
Consulate, Chengdu.
REASON: 1.4 (b),(d)




1. (C) Summary: Consulate Chengdu recently accompanied the
United States Agency for International Development (USAID) on a
project monitoring trip to some of the highest and most remote
areas of the Tibetan Autonomous Region (TAR). The TAR Foreign
Affairs Office (FAO) said it valued U.S. NGO projects in the
TAR, as well as their quality personnel, but hoped "small-scale"
NGO projects would not overshadow or take credit away from the
work the central government is doing in the TAR. Traveling for
over 40 hours and 1,200 miles on unpaved, bumpy and dusty tracts
of plateau, CG and Congenoff had almost unlimited time to
dialogue with TAR FAO "companions," local NGO representatives,
and their local government counterparts. In multiple separate
conversations, our traveling companions discussed political,
economic, environmental, health, infrastructure, and social
issues in Nagchu Prefecture, one of the poorest areas of Tibet.
Public and National Security Bureau officials assigned to
accompany us were nonchalant and appeared to care little about
the content of our discussions or field visits. End Summary.

The "Roof of the World"
--------------

2. (SBU) From June 11-18, CG, Congenoff and Political LES
accompanied two USAID program officers on a grueling journey to
some of the highest and most remote areas of the Tibetan
Plateau. Departing the relative comforts of Lhasa, situated at
12,500 ft. above sea level, our group of five four-wheel-drive
sports utility vehicles traveled northeast for four hours on
paved roads to Dangxiong (Tibetan: Damshung) County in Nagchu
(Tibetan: Naqu) Prefecture. The next 18 hours of the trip
through Nagchu were accomplished on unpaved, bumpy, and dusty
tracts of plateau.


3. (SBU) Nagchu is a prefecture with a population of 340,000

mostly nomadic people and 6.8 million livestock. According to
official reports, the per capita annual income was 2,489 RMB
(USD 328) in 2006, although some local people and development
workers believe the statistic has been exaggerated. Setting a
pace of approximately 16-19 miles per hour, after six hours we
stopped for the night in Bangge County (population 32,300) at
16,400 ft. above sea level. On day two of the journey, we
traveled 186 miles over the course of ten hours to arrive in
Nyima County (population 34,300) at an elevation of 15,400 ft.
Ours was the first official U.S. delegation ever to visit this
remote county on the edge of the Chang Tang, the highest and
second largest protected area in the world. Two days later,
after visiting half a dozen USAID-funded NGO projects, we
retraced our steps, traveling 600 miles over the course of two
days and 20 hours on the "road."


4. (C) Lengthy travel time in Nagchu Prefecture allowed us the
opportunity to dialogue extensively with our Tibetan Autonomous
Region (TAR) Foreign Affairs Office (FAO) "companions," local
NGO representatives implementing projects on the plateau, and
their local government counterparts. Over the course of six
days, they offered opinions directly to CG and Congenoff, as
well as to Political LES using Tibetan language.

TAR Government on NGO Projects
--------------

5. (C) Prior to departing for Nagchu, we met with TAR FAO Vice
Director Liu Yaohua. At the request of the USAID-funded NGO The
Bridge Fund (TBF),CG thanked the TAR FAO for supporting TBF's
projects in the TAR, and encouraged the FAO to facilitate the
renewal of TBF's contract with its local government partner, the
TAR Forestry Bureau. Without commenting on the contract issue,
Liu said the TAR Government values the NGO projects. He said
that while the projects have achieved very positive results and
are welcomed by local people, they play only a "supplementary
role" to the development work carried out by the government.
Liu and other local government interlocutors in Nagchu all
hammered on the theme of giving the Chinese Government credit
for its work and investment in Tibet, and that this work should
not be overshadowed by the small scale projects being carried
out by international NGOs. Liu also repeated messages we have
heard in the past about the government's desire for increased
financial transparency and greater investment from the U.S.
NGOs. He concluded on a positive note, saying the FAO was very
happy with the quality and methodology of U.S. NGO personnel.

Politics
--------------

6. (C) The FAO Consular Section official assigned to accompany
us on our trip was a young disgruntled ethnic Tibetan who has

CHENGDU 00000157 002.2 OF 003


worked for the FAO without being promoted for seven years
(Septel). Even though Chinese Government officials are required
to adhere to a code of atheism, our handler was clearly an
active Buddhist who prayed fervently throughout the whole trip
whenever we passed a significant religious landmark. Our
driver, also an FAO employee, blessed our vehicles prior to each
leg of the journey. In the course of our first day on the road,
we passed two Han Chinese hikers who appeared a bit overwhelmed
by their surroundings. Our FAO handler remarked in Tibetan to
the driver, "forget about them, they are Han."


7. (C) During a visit to a construction skills training project
in Bangge County, we visited a two-room house built by Tibetan
trainees. When asked how many people might live in such a
house, an NGO representative responded that a family with five
children might inhabit it, commenting that "in this part of the
world, people don't pay any attention to family planning rules."
In a separate conversation in the county town, CG observed
several Hui Muslim-run businesses and asked the county Party
Secretary how many Hui people had migrated to the area. He

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counted quickly on one hand, and said "three."

Economics
--------------

8. (SBU) In many areas of the Tibetan plateau, caterpillar
fungus harvesting season is in full swing, with students being
kept home from school to assist in collection of the fungus
which is currently selling for upwards of 80,000 RMB (USD
10,500) per kilogram. However, when asked about the
significance of the fungus to Bangge County's economy, one of
the NGO representatives said caterpillar fungus was irrelevant
to the economy, because it does not grow at such high altitudes.
It grows best at elevations between 2,300 and 3,800 meters.


9. (C) Nyima County, a full two-day drive from Lhasa, feels
like it is located at the end of the earth. It is an
"artificial" town which has been built up, paved and lighted
(with solar power) through corporate sponsorship over the last
few years. Sinopec is the primarily corporate sponsor of the
town. Privately, the NGO representative described the Sinopec
investments as "image projects with no follow up." When asked
about energy supplies to the region, the prefecture FAO official
said petroleum comes to the TAR by pipeline, primarily from
Golmud in Qinghai and from Xinjiang. It is then trucked
throughout the plateau. During the trip, we observed large
tanker trucks with white sacks underneath them. We were later
told the tanker trucks arrive full of petroleum and leave
sitting on top of bags of white borax, a cash commodity found in
the region. Since gold mining was outlawed in Nyima County in
2006, borax is one of the only legally mined substances.
(Note: White borax, also called sodium borate, is a mineral and
salt of boric acid. It is used in detergents, cosmetics and
enamel glazes. It is also used as a buffer solution in
biochemistry, a fire retardant, an anti-fungal compound for
fiberglass and an insecticide. In the 1960s, Mao Zedong used
borax to repay debts to the USSR. End Note). In a separate
conversation, the NGO representative told CG the Muslim
population had dropped dramatically in the region after gold
mining was made illegal.

Environment
--------------

10. (C) The Chang Tang Nature Preserve is home to numerous
endangered species including wild yak, snow leopards, blue sheep
and black-necked cranes. During our travels, we were fortunate
to see large numbers of endangered Tibetan antelope, gazelles
and wild ass. The NGO representative said his organization was
training both nature preserve and village wildlife patrollers in
the Chang Tang, but that poaching of some species, particularly
the Tibetan antelope, was difficult to combat. Many groups of
animals have moved closer to the Nyima county town where they
feel safer, due to vigilant village patrols that report poachers
to authorities. However, far from town, poachers use
motorcycles to round up and herd the antelope into fenced areas
where they slaughter them. Government officials told CG that
one wildlife patroller had been killed by poachers within the
last several years. In a side comment, the NGO representative
noted that underpasses built into the Qinghai-TAR Railway to
allow wild animals to pass were ineffective. He said planners
placed breadcrumbs on the pavement in the underpasses to entice
animals to pass. This is ridiculous, he claimed, because these
animals eat grass, not bread. The underpasses are just "great
propaganda," but don't really work, he concluded.


11. (C) On the road from Bangge County to Nyima County, serious
desertification was evident. Government officials raised such
degradation of the plateau as an area ripe for international
cooperation. They noted that due to global climate change,
glaciers are melting and lakes are getting deeper, but there is

CHENGDU 00000157 003.2 OF 003


less snow on the mountains. In their opinion, this contributes
to dryer conditions resulting in increasing desertification. On
the subject of grassland management, the NGO representative in a
separate conversation complained to CG about the fencing policy.
He said the government claimed nomadic resettlement and the
related fencing policies were intended to protect delicate
grassland from overgrazing. The NGO representative asserted the
fencing policies actually have the opposite effect -- when
nomads' herds are relegated to small, fenced-off portions of
grassland, rather than being allowed to follow traditional
migratory patterns, those small sections of grassland become
degraded beyond recovery.

Transportation Infrastructure
--------------

12. (C) During the long journey, the conversation turned to the
issue of transportation infrastructure and potential visits by
Chinese government officials to these remote areas. Local
government officials admitted central and regional level
officials did not make visits to these areas. When CG asked
about air transportation and whether helicopters were used to
facilitate such visits, the prefecture FAO official said there
was no technical ability to bring helicopters to these
altitudes. (Note: Our TAR FAO handler later told LES the
airspace was tightly controlled by the military which does use
helicopters in the region. We also note that the military sent
helicopters to similar altitudes in Sichuan's Ganzi Prefecture
in 2006 to look for two lost American climbers. End Note).

Health
--------------

13. (C) The most significant health problem in the prefecture
is high blood pressure because of bad diet, according to the NGO
representative. General infections are the number one killer
due to lack of prompt medical attention and appropriate
medication. In general, tuberculosis is not a problem in these
areas because of limited contact with Han Chinese, unlike in
eastern Tibet, where TB is a significant problem. The
representative predicted that sexually transmitted diseases
would increase along the Qinghai-TAR Railroad. He added that
alcoholism is a problem among young nomads in resettlement areas
because they have nothing to do.

Social Instability
--------------

14. (C) Continuing on the topic of nomadic resettlement, the
NGO representative said there is significant out-migration of
young Tibetans from Nagchu Prefecture to other areas of the TAR.
In a separate conversation, another Lhasa-based NGO
representative said many young Tibetans are migrating into
Lhasa, but cannot find jobs due to lack of skills and language
ability. This leads to social problems and disgruntled young
nomads, the representative asserted.

Comment
--------------

15. (C) Unlike previous trips to the TAR in which our Public
Security Bureau (PSB) and National Security Bureau (NSB)
companions filmed and photographed our every movement, this time
our security friends were nonchalant and appeared to care little
about the content of our discussions or field visits. Even the
FAO officer assigned to accompany us was frequently seen
snoozing in our official government meetings while his tape
recorder rolled on. We speculate that this relative lack of
attention was due to the fact the FAO had already thoroughly
prepared by visiting our field sites in advance, and felt
assured we would not cause any diplomatic incidents in our
meetings with participants in NGO-funded school library
projects, construction skills and village doctor trainings, and
wildlife protection projects.
HILL