ETHNIC TIBETANS REACT TO DALAI LAMA'S GOLD MEDAL

C O N F I D E N T I A L CHENGDU 000252 SIPDIS SIPDIS DEPT FOR EAP/CM, DRL, AND G E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/19/2032 TAGS: PGOV PHUM CH SUBJECT: ETHNIC TIBETANS REACT TO DALAI LAMA'S GOLD MEDAL CLASSIFIED BY: John Hill, Acting Consul General, AmCongen Chengdu, State. REASON: 1.4 (b),(d) ¶1. (C) Summary: Despite stepped-up security, a number of ethnic Tibetans both inside the Tibetan Autonomous Region (TAR) and in other areas of southwest China reacted to the Dalai Lama's Congressional Gold Medal by praying in monasteries and by setting off firecrackers. Unconfirmed reports indicate that several people may have been arrested as a result. However, government employees, students, and teachers were warned not to celebrate. The Internet, telephone calls, the Voice of America, Radio Free Asia and satellite television were instrumental in spreading word of the award. End summary. ¶2. (C) Consulate contacts reported that ethnic Tibetans in southwest China reacted positively to the award of the Congressional Gold Medal to the Dalai Lama on October 17. Those contacts said that in Lhasa, many people (mostly monks, nuns and elderly people) commemorated the award by giving prayers of thanks at the city's major monasteries. However, authorities increased their monitoring of public areas in Lhasa, and at one point supposedly erected barriers in the Barkor area of central Lhasa in an effort to prevent crowds from gathering there. In addition, TAR government employees and students received warnings to stay away from celebrations or face unspecified punishment. ¶3. (C) Other contacts told us that, in Labrang Monastery in Xiahe County of the Gannan Autonomous Prefecture of Gansu Province, monks and lay people celebrated the events of October 17 with firecrackers. As a result the authorities allegedly arrested four monks and "some" lay people. ¶4. (C) Asked how Tibetans received news of the award, contacts reported that telephone calls from friends and relatives outside China (some nomads supposedly climb mountains to get in range of cell telephone towers to receive calls from Nepal),the Internet, Voice of America, and Radio Free Asia, as well as clandestine satellite television receivers set up in monasteries by technically skilled monks, are all instrumental in spreading news of such events. Note: The Ganzi Ribao newspaper on September 28 remarked that the Dalai Lama is using radio and TV "to achieve his goal of splitting China" - which perhaps can be read as backhanded confirmation of the penetration of outside mass media into Tibetan areas. End note. HILL