TIBET: TENSION, RESENTMENT REMAIN FRESH AFTER

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 BEIJING 002682 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/09/2033 TAGS: PGOV PHUM PREL KIFR KOLY CH IN SUBJECT: TIBET: TENSION, RESENTMENT REMAIN FRESH AFTER POST-RIOT CRACKDOWN IN AMDO REGION REF: A. BEIJING 2679 ¶B. OSC/FBIS CPP20080410715017 ¶C. CHENGDU 135 ¶D. BEIJING 983 ¶E. OSC/FBIS CPP20071019968026 ¶F. 07BEIJING 6498 Classified By: Acting Political Minister Counselor Ben Moeling. Reason s 1.4 (b) and (d). ¶1. (C) SUMMARY. In the aftermath of the post-March 14 security crackdown, the military and police presence in ethnic Tibetan areas of Gansu and Qinghai provinces has increased and tensions are simmering between Tibetan inhabitants and government authorities. Several monks separately told visiting PolOffs that resentment and discontent remains strong in the wake of the government's response to ethnic unrest this spring. A monk in Tongren's Longwu Monastery gave a first-hand account of his own month-long detention, which included previously reported "patriotic education;" i.e., forced denunciations of the Dalai Lama and declarations of support for the CCP that monks were required to sign and fingerprint. Monks in other monasteries in Huangnan as well as in Gansu's Labrang Monastery reported large-scale detentions and a grim outlook for improving circumstances following the Olympics. Despite the government's heavy-handed tactics, Tibetans' affection for the Dalai Lama is unabated. END SUMMARY. ¶2. (C) PolOffs traveled to Huangnan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture of Qinghai Province and Gansu Province's Gannan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture July 1-3. Ref A describes on-going travel restrictions on foreigners in ethnic Tibetan areas in Gansu and Qinghai. Post-Riot Crackdown in Qinghai and Gansu ... -------------- ¶3. (C) Monks at Longwu Monastery (protect) in Tongren (Huangnan Prefecture, in eastern Qinghai Province) told PolOffs that the rage and trauma from this year's crackdown in the wake of Tibetan unrest in March remain fresh among Tibetans. One monk said he had been detained and showed scars on his arms that he claimed were from handcuffs at the time of his arrest. He said that the police made two armed raids on the monastery following the March riots looking for Dalai Lama pictures, speech texts and CDs. The monk said the police smashed Dalai Lama-related items and detained over two hundred monks. Police released most detainees after a month, but the whereabouts of "four or five" monks remain unknown. Tibetan monks at Gu'er Monastery (protect) in a village just outside Jianzha (Huangnan Prefecture, Qinghai Province) reported similar pressure from the local government and confirmed that police detained two of the monastery's forty monks for one month. At Gansu Province's Labrang Monastery, another site of reported violence and unrest in March and the place where a group of monks interrupted a government-led tour by foreign journalists on April 9, a monk expressed dismay at police treatment of Tibetans in the aftermath of the March unrest (refs B, C) and said around forty to fifty monks had been detained. ... Leads to Simmering Tension -------------- ¶4. (C) The raids and arrests have fanned hatred of the Government among local Tibetans. The monk at Longwu who had been detained emphasized the intensity of the raids, repeatedly pantomiming the actions of soldiers with rifles raised, police stomping on pictures of the Dalai Lama and monks having their hands tied behind their backs. He said that some monks were beaten during the raids as well. A young, English-speaking monk from the surrounding countryside who spent three years in Dharamsala, India (a haven for Tibetan exiles) confirmed reports of clashes between the police and local Tibetans and repeatedly expressed his personal indignation over the Chinese Government's treatment of Tibetans. The monk said he was in Tongren to visit a friend who had been "wounded" while "fighting with the police." His small village monastery of about twenty-five monks fifteen kilometers south of Tongren had largely escaped the security crackdown following the March riots recounted at Longwu. Neither the monks in Labrang nor those in Tongren and Jianzha were optimistic about the situation improving after the Olympics. BEIJING 00002682 002 OF 002 Han Resident Confirms Tibetan Accounts -------------- ¶5. (C) An ethnic Han taxi driver from Jianzha described the chaos that spread to Qinghai following the outbreak of riots in Lhasa in March. He said that monks at Longwu Monastery, the largest in nearby Tongren, rioted for a day, smashing Han shops surrounding the monastery. The driver reported that in his hometown of Jianzha many Tibetan villagers and monks descended into town from the countryside, calling for the return of the Dalai Lama to Tibet. However, the violence seen elsewhere in the region was avoided in Jianzha, the driver claimed, because local ethnic Han persuaded the Tibetans to de-escalate the situation and end their demonstrations. "Patriotic Education" -------------- ¶6. (C) The monk who had been arrested at Longwu recounted how police had forced him and other detained monks to read, sign and fingerprint statements denouncing the Dalai Lama and declaring support for the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). After the monk's release from detention, "patriotic education" continued. Four or five government officials visit the monastery regularly to lecture monks on the benevolence of the Party and the evils of the Dalai Lama (ref D). Following the lectures, authorities again require monks to sign and fingerprint statements with Dalai Lama denunciations. Admiration for Dalai Lama Unabated -------------- ¶7. (C) Monks at both monasteries expressed their continuing admiration for the Dalai Lama. Despite intimidation and strict measures by local governments, monks quietly defy authorities by continuing to hang pictures of the Dalai Lama prominently within prayer halls, shops and homes. PolOffs saw numerous such pictures throughout Amdo, although monks admitted that if police or government officials are nearby the pictures are immediately hidden. At Gu'er Monastery in Jianzha (protect),Dalai Lama pictures set high on the walls of a small prayer hall had been covered with white cloth to hide them from party officials who toured the monastery the previous day. A monk inside Tongren's Longwu Monastery pulled aside framed shots of state-approved Buddhist leaders inside his home, opened a cabinet and removed a stack of books to reveal his own elaborately hidden photograph of the Dalai Lama. Gratitude for U.S. Concern -------------- ¶8. (C) The same monk in Tongren's Longwu Monastery heaped praise and thanks upon "French and Americans" for supporting the Dalai Lama and "cursed" the Chinese Government for its treatment of Tibetans. He was also thankful to see visitors from abroad, claiming that the "police are afraid of foreign tourists." The monk expressed great joy over President Bush's willingness to meet the Dalai Lama and attend the Dalai Lama's Congressional Gold Medal award ceremony (ref E). Asked how the monk had access to this kind of news, he explained that the monks in Tongren use satellite television dishes and illegal passwords to view foreign stations (ref F). RANDT