TIBET: MARCH 15 UPDATE ON SITUATION IN LHASA

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 04 BEIJING 000980 SIPDIS NOFORN SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/15/2033 TAGS: PHUM PGOV PREL KIRF CH SUBJECT: TIBET: MARCH 15 UPDATE ON SITUATION IN LHASA REF: A. BEIJING 975 ¶B. BEIJING 973 ¶C. EAP-EMBASSY BEIJING E-MAIL 03/15/08 Classified By: Deputy Political Section Chief Ben Moeling. Reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). Summary -------------- ¶1. (C) The situation in Lhasa, Tibet on March 15 remains fluid, with reports that the city had calmed after a night of explosions and gunfire later giving way to reports of increased violence and the arrival of more military (or possibly paramilitary) personnel during the afternoon. The U.S. Mission has received eyewitness reports of deaths, but the estimates of total killed range from 10 (official Chinese media) to 40, all Tibetan (a rumor cited by a contact). (Two other sources put known deaths of Tibetans at eight and thirteen.) There are no reports of American citizen casualties or arrests, and a number of Americans have been able to depart Lhasa via the airport. Embassy Beijing formally requested Chinese Government permission to dispatch U.S. Mission personnel to Tibet to verify and safeguard the welfare and safety of American citizens, but as of 20:00 local, the MFA had provided no response. Western media report that Tibetan authorities have set a deadline of Monday, March 17, for "troublemakers" to turn themselves in. There were multiple, credible reports of protests outside of Tibet involving monks in the Tibetan areas of Qinghai and Gansu Provinces, with at least one report stating that a protest in Gansu had turned violent. End Summary. Situation in Lhasa Remains Fluid; Reports of Rising Tension on Afternoon of March 15, Presence of "Tanks" -------------- -------------- ¶2. (C) The situation in Lhasa, Tibet as of 17:00 local March 15 remains fluid. Reports that the city had calmed after a night of explosions and gunfire on the morning of March 15 later gave way to reports of increased violence and the arrival of more military (or possibly paramilitary) personnel that afternoon. One American citizen reported to ConGen Chengdu late in the afternoon of March 15 that she believed violence had begun again the city, stating she could hear gunfire and explosions once more and describing "heavy black smoke" emanating from the area of Jokhang Monastery. Another American NGO source told Chengdu Consul General that, although there may have been no formal declaration of martial law, "de facto martial law" is "certainly in place." ¶3. (S/NF) According to relatives of a ConGen Chengdu FSN who live in the Barkhor area of central Lhasa, in the early afternoon of March 15 local time, there were several "tanks" in and around the area. (Note: the source used the term "green cars with long hands," which could indicate that tanks, not armored personnel carriers (APCs),were being used. This may indicate involvement by PLA troops, not just People's Armed Police (PAP).) This same source said he saw "military" firing to disperse crowds in the Barkhor area. He also said Lhasa Mosque, described as the "big, new one near the Barkhor," was partially damaged overnight. The source cited a "rumor" that 40 monks have been killed. ¶4. (C) An American woman working near the Barkhor area who claims to be a long-term resident of Lhasa, reported to ConGen Chengdu that both ends of the street linking the Barkhor to Beijing Street remained barricaded on the afternoon of March 15, and that she and others were not allowed out of the compound where her coffee shop is located. (Note: this source is different from the other Amcit coffee shop owner cited in ref A.) As of 15:45 Lhasa time on March 15, however, everything was "quiet." She reported a "flurry of activity" about 13:15, when she heard "loud booms" coming from the east part of Lhasa, and her boss claimed that he counted 38 gunshots. This source reported that a customer had phoned from the western part of Lhasa to tell her not to go out, since she had seen "tanks pouring into town," apparently not just two or three but "many more." Reports on Morning of March 15 Said City "Quieter" -------------- -------------- ¶5. (C) The initial reports coming into ConGen Chengdu and Embassy Beijing the morning of March 15 were that Lhasa was relatively "quiet" following a night of gunfire, explosions and the sound of aircraft overhead. An American citizen at Lhasa's Yak Hotel on Beijing Street reported by phone to BEIJING 00000980 002 OF 004 ConGen Chengdu on March 15 at 11:45 that central Lhasa was "much quieter," although there were still occasional gunshots and explosions, with one explosion occurring while ConGenOff was on the phone with the Amcit. The Amcit said that a police escort was coming soon to take four Australian citizens to the airport for an afternoon flight that day to Chengdu. She also reported that her NGO had four people in Shigatse who had reported no violence in that area, although there was a heavy military presence. Another source, an Austrian national staying at the Flora Hotel (referred to in ref ) said on the morning of March 15 that things wre "much quieter" and that he felt the danger had "passed." (Note: this same source called later on March 15 to say that he was at Lhasa airport prepared to depart via aircraft with two American citizen companions.) ¶6. (C) ConGen Chengdu also spoke three times on the morning of March 15 with the Amcit coffee shop owner in the Barkhor in central Lhasa who had reported details of the riots yesterday (ref A). (Note: this Amcit coffee shop owner is a different source than the one mentioned in para 4 above.) After reporting a "quiet night," the coffee shop owner ventured out into the street linking Beijing Street with the Barkhor area at about 09:00. He estimated that about one-half of the shops along that street had been looted and damaged, and the street was littered with debris. There was an overturned jeep at one end of the street, and it appeared that the military/police had overturned four cars at the other end to create a makeshift barricade. He said ten armed "military personnel" sitting on top of an armored vehicle (he used the phrase "something like a Bradley Fighting Vehicle") passed him at one point. He also saw an overturned armored personnel carrier. ¶7. (C) When the Amcit reached Beijing Street, he asked a military officer if he could get an escort to go "a couple of blocks away" to his other place of business. The officer refused. He reported that a formation of "riot police" had passed him that morning, in blue uniforms carrying rifles, wearing riot gear such as personal protective equipment and carrying telecommunications equipment. They asked him, firmly but politely, to return indoors. There were no Tibetans on the main street: he said they were hiding in alleyways, doorways and inside buildings. When he approached them, he asked them if they were scared, to which they replied, yes. ¶8. (C) The Amcit said he had seen no bodies but repeated claims from other "eyewitnesses" of Chinese having been pulled out of shops in central Lhasa by crowds of Tibetans. He also said he had been told that police fired into a crowd at the Barkhor area on Friday. Two Chinese customers had told him of rumors circulating inside the Han community that the water supplies had been poisoned. The American put little credence in this and ascribed it to "Han anxiety." (Note: A Canadian diplomat in Beijing also told U.S. Embassy Beijing PolOff on March 15 that he had heard rumors about the Lhasa water supply having been "poisoned," which he thought was rumor-mongering. The rumor got enough traction quickly enough to prompt an official denial from the Xinhua News Service the afternoon of March 15.) ¶9. (S/NF) According to a source living near the Barkhor area that was contacted by a ConGen Chengdu FSN early on the morning of March 15, everyone has been ordered to stay off the streets in Lhasa. Although the man said that people in city were talking of more Tibetan demonstrations on March 15, he did know how this could be the case, given that no one is allowed on the streets. He reported hearing of many ethnic Han being injured but he had not heard of any Han deaths. He had heard of rumors that some police had been killed, but did not know if such reports were true. Multiple Reports of Fire, Destruction -------------- ¶10. (C) Multiple sources reported significant destruction in downtown Lhasa, with one Amcit telling ConGen Chengdu that the area resembled a "war zone," with smashed store fronts, cars on fire and "tanks" in the street. An official in the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) Cultural Department reported to ConGen Chengdu on March 15 as having personally seen that the Bank of China, the Wenzhou Mall (Wenzhou Shangmaocheng) and the Number Two Tibet Middle School had been burned down. The official also said a child had come home from that school with a partially burnt school bag after the school had been attacked by crowds around noon Friday, but no children had been injured. BEIJING 00000980 003 OF 004 ConGen Chengdu Source Reports Seeing Eight People Shot Dead -------------- -------------- ¶11. (C) Two ConGen Chengdu sources provided first-hand accounts of seeing Tibetans shot dead in Lhasa. ¶12. (S/NF) ConGen Chengdu FSN on March 15 noon local time spoke with a man living near the Barkhor area of Lhasa's Tibetan quarter, who reported seeing eight people shot dead. (Note: This is the same source mentioned above in para 9.) The source said he personally had seen three people who had been shot dead in front of the Jokhang Temple, as well as five people who had been shot dead on Jiangsu Road. The source also reported that the Agricultural Bank has been burned down. The streets, he said, are "filled with tanks." (This source again referred to the vehicles as "cars with long hands," which would seem to indicate tanks as opposed to APCs.) Another Chengdu Source Reports 13 Deaths -------------- ¶13. (S/NF) The Lhasa relatives of a ConGen Chengdu FSN mentioned in para 3 above, who live near the Barkhor area, reported on March 15 that, at around 23:00 on March 14, their windows had been shot out by "machine gun fire" as they took refuge in their kitchen. None of them were hurt. ¶14. (C) This same source reported that either they, or a friend, had "personally" seen the following: two dead monks from Drepung, killed at an unspecified location; three monks dead in front of the Ramoche Temple; three lay Tibetans dead in front of the Jokhang Temple; and five lay Tibetan dead on Jiangsu Road. All had been killed by gunfire. They reported seeing two "armored personnel carriers" as well as "multiple police cars" destroyed in central Lhasa. Comment on "Spark" that Started March 14 Riots -------------- - ¶15. (C) The same ConGen Chengdu source that reported seeing or hearing of 13 dead commented on his understanding of the "spark" that ignited the riots the day before: On March 14 police beat three or four monks who were demonstrating in front of the Ramoche Temple, after which a crowd gathered and attacked the police. The source reported rumors of Tibetans later pulling Han out of shops and attacking them with knives, but neither the source nor his friends had seen this personally. The source also reported a rumor among Tibetans that police are grabbing apparent ringleaders in crowds, putting them in cars and taking them away for "summary execution." Some Americans Reportedly Leaving via Airport -------------- ¶16. (C) A number of American citizens have reportedly been able to make it to the Lhasa airport, where they expected to depart the province imminently. The male Amcit coffee shop owner mentioned above said he had heard the Tibet Foreign Affairs Office (FAO) was preparing to take foreigners to the airport: not an order but an offer. While speaking with ConGenOff, he said a group of Japanese girls carrying suitcases had appeared on the street, apparently expecting a ride to the airport. Later in the day, reports began to stream into ConGen Chengdu that a number of Amcits and other foreigners had, in fact, made it safely to the airport. For example, one Amcit reported to the Consulate that three Americans, two Germans and an Australian had all made it to the airport. Another Amcit said three American doctors had as well. As stated above, the Austrian source mentioned in ref A told Embassy Beijing mid-afternoon on March 15 that he and two Americans had made it the airport and were on the tarmac, preparing to leave shortly. Embassy Requests Permission to Dispatch U.S. Personnel -------------- -------------- ¶17. (C) As requested ref C, on March 15 the Embassy formally requested Chinese Government permission to dispatch U.S. Mission personnel to Tibet to verify and safeguard the welfare and safety of American citizens in Lhasa via diplomatic note to MFA. (Note: Formal Chinese Government approval is required for the travel to Tibet of all foreign diplomatic personnel.) Director General for North American and Oceanian Affairs Zheng Zeguang told the Ambassador by phone at 18:15 that the MFA "is taking the U.S. request very BEIJING 00000980 004 OF 004 seriously" and that we should expect a formal answer from the Consular Affairs Department. He did not say exactly when the response would be forthcoming, and follow-up calls to the MFA did not succeed in convincing them to offer a timeframe for an answer. The Ambassador is scheduled to see Assistant Foreign Minister Liu Jieyi when Liu returns from an overseas trip late on March 15. Mission staff have booked flights to Lhasa and can fly as soon as March 16 if the Chinese Government does not prevent their travel. Tibetan Protests Reportedly Spread to Qinghai, Gansu -------------- -------------- ¶18. (C) There were multiple, credible reports of protests outside of Tibet involving monks in the Tibetan areas of Qinghai and Gansu Provinces, with at least two reports stating that protests in Gansu had turned violent. An AP reporter in Beijing told Embassy PolOff that AP had sent reporters to Qinghai and Gansu to report on protests in Tibetan areas in those provinces. Chinese Official Media Blame Dalai Lama -------------- ¶19. (U) China's official Xinhua news agency on March 15 reported that 580 people had been "rescued" from fires set by "violent saboteurs," placing the death toll in the unrest at ¶10. Xinhua also quoted Tibet Chairman Qiangba Puncog as saying, "We fired no gunshots" and blaming the unrest on the "Dalai clique." Meanwhile, Tibetan authorities have set a deadline of Monday, March 17, for "troublemakers" to turn themselves in. Rioters who surrender before that date have been promised leniency. Embassy Actions -------------- ¶20. (SBU) The Ambassador on March 15 ordered the formation of a monitoring group in the Embassy to coordinate the response to the unrest in Lhasa. The monitoring group, chaired by the DCM, includes the Consular, Political, Regional Security and Public Affairs sections and is working closely with U.S. Consulate General Chengdu to ascertain and safeguard the welfare of American citizens in affected areas and render necessary assistance; monitor reports on the situation in Tibet and communicate those reports back to the interagency community in Washington; review our consular warden message and revise as necessary; and stay in contact with the State Department Operations Center and U.S. Consulates across China. ¶21. (SBU) The Embassy issued an updated warden's message on March 15 to reflect information that protests extended into ethnic Tibetan areas of nearby provinces. ¶22. (U) This message was coordinated with ConGen Chengdu. RANDT