ETHNIC TENSION REMAINS HIGH IN TIBETAN AREAS

S E C R E T CHENGDU 000135 NOFORN DEPT FOR EAP/CM, G, INR E.O. 12958: DECL: 25X1 - HUMAN TAGS: PGOV PINR CH SUBJECT: ETHNIC TENSION REMAINS HIGH IN TIBETAN AREAS CLASSIFIED BY: James A. Boughner, Consul General, U.S. Consulate General, Chengdu. REASON: 1.4 (b),(d) ¶1. (S/NF) Summary: Ethnic Tibetan cadres may be coming under increased scrutiny and suspicion by their Han colleagues and additional pressure not to participate in public religious observances. New Congen contacts relayed stories of alleged killings in Lhasa during March, as well as an incident in which a Tibetan police officer reportedly killed three Han officers. As authorities seek to control "rumors," some Tibetan businesspeople are resisting government pressure to open shops in Lhasa. One Government contact described attempts by local authorities to persuade influential Tibetans under house arrest to "cooperate" with the Government. Chengdu has apparently become an important center for interrogating ethnic Tibetan detainees from throughout the region. A patriotic education campaign is targeting young lay Tibetans, while many monasteries continue resistance to such attempted political indoctrination. Reports of protests and arrests in Sichuan's Ganzi Prefecture continue. End summary. SPREADING DISCONTENT AMONG TIBETAN OFFICIALS? -------------- ¶2. (S/NF) According to contacts at the Lhasa Religious Affairs Bureau, the Lhasa Tourist Bureau and Tibet University, as the important Buddhist religious festival of Saka Dawa reached its high point on June 18, authorities instructed ethnic Tibetan Government employees to avoid going to monasteries or participating in public religious rituals such as circumambulations. The ban on such activities extended to family members and household servants of Government employees as well. One contact told us he was warned that there was a "risk of being shot by the police" if a disturbance occurs during these festivities. The contact alleged he had been made to sign a statement in which he assumed "responsibility" for the consequences if a family member participated in any protest. ¶3. (S/NF) The above mentioned contacts also reported an incident occurring in Lhasa on or about March 19, when a group of ethnic Tibetan sons and daughters of "high-ranking" TAR officials were arrested by the People's Armed Police (PAP) after drinking in a bar. The young people, not recognized by police as being related to important officials, were allegedly detained and beaten severely before being released five days later without any apology or explanation other than a statement that the PAP had determined they "did not participate actively" in the March 14 disturbances. The incident reportedly angered many ethnic Tibetan officials. ¶4. (S/NF) According to the Lhasa Religious Affairs Bureau contact, TAR officials are "extremely suspicious" of ethnic Tibetans working for the Justice Department, courts and Procuratorate, since they are believed to be sources of information about sentences and prison conditions leaked to the Tibetan "government-in-exile" and other groups outside China. (Note: A Chinese official media report on May 29 noted the dismissal of seven people, mostly ethnic Tibetan, from the TAR court system.) ¶5. (S/NF) The Religious Affair Bureau contact also told us of increased efforts by authorities to limit discussion of alleged police killings in Lhasa in the aftermath of the March 14 disturbances. Families who lost a relative have been instructed by police to say the death occurred as the result of an "accident." MORE ALLEGATIONS OF DEATHS AND ARRESTS IN LHASA -------------- ¶6. (S/NF) A Congen LES employee told us of meeting a young Tibetan woman from the TAR working in a Chengdu restaurant. She told the LES employee her brother was killed by police in Lhasa on March 14, but the family had been instructed by authorities not to tell others about how the young man had died. ¶7. (S/NF) Two new Congen contacts in Lhasa (one working as an office secretary in the Lhasa Religious Affairs Bureau, the other a woman whose fianci is a Tibetan officer in the Special Police, or "tejing") told us that on March 15 a monk from Tsurpu Monastery was shot to death by police in the Barkhor while praying over the bodies of other Tibetans previously shot by police. His body was allegedly taken by other monks before the police could recover it and has been hidden in Tsurpu Monastery ever since. ¶8. (S/NF) According to the police officer's fiancie, ethnic Tibetan Special Police Officers are no longer allowed to carry firearms as the result of an incident in late March during which a Tibetan officer opened fire on his Han colleagues in Drepung Monastery, killing three before turning the gun on himself. The alleged shooting spree was triggered by the officer's anger over the beating of monks by Han officers. ¶9. (S/NF) The same contact claimed that authorities made extensive use of ambulances to transport arrestees in mid-March. ¶10. (S/NF) A contact working for the Nyingtri Prefecture Government (in the eastern TAR) said that one of the persons listed as "most wanted" by police as a participant in the March 14 disturbances was arrested in Nyingtri Prefecture in April. The man, purportedly from Taktse city near Lhasa, had fled on foot from Lhasa and fainted from exhaustion on a public street after having reached Nyingtri several weeks later. He was identified by police after having been taken to a hospital there. The contact told us that police continued to treat "anyone with especially long or short hair" as suspects. Long-haired men are suspected of being Khampa activists (Note: the Khampa are ethnic Tibetans from western Sichuan Province with a strong warrior tradition),while short-haired individuals are suspected of being monks or of attempting to change their appearance. PRESSURE TO OPEN SHOPS, PRESSURE TO KEEP THEM CLOSED -------------- ¶11. (C) Contacts in Lhasa told us that despite the persistent efforts of local authorities to encourage shopkeepers to keep their business operating, many Tibetans in the old part of town are choosing to keep their shops closed. Some Tibetan shopkeepers have found bowls of tsampa, or barley gruel, outside their shop doors in the morning. This is said to be a sign from other Tibetans that they should not open their shops: "If you are hungry, eat this," as described by one contact. The contact claimed that police had arrested five people in late March for placing tsampa bowls outside Tibetan stores, but the practice continued nevertheless. RUMOR CONTROL -------------- ¶12. (C) Authorities continue to concentrate on trying to control the spread of "rumors" in the TAR. A Tibetan businessman in Lhasa told us that many teahouses and restaurants in the old part of the city have either been closed or are monitored closely by plainclothes police. He further alleged that since the May 12 Wenchuan earthquake, 20 people were arrested in Lhasa for spreading "rumors" that the quake was an act of "karma" or divine retribution against the Han. ATTEMPTS TO SWAY TIBETANS OF INFLUENCE -------------- ¶13. (S/NF) A contact working for the TAR United Front Work Department told us he was recently sent on a trip to Chengdu, Kunming, and an unspecified third city to meet with individuals identified as "Tibetan intellectuals," mostly from Kham (the eastern TAR and western Sichuan) and Amdo (southern Qinghai and Gansu and northern Sichuan). These individuals included reincarnate lamas as well as academics and others deemed to have special influence within the Tibetan community. Our contact noted many of them were being held under de facto house arrest. According to our contact, his mission was to "exchange ideas" with these individuals in an effort to convince them to respect the Chinese government, and to stress to them the "benefits" to be gained from cooperating with the authorities. ¶14. (S/NF) According to this contact, the individuals visited were suspected by authorities of having acted as "liaisons" between the Tibetan "government-in-exile" and Tibetans inside China. However, the contact said he was unable to ascertain that any of them had played any role in any anti-Government activity. ¶15. (S/NF) The contact also told us he was surprised to learn how many TAR government employees were now working in Chengdu. He alleged that the TAR Justice Department, Procuratorate, PSB and Religious Affairs Bureau all had "large" representative offices in Chengdu, many located near the Southwest Minorities University campus. He claimed that most of them were working in Chengdu to assist central authorities in the interrogation of suspects from the TAR. (Note: A Congen local employee saw an underground parking garage in that area with spaces for about 100 cars, each space marked with a freshly painted sign stating that it is reserved for the TAR Justice Department.) YOUNG TIBETANS A CONCERN -------------- ¶16. (S/NF) According to a contact working for the Lhasa Religious Affairs Bureau, authorities have taken note of the large number of young lay Tibetans who participated in the March disturbances, and plan to conduct special patriotic education for persons born in the 1980s and later. One particular concern for authorities was the burning of a Chinese flag on March 14 by students at the Lhasa Number Three Senior High School. The contact claimed that 20 students from Lhasa's Beijing High School were still "missing," as well as seven students from Tibet University. ¶17. (S/NF) The contact claimed that on March 14, two young Tibetan female students at the Lhasa police school ran into the Lhasa Mosque and burned a copy of the Koran inside. This incident led to a conflict between ethnic Tibetan Muslims, many of whom claimed the young women acted as police provocateurs, and Hui Muslims, who insisted the Tibetans engaged on their own in anti-Muslim activities. INSIDE THE MONASTERIES: RESISTANCE AND FLIGHT -------------- ¶18. (C) Contacts in Lhasa described the situation in Drepung Monastery as remaining "very serious," with 300 young monks "missing." A contact reported that only six monks were seen during a recent visit to Jokhang Temple. Ganden and Sera Monasteries were described as "very tense," with monks discouraging visits by Tibetan visitors. ¶19. (C) Contacts inside Labrang Monastery in Gansu Province told us that only three monks (Thabke, Jigme and Lujuba) remain in police custody. ¶20. (C) Contacts in Sichuan's Aba County told us that monks in Kirti Monastery have put up "extreme resistance" to patriotic education, and that several weeks ago monks began to leave the monastery. One contact alleged that 90 percent of Kirti's monks have now left, with many either returning to their home towns or heading for larger cities such as Chengdu, often in lay clothing. A monk from Kirti Monastery alleged that ten of the monastery's monks remained in police custody. GANZI STILL SIMMERS -------------- ¶21. (S/NF) According to the secretary in the Lhasa Religious Affairs Bureau, TAR officials believe many of the participants in the March 14 disturbances were from Sichuan's Ganzi Prefecture. As a result, many young people from Ganzi were arrested in the TAR, and the contact expressed the opinion that the number of Ganzi detainees is a factor in the continuing unrest in Ganzi Prefecture. ¶22. (S/NF) According to a contact working for an international NGO in Ganzi Prefecture, media reports of the arrest and beating of a nun in Ganzi's Drango County on June 8 are correct. The nun reportedly distributed pamphlets and displayed banners calling for the return of the Dalai Lama. Following her arrest, about two hundred nuns from the same nunnery protested the detention, but were dispersed by police and several arrested. ¶23. (C) Other media reports claimed a small protest by lay Tibetans took place in Ganzi County on June 11, followed by beatings and arrests, but we have not yet been able to confirm this incident. ¶24. (U) This cable was coordinated with Embassy Beijing. BOUGHNER