LHASA SECURITY: INTIMIDATING TIBETANS, REASSURING HANS

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 CHENGDU 000183 SIPDIS DEPT FOR EAP/CM, DRL, G E.O. 12958: DECL: 9/5/2033 TAGS: PGOV PHUM CH SUBJECT: LHASA SECURITY: INTIMIDATING TIBETANS, REASSURING HANS REF: BEIJING 1210 CHENGDU 00000183 001.2 OF 002 CLASSIFIED BY: James A. Boughner, Consul General, U.S. Consulate General, Chengdu. REASON: 1.4 (b),(d) ¶1. (C) Summary: Omnipresent People's Armed Police (PAP) patrols in Lhasa brandishing automatic weapons appear to serve the dual purpose of intimidating ethnic Tibetans while reassuring ethnic Han Chinese residents. Some Tibetans note the current heavy security presence in Lhasa was hidden during officially-arranged visits by journalists and diplomats in late March. Although many people were picked up on police sweeps and beaten in the months following the outbreak of unrest in March, these sweeps are less frequent now. Han tourists are returning to Lhasa, but there remain few foreigners; of foreign tourists, reportedly 60 percent since March have been from the United States. Very few monks are to be seen walking Lhasa's streets. Some monks remain detained, while others are confined to the monasteries. The traditional "Shoton (Yoghurt) Festival" is being ignored as an expression of protest by many Tibetans. End Summary. PAP All Over the Barkhor -------------- ¶2. (C) During an August 25-30 visit to Lhasa, the first such trip since February to the Tibetan Autonomous Region (TAR) by ConGen personnel (Chinese authorities require that all trips be approved ahead of time),ConGenOff took the opportunity while not on the official schedule to walk extensively throughout the city. As expected, the contrast in the overall street environment with what ConGenOff experienced prior to the March outbreak of unrest and ensuing security crackdown was striking. Many of ConGenOff's conversations with local residents were conducted in Tibetan. This is the first in a series of cables on the visit. ¶3. (C) ConGenOff observed few monks on the Barkhor, site of the Jokhang (Tibetan Buddhism's holiest temple),there were many heavily armed PAP and public security officers there and in surrounding Tibetan residential areas. During numerous ten-minute walks on the Barkhor pilgrimage route, ConGenOff every two to three minutes would see groups of five to ten PAP with automatic weapons. Along the route, atop four-story buildings were dozens of sniper positions manned by one or two PAP with walkie-talkies, binoculars and automatic weapons. PAP patrols also appeared to cover the Tibetan residential areas extending four blocks or more to the east and north of the Barkhor. At least two to three PAP, with automatic weapons and riot shields, guarded major intersections in the Tibetan residential areas. In a walk around the Barkhor an hour before dawn, ConGenOff saw public security officers with clubs accompanied by a PAP officer and several vehicles (not usually seen on the pilgrimage route),but no groups of PAP with automatic weapons or in sniper positions above the street. In Tibetan residential areas outside the immediate surroundings of the Barkhor, some PAP carried clubs or electric prods as well as or instead of machine guns. ¶4. (C) A Tibetan told ConGenOff that the heavily armed PAP "make us feel like we are in jail." Another Tibetan said that in March when journalists visited Lhasa, the police hid or changed into plainclothes. The expressions on the faces of other Tibetans suggested that they are fearful, although most people appeared to pretend to ignore the PAP and their automatic weapons. ConGenOff did not see the PAP interact with local residents except for reasons related to enforcement of security procedures. A TAR Foreign Affairs Office staffer recently assigned from Beijing commented to ConGenOff, "What's the problem? The good guys have the machine guns." Phony Pilgrims, Han Tourists, Few Foreigners or Monks -------------- -------------- ¶5. (C) A monk and ethnic Tibetan taxi driver warned ConGenOff that there are many "phony pilgrims" on the Barkhor, and remarked that many monks remain either detained or confined to their monasteries. The taxi driver said Tibetans try to stay away from the Barkhor these days. ConGenOff noticed the number of people walking the Barkhor pilgrimage route was in fact far fewer than in February, although this could partly have been because farmers and herders have more idle time during winter months to conduct pilgrimages. Some of the Tibetans doing the circumambulation were noticeably looking around rather than keeping their heads down and praying. They were also outfitted with brand new prayer beads and sacks to hold butter and barley that are offered at the giant furnace in front of the Jhokang Temple. ConGenOff was told that more regular pilgrims would have had well-worn prayer beads and carried older sacks used for CHENGDU 00000183 002.2 OF 002 years. ¶6. (C) Each morning, Han guides led tour groups of Chinese through the Barkhor. On one occasion, while Han tourists were allowed to snap pictures of the heavily armed PAP, ConGenOff saw a group of monks immediately confronted by public security when they took a picture of uniformed police officers. The monks told the police that the person who took pictures had already departed, and they were not detained (as far as ConGenOff is aware). Few foreign tourists were in evidence. The TAR Tourist Bureau told ConGenOff that 60 percent of foreign tourists to the TAR since March have come from the United States. ¶7. (C) The security presence in Han areas of Lhasa appeared to be light, although PAP with automatic weapons guarded important government or party buildings there as well. On Taiyang Island in the Gichu (Lhasa River) just south of downtown, there were no Tibetans to be seen and few PAP or public security apparent. Kundeling and Sera Monasteries -------------- ¶8. (C) Monks at the Kundeling Monastery (60 monks) in a Tibetan residential neighborhood near the Potala Palace told ConGenOff they had been confined to their monastery since March, with one person at a time allowed to go out to buy food. At the famed Sera Monastery, monks were apparently allowed to leave, but very few monks were to be seen at a monastery that supposedly has 500 monks. According to both a Tibetan taxi driver and an impassioned Tibetan layman ConGenOff met at Sera Monastery, many monks were arrested during police raids conducted at night and remain in detention. Fasting and Ignoring the Yoghurt Festival -------------- ¶9. (SBU) The Shoton Yoghurt Festival, an important traditional religious observance and holiday that has been gradually transmuted to meet the needs of the tourist trade, began officially on August 30. In 2006, 30,000 Tibetans gathered at the Drepung Monastery, which lies at the base of a hill about a 10-minute ride from downtown Lhasa, to observe 200 monks carrying a mammoth religious portrait up a mountainside and say prayers at mid-morning. According to some estimates, as many as 190,000 people (both pilgrims and tourists) may have attended Shoton in 2007. This year, Drepung Monastery, closed since the March 14 unrest, was to have reopened the morning of August 30. ¶10. (C) According to scuttlebutt ConGenOff picked up on the evening of the 29th, the monks at Drepung Monastery were refusing to carry the portrait up the mountainside. Speculation on the street was that the PAP and some members of the Drepung Monastery Religious Management Committee would carry the portrait up the mountainside in the early morning hours. It was also rumored that Tibetan exile leaders had called for a day of fasting on the day of the Yoghurt Festival. Tibetans queried early on the morning of August 30 stressed they would not be going to Drepung Monastery. When ConGenOff rode past the Drepung Monastery on the way to Lhasa Airport later that morning, traffic was very light and there was no congestion near the turn-off for the monastery. A large flag indicating the start of the festival could be seen on the mountainside, apparently having been carried up in the early hours. Intimidation and Security; Fear and Hate -------------- ¶11. (C) The absence of frequent police patrols in Han areas of Lhasa and their intense presence in Tibetan areas suggest security is aimed at intimidating Tibetans rather than preventing "terrorist attacks" against Han. ConGenOff noted to FAO handlers that omnipresent machine guns would appear to have the effect of frightening without serving any real security purpose and, as fear exacerbates resentments, likely make Han-Tibetan ethnic relations even worse. The Foreign Affairs officials appeared to find this point incomprehensible, protesting that "there is nothing to fear from the police." Our FAO handlers, all from Han areas such as Beijing and Jiangsu Province, seemed out of touch with the feelings and thoughts of Tibetans. None of the ethnic Tibetan FAO personnel the Consulate has met with on previous visits were among the eight FAO officials encountered during this trip. ConGenOff overheard a conversation between an FAO Tibetan driver and a Han FAO officer in which the Han insisted that the principal river running through Lhasa is called the Lasa He (Lhasa River), rather than the Gichu (Happy River) as it is commonly known in Tibetan. BOUGHNER