TIBET: STAFFDEL JANNUZI DISCUSSES POTENTIAL

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 BEIJING 003150 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/20/2029 TAGS: PHUM SENV PGOV PREL KIRF CH SUBJECT: TIBET: STAFFDEL JANNUZI DISCUSSES POTENTIAL ENVIRONMENTAL DIALOGUE WITH TIBETAN CONTACTS Classified By: Political Minister Counselor Aubrey Carlson. Reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). ¶1. (C) Summary: In a November 9 meeting with Senate Foreign Relations Committee Staff Member Frank Jannuzi, Tibetan poet and blogger Woeser decried the environmental degradation of the Tibetan plateau caused by unregulated mining, which she accused of both polluting rivers and increasing ethnic tensions. The boom of the tourist industry is another threat, she said. Tibet should learn from the Bhutan model of tourism and more tightly control tourist numbers. Woeser agreed that the United States and China should open a dialogue on environmental protection and sustainable tourism in Tibet. Jannuzi also met November 9 with Tibetan Communist Party founder Phuntsok Wangyal (Phunwang), who likewise stressed the importance of protecting Tibet's unique ecology. Reiterating statements he made in open letters to CCP General Secretary Hu Jintao, Phunwang stressed that China must regulate the migration of Han into Tibetan areas. He said Tibetan culture is at risk of being destroyed by the growing linguistic and cultural influence of Han Chinese. The Tibet issue, he said, can only be solved if China grants real autonomy to Tibet in accordance with the original spirit of the PRC constitution. Woeser and Phunwang each described Chinese authorities' refusal to allow them to travel abroad. End Summary. Mining, Discount Tourism Hurting Environment -------------- ¶2. (C) Senate Foreign Relations Committee Senior Staff Member Frank Jannuzi met November 9 in Beijing with Tibetan poet and blogger Woeser (aka Wei Se). Jannuzi expressed interest in improving dialogue between the United States and China on the issue of Tibet. He suggested that environmental protection in Tibet was a subject that the U.S. and China could discuss without descending into confrontational rhetoric. Such an initiative would dovetail with larger U.S.-China efforts to combat climate change. ¶3. (C) Woeser agreed that the environment was an extremely important issue in Tibet. Unregulated mining posed the greatest environmental threat and was the cause of a great deal of tension in the region. Local governments, both in the Tibet Autonomous Region and in Tibetan areas of neighboring provinces, were opening mining projects with little, if any, consideration of their environmental impact. Tibetans, more often than not, did not receive the economic benefits of this mining, and most jobs continued to go to Han migrants. Unregulated and illegal mining was a major source of water pollution, and competition over dwindling clean water sources was raising tensions between Tibetans and Han. Woeser added that mining was impacting Tibetan religious issues as so many projects had been opened on sacred mountains over the objections of Tibetan Buddhist leaders. ¶4. (C) Woeser cited "discount tourism" as the second-greatest environmental threat in Tibet. The opening of the Qinghai-Tibet railway in 2006, she said, had greatly reduced the cost of visiting Tibet, putting tour packages in reach of a much greater number of Han. "It used to cost thousands of yuan for a plane ticket to Lhasa; now you can take the train for a few hundred." Ancient buildings in Lhasa such as the Potala Palace and the Jokhang Temple could not handle the crush of visitors. Woeser said she hoped Chinese authorities could shift to a model emphasizing high-end, low- impact tourism. She said Bhutan's tourism industry, where a tightly restricted number of tourists paid a high premium for the privilege of visiting, offered a good model for Tibet. Sustainable tourism, she said, was also a potential topic for U.S.-China dialogue. ¶5. (C) Woeser expressed hope that the U.S. Congress would continue to pay close attention to developments in Tibet and apply pressure on the Chinese government to respect human rights. She said her husband, dissident writer Wang Lixiong, had recently returned to China after receiving an award BEIJING 00003150 002 OF 002 from the International Campaign for Tibet that was presented to him at a ceremony in Washington presided over by the Dalai Lama. Woeser said Wang had returned to China earlier than planned because, following his appearance with the Dalai Lama, he had feared the Chinese government might refuse to allow him to reenter the country. On her unsuccessful efforts to obtain a passport, Woeser told Jannuzi that the Public Security Bureau in Changchun, Jilin province (where Woeser moved her household registry following her marriage to Wang, a Changchun native), was continuing to refuse her application while providing no written explanation. Phunwang: China Must Restrict Migration -------------- ¶6. (C) Jannuzi met November 9 with Phuntsok Wangyal, the 87-year-old founder of the Tibetan Communist Party, known to Tibetans as Phunwang. (Note: Phunwang assisted the 1951 Chinese Communist takeover of Tibet but, starting in 1960, was jailed for 18 years for "local nationalism," a charge applied to ethnic minority leaders allegedly plotting independence.) Jannuzi explained Congress' intense interest in Tibet and in a dialogue on environmental protection on the Tibetan plateau. Phunwang agreed that environmental issues were very serious. The fact that so many rivers had their source in Tibet made environmental degradation a matter of international concern. Phunwang criticized the unregulated migration of Han to Tibetan areas, which was "threatening the survival of Tibetan culture." Phunwang recalled that, during a meeting in the early 1980s, he had warned then-CCP General Secretary Hu Yaobang about the dangers of unrestricted Han migration. Tibetan-language ability of young Tibetans was declining due to the onslaught of mainstream Han culture, he said. Phunwang noted he had raised Tibet-related human rights concerns in several open letters to President Hu Jintao. (Note: He has sent four such letters to Hu, the last in July 2008). The Dalai Lama had met China's preconditions for dialogue and did not seek independence, Phunwang said. The issue could only be solved if China granted real autonomy to Tibet in accordance with the original spirit of the PRC constitution. Passport Renewal Refused -------------- ¶7. (C) At the end of the meeting, Phunwang noted that the Chinese government had recently refused to renew his passport. (Note: Since being rehabilitated in the early 1980s, Phunwang has traveled to the United States several times.) Phunwang said officials had told him he is "too old" to travel and he should "rest." ¶8. (U) Staffdel Jannuzi did not have an opportunity to clear this cable. HUNTSMAN