EMBASSY EXPRESSES CONCERN ABOUT HUMAN RIGHTS IN

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 BEIJING 000631 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/11/2029 TAGS: PHUM PREL KIRF PGOV CH SUBJECT: EMBASSY EXPRESSES CONCERN ABOUT HUMAN RIGHTS IN TIBET AND TIBETAN AREAS Classified By: Political Minister Counselor Aubrey Carlson. Reasons 1. 4 (b) and (d). ¶1. (C) SUMMARY: In a March 11 meeting with MFA International Organizations Department Deputy Director General Shen Yongxiang, PolMinCouns expressed concern about human rights violations in China's Tibetan areas and urged China to engage in substantive dialogue with the Dalai Lama's representatives. DDG Shen said the door remains open for negotiations with the Dalai Lama's representatives as long they abandon their separatist goals and that it is not China's fault if dialogue to date has not produced "substantive results." Rejecting foreign pressure, Shen said China would decide on its own account whether to hold dialogue. The United States should stop encouraging the Dalai Lama's "separatist agenda" and instead urge the Dalai Lama to engage in serious dialogue, Shen said. China welcomes journalists and diplomats to Tibetan areas, he claimed, but current restrictions are warranted to "protect the human rights of the people, as well as the safety of other ethnic groups and journalists." Shen asserted that Reporters without Borders (RSF) is an "irresponsible organization" lacking credibility. He conceded that a Buddhist monk recently set himself on fire but claimed police had helped the monk and did not shoot him. PolMinCouns reminded Shen that restrictions on the entry of journalists into Tibetan areas violate China's regulations on foreign journalists, urged China to cease harassment of journalists entering Tibetan areas and said that China should reopen these areas to NGOs, journalists and diplomats. End summary. EXPRESSING CONCERN ABOUT RIGHTS ABUSES IN TIBETAN AREAS -------------- -------------- ¶2. (C) In a March 11 meeting with MFA IO DDG and Special Representative for Human Rights Shen Yongxiang, PolMinCouns reiterated his March 10 expression of concern to Shen about human rights abuses in China's Tibetan areas. Tibetans had legitimate grievances, and substantive dialogue with the Dalai Lama's representatives could address these issues and achieve stability in Tibetan areas, he told DDG Shen. He urged China to ensure that PRC security forces exercise restraint and respect internationally recognized human rights. Referencing a recent Reporters without Borders report, he expressed concern that foreign journalists and diplomats had been denied entry into Tibetan areas and harassed, heavy restrictions had been placed on media outlets, Internet usage and cell phone communications in the region, and Tibetans had been sentenced and imprisoned for such acts as "sending information abroad" following the March 2008 violence. He expressed concern over reports that PRC security forces had shot a Buddhist monk who had set himself on fire to protest restrictions on religious practice. MFA: DOOR FOR DIALOGUE WITH THE DALAI LAMA OPEN -------------- -- ¶3. (C) DDG Shen stated that China's "consistent and clear" position was that the door for contact and negotiations with the Dalai Lama's representatives was "always open." China had received the Dalai Lama's delegation for three rounds of negotiations in 2008, at the Dalai Lama's request. China was willing to continue contact and negotiations with the Dalai Lama's group, Shen said, but the Dalai Lama should stop his "separatist activities" if he wanted dialogue and he should carry out "serious negotiations" with China. The Dalai Lama's group claimed one-fourth of China's territory as "greater Tibet" and continued to insist on its "separatist position." If dialogue had not resulted in substantive results, Shen stated, it was not China's fault. ¶4. (C) Rejecting pressure from abroad, Shen said China's central government alone would decide whether to continue to engage the Dalai Lama's group in dialogue, since the Tibet issue touched upon China's sovereignty. It was counterproductive for the United States to publicly urge China to negotiate with the Dalai Lama, Shen argued, because doing so sent the message that China bore responsibility for any failure to achieve substantive progress through dialogue and the Chinese people would think the government was engaging in talks as a result of outside pressure. If the United States wanted to help, Shen said, it should stop encouraging the Dalai Lama's "splittist agenda" through Congressional resolutions and other means and instead urge the Dalai Lama's group to engage in serious dialogue with China. The United States should stop "any financial or moral support" for the Dalai Lama. Such support undermined dialogue because, if members of the Dalai Lama's group thought the United States supported Tibetan independence, they would have no reason to engage in serious negotiations with China. PolMinCouns made clear that Congress, as a BEIJING 00000631 002 OF 002 separate branch of the U.S. Government, acted on its own, that the USG saw the Dalai Lama as an internationally revered religious leader and that U.S. support for Tibetans' human rights was not inconsistent with the USG position that Tibet is a part of China. CURRENT TIBETAN AREA CONDITIONS WARRANT RESTRICTIONS -------------- -------------- ¶5. (C) Responding to our complaint that foreign journalists and diplomats had been denied entry into Tibetan areas, DDG Shen stated that China welcomed journalists to Tibet. Tibetan regions had "returned to stability and normalcy" following unrest that began in March 2008 and had not recently suffered any major incidents. However, there was "credible information" that the Dalai Lama's group was attempting to promote violence in the region. It was the duty of the local government to take temporary measures to "protect the human rights of the people, as well as the safety of other ethnic groups and journalists," Shen said. Chinese and foreign journalists were currently in Tibetan areas, Shen said, though he did not offer any names of foreign journalists in the region. He asserted that the Reporters without Borders report on restrictions on journalists in Tibetan areas lacked credibility, because RSF was an "irresponsible organization" that reflected the "deep prejudice against China" of many foreign NGOs and media organizations. Shen acknowledged that a Buddhist monk had recently set himself on fire but said police had fired no shots at the monk, but instead had doused the flames and taken him to a hospital. EMBASSY URGES CHINA TO OPEN TIBETAN AREAS -------------- ¶6. (C) PolMinCouns reminded Shen that the restrictions on the entry of journalists into Tibetan areas appeared to violate China's regulations on foreign journalists. He urged China to stop harassing journalists seeking to enter Tibetan areas and open these areas to NGOs, journalists and diplomats, citing the recent incident in which New York Times journalists Ed Wong and Jonathan Ansfield and others were harassed, detained and expelled from a Tibetan area in southern Gansu Province. With access and transparency, PolMinCouns told Shen, the outside world could better evaluate the situation in Tibet and would not have to look to NGO reports for information. Shen agreed with PolMinCouns' assertion that the United States and China should continue to discuss human rights issues including Tibet. PICCUTA