Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
09CHENGDU184
2009-09-04 07:08:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Consulate Chengdu
Cable title:  

TIBET: US NGO SAYS T.A.R. OFFICIALS WANT THEM OUT

Tags:  PGOV PHUM ECON SOCI CH 
pdf how-to read a cable
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RR RUEHGH RUEHVC
DE RUEHCN #0184/01 2470708
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
R 040708Z SEP 09
FM AMCONSUL CHENGDU
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 3391
INFO RUEHOO/CHINA POSTS COLLECTIVE
RUEHNE/AMEMBASSY NEW DELHI 0251
RUEHKT/AMEMBASSY KATHMANDU 0236
RHEHAAA/NSC WASHINGTON DC
RUEHCN/AMCONSUL CHENGDU 4072
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 CHENGDU 000184 

SIPDIS

DEPARTMENT PLEASE PASS TO USAID
STATE FOR EAP/CM, DRL, G

E.O. 12958: DECL: 9/4/2019
TAGS: PGOV PHUM ECON SOCI CH
SUBJECT: TIBET: US NGO SAYS T.A.R. OFFICIALS WANT THEM OUT

REF: A. A) 09 CHENGDU 000181

B. B) 08 CHENGDU 000197

C. C) 08 CHENGDU 000238 AND PREVIOUS

CHENGDU 00000184 001.2 OF 002


CLASSIFIED BY: David E. Brown, Consul General, U.S. Consulate
General Chengdu.
REASON: 1.4 (b),(d)
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 CHENGDU 000184

SIPDIS

DEPARTMENT PLEASE PASS TO USAID
STATE FOR EAP/CM, DRL, G

E.O. 12958: DECL: 9/4/2019
TAGS: PGOV PHUM ECON SOCI CH
SUBJECT: TIBET: US NGO SAYS T.A.R. OFFICIALS WANT THEM OUT

REF: A. A) 09 CHENGDU 000181

B. B) 08 CHENGDU 000197

C. C) 08 CHENGDU 000238 AND PREVIOUS

CHENGDU 00000184 001.2 OF 002


CLASSIFIED BY: David E. Brown, Consul General, U.S. Consulate
General Chengdu.
REASON: 1.4 (b),(d)

1. (C) Summary: Tibetan Autonomous Region (TAR) officials want
foreign residents, particularly those who speak Tibetan, out of
the TAR, Tibet Poverty Alleviation Fund (TPAF) Country Director
Tony Gleason said. The situation of international NGOs (INGOs)
in the TAR has steadily worsened since the unrest of March 2008
(an assessment shared by many other NGO contacts). This has
included pressure to downsize, obstruction of efforts to
register at the national level, and official counterparts being
pressured to cancel contracts. Optimism among INGOs for things
to improve in the foreseeable future is waning, he noted, with
only a handful of organizations left on the ground. Gleason
reported that TAR officials are particularly distrustful of
organizations receiving USG funding, but believes this can be at
least partially ameliorated by aligning USG-funded programs more
closely with China's official poverty alleviation goals. End
Summary.

TPAF: TAR Officials Want Foreign Residents Out
-------------- -


2. (C) The plight of INGOs in the TAR following events of March
2008 has worsened, Gleason told CG and ConGen staff during a
recent visit to Shangri-la (previously known as Zhongdian) in
northwest Yunnan Province (ref A),seat of the Diqing Tibetan
Autonomous Prefecture. Gleason recently moved his family from
Lhasa to Diqing in order to open a new branch of TPAF's
Dropenling handicraft export business, a poverty-alleviation
project utilizing Tibetan artisans. The move, however, appears
to be permanent, Gleason said, as he has learned TAR officials
want to shut down the main Dropenling operation in the TAR
(Gleason has already asked a friend to pack up his house in
Lhasa, since it appears they will not be going back.)


3. (C) The reason for this move, in Gleason's view, is that TAR

officials simply want all foreign residents out of the TAR.
Gleason sees the TAR Party Secretary as the main force behind
this policy, rather than the central government, noting that the
TAR government set up an investigation unit to see whether
wholly-owned foreign enterprises or INGOs were behind the
violence in March 2008 -- a move Gleason called "paranoid
scapegoating." (Comment: While our information indicates that
many foreigners engaged in work regarded by authorities as
"sensitive" or "political" have indeed been pushed out, a number
of foreigners remain on the ground, some even being lauded in
local media stories for bringing in new businesses. Also, while
local TAR officials enthusiastically took up the "paranoid
scapegoating" of many INGOs in the TAR following the events of
March 2008, Post notes consistency in official language across
Tibetan regions in our consular district that indicate a more
coordinated approach, likely with full central government
backing. End Comment.)


4. (C) The TAR has refused permission to INGOs for proposed new
foreign staff who speak Tibetan, Gleason said, and has forced
the firing of teachers at Tibet University who had been there
for as many as 8-10 years. Government organizations acting as
counterparts to INGOs have also been pressured not to renew
their contracts, he said. He noted that TPAF was optimistic
last year, but now feels that things are getting worse. The
only INGOs that have been able to keep foreign staff in the TAR
are Save the Children (STC) UK and Handicap International, he
reported. Bilateral missions have also been allowed to stay, he
noted, as has the Swiss Red Cross. The anti-foreign pressure
existed before March 2008, Gleason continued, complaining that
the TAR Foreign Affairs Office indirectly indicated they did not
want him to learn Tibetan. Cut off from finding a Tibetan
teacher, he learned Chinese instead.

Save the Children's Future in the TAR?
--------------


5. (C) Gleason's wife, who formerly worked for STC in the TAR,
told us the INGO had been forced to greatly scale back its
staff. However, an ethnic Tibetan STC staff member with whom
PolEconOff spoke during a recent trip to Lhasa made no mention
of this and described the current STC presence in the TAR as
comprising about 30 staff, including one international advisor
who has been in place about three months, one Chinese staff
member, and the rest Tibetans. He confirmed that many INGOs
have been shut down over the last year, offering that Chinese
authorities "maybe think they do not need them anymore." He
did, however, express optimism about STC's staying power. It
"has a few more years" in which it should be able to operate in
the TAR, he said, because its education and health programs are

CHENGDU 00000184 002.2 OF 002


highly intertwined with the government's own reform goals, and
its work is closely coordinated with the local government.

TAR Says No to TPAF National Registration
--------------


6. (C) The central government had asked TPAF to become
registered as an INGO at the national level because they were so
impressed by what they saw in a 2007 evaluation of TPAF's work,
Gleason said. When TPAF approached the TAR Foreign Affairs
Office, however, the answer was "absolutely not." Since March
2008, no INGOs have been registered at the national level and an
expected new round of INGO regulations is apparently going to be
delayed for another year, he said. (Note: The only INGO we know
of operating in Southwest China that has to date successfully
completed national registration is the Jane Goodall Institute.
The issue of NGO registration has in general been a longstanding
problem throughout Southwest China since well before March 2008.
According to our contacts, 70-90 percent of domestic NGOs
operating in our district have not been able to register with
the government at all, opting instead to either operate under
the radar screen entirely, or register as businesses. End Note.)

TPAF: USG Funding Creates Problems for INGOs in Tibet
-------------- --------------


7. (C) Gleason reported that he has seen indirect communication
that TAR officials do not trust USG funding, and that they have
been scouring INGOs' financial transactions, looking for
evidence of ulterior motives. Gleason's view of USG funding
bringing political problems has been echoed by several other NGO
contacts, including a British health NGO worker, who described
it as a very sensitive issue when dealing with officials in
Tibetan areas. Accepting more USG funding will certainly create
political problems for TPAF, Gleason continued, "[but] we feel
it's worth it, we trust in the future better judgment of the
Chinese government." In order to make it easier for INGOs to
accept USG funding, four INGOs (TPAF, TMI, Winrock
International, and the Bridge Fund) have jointly recommended to
USAID that they revise their grant language to be more
consistent with, and "friendly to," China's own poverty
alleviation goals. (Note: These four organizations, along with
Heifer International, have each submitted grant applications in
response to USAID's recent USD 25 million RFP. End Note.)


8. (SBU) Post is continuing to gather information on the current
INGO situation in the TAR and will provide septel an overall
assessment of where things stand.
BROWN