Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
09KATHMANDU645
2009-07-17 10:15:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Kathmandu
Cable title:  

NEPAL'S TIBETAN REFUGEE POLICY UNDER STRAIN

Tags:  PREF PREL PHUM CH IN NP 
pdf how-to read a cable
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PP RUEHBI RUEHCI RUEHCN
DE RUEHKT #0645/01 1981015
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 171015Z JUL 09
FM AMEMBASSY KATHMANDU
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 0493
INFO RUEHBJ/AMEMBASSY BEIJING PRIORITY 7043
RUEHNE/AMEMBASSY NEW DELHI PRIORITY 3134
RUEHCN/AMCONSUL CHENGDU PRIORITY 0475
RUEHCG/AMCONSUL CHENNAI PRIORITY 3050
RUEHCI/AMCONSUL KOLKATA PRIORITY 4675
RUEHBI/AMCONSUL MUMBAI PRIORITY 4008
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK PRIORITY 3593
RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA PRIORITY 2370
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 KATHMANDU 000645 

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR PRM, G, SCA/INS, EAP/CM; GENEVA FOR RMA

E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/15/2019
TAGS: PREF PREL PHUM CH IN NP
SUBJECT: NEPAL'S TIBETAN REFUGEE POLICY UNDER STRAIN

REF: A. KATHMANDU 569

B. KATHMANDU 564

C. KATHMANDU 314

Classified By: Charge d'Affaires a.i. Jeffrey A. Moon, for reasons 1.4
b, d

Summary
-------

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 KATHMANDU 000645

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR PRM, G, SCA/INS, EAP/CM; GENEVA FOR RMA

E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/15/2019
TAGS: PREF PREL PHUM CH IN NP
SUBJECT: NEPAL'S TIBETAN REFUGEE POLICY UNDER STRAIN

REF: A. KATHMANDU 569

B. KATHMANDU 564

C. KATHMANDU 314

Classified By: Charge d'Affaires a.i. Jeffrey A. Moon, for reasons 1.4
b, d

Summary
--------------


1. (C) The Government of Nepal's policy of permitting
Tibetan refugees to remain quietly in Nepal while
accommodating Chinese demands to prevent "anti-China"
activities is under increasing strain. Tibetan activists
have recently conducted several public protests, Nepali
authorities detained the demonstrators briefly, a group of
Nepali legislators visited the Dalai Lama in Dharamsala, and
the Chinese have lobbied the Nepali government both publicly
and privately to prevent any further Tibetan activism.
Ambassador Powell and UN officials asked the Primes Minister
and other leaders in recent meetings to ensure that the
rights of Tibetan refugees are respected. These recent
events reflect the difficulties that Nepal's fragile
coalition government is having in trying to satisfy all
interested parties.

"Gentlemen's Agreement"
--------------


2. (C) Nepal's trading relationship with Tibet dates back
many centuries but politics have complicated matters since
the Dalai Lama's exile in 1959. From 1959 until December 31,
1989, Nepal permitted all Tibetan arrivals to remain legally
in Nepal. An unknown number of additional Tibetans have come
to Nepal since that time and remain unregistered and without
status -- including those born in Nepal to registered refugee
parents. Under the "Gentlemen's Agreement," an informal
understanding between United Nations High Commissioner for
Refugees (UNHCR) and the Government of Nepal, since 1990
newly-arriving Tibetan refugees have been registered by UNHCR
for formal transit from Nepal to India.

Chinese Concerns
--------------


3. (C) One of China's top priorities in Nepal, particularly
since the Lhasa riots in March 2008, is preventing Tibetan
activists from calling attention to conditions in Tibet and
advocating Tibetan independence. Chinese diplomats demarche
Nepali officials frequently to prevent "anti-Chinese"

activities and high-level Chinese officials visit Nepal to
reinforce those requests. A long series of short-lived
Nepali coalition governments -- including the Maoist
government that fell in May 2009 -- have listened patiently
to Chinese demands and taken limited steps to accommodate
their northern neighbor, never fully satisfying either
Chinese central authorities or the Tibetans. However,
striking the delicate balance between protecting Tibetan
refugees and responding to Chinese demands is becoming
increasingly difficult. On the one hand, a small group of
Tibetan activities remain determined to publicize their cause
and, on the other hand, Chinese demands for a crackdown on
Tibetan "separatists" have become more public and from
high-level visitors. Under these circumstances, UNHCR
believes that the best way to defuse rising tensions and
protect Tibetans is to persuade the Nepali government to
register all Tibetan refugees to acknowledge their protected
status.

Tibetan Protests
--------------


4. (C) Reftels reported recent Tibetan demonstrations in
Kathmandu that have raised the visibility of unregistered
refugees and enraged the Chinese. Those protests were
notable because, according to UNHCR, at least a small number
of protesters openly stated their determination to be
arrested and generate international publicity. In all the
recent cases, including the most recent on July 14, Nepali
authorities arrested the protesters, detained them briefly,
and then released them to UNHCR.


5. (C) UNHCR and the Office of the High Commissioner for

KATHMANDU 00000645 002 OF 003


Human Rights (OHCHR) were struck by the determination of
these protesters to be arrested in Nepal and to generate
international publicity. They speculated during a July 13
meeting at the American Embassy that at least some of the
participants might be Chinese-sponsored agitators.

Dharamsala Visit
--------------


6. (C) A June visit to Dharamsala by Nepali legislators from
the Terai region -- the southern third of Nepal with deep
economic and cultural ties to India, but no Tibetan
population -- generated further controversy. According to
Tseten Norbu, one of the trip organizers and a Tibetan
refugee community leader, the visit followed a parliamentary
exchange held in New Delhi for European, Indian, and Nepali
legislators. That explanation was insufficient to quell the
domestic controversy resulting from the failure of the
Legislators to clear the trip with their party leaders. The
Chinese interpreted the visit as a provocation and demanded
no such trips in the future.

Dalai Lama Birthday Celebration
--------------


7. (C) A planned Kathmandu-wide celebration by the Tibetan
community of the Dalai Lama's birthday on July 6 sparked
another controversy when Nepali officials canceled the event.
The Tibetans had taken the precaution of obtaining advance
approval for the event and had invited Kathmandu's Chief
District Officer to attend. Only once previously, in 2005,
has the birthday event -- an annual tradition among Nepal's
Tibetan community -- been canceled. The Tibetans were
permitted to hold prayer services in monasteries in each of
the three main Kathmandu Tibetan settlements, albeit with a
heavy police presence.

Chinese Pressure
--------------


8. (C) China's former Ambassador to Nepal and current
Politburo member Zhang Jiu Huan made an unscheduled trip to
Kathmandu on July 1 to protest the recent Tibetan events.
Reportedly he and other Chinese officials asked Foreign
Minister Koirala to cancel the Dalai Lama's birthday
celebration. Another instance of China's increasingly
visible pressure on Nepal was a visit to a leader of
Kathmandu's Tibetan Youth Club (TYC). The TYC leader
reported to refcoord that he was approached twice by a man
who identified himself as a Chinese agent, the first time for
information about TYC activities, the second time he was
threatened personally. UNHCR also reported that UN officials
trekking near the Nepal-China border reported uniformed
Chinese officials in Chinese-plated vehicles operating 70 -
80 kilometers inside Nepal's border, much further inside
Nepal than the frequently reported two - three kilometers.

Misinformation
--------------


9. (C) While those events were unfolding, various articles
in local publications implied foreign support for Tibetan
unrest. Several articles referenced Ambassador Powell's
April visit to the Nepal-China border region of Mustang. The
stories claimed the Ambassador's trip was intended to support
Tibetan independence and undermine China by supporting
Tibetan separatists acting from Mustang. A July 5 story in
Kantipur, Nepal's most widely read paper, reported that the
Dharamsala-based leaders of the TYC and Tibetan Women's
Association (TWA) as well as some of their members from India
had joined the rebellion in Mustang. Local Tibetan members
of the TYC and TWA have denied the reports emphatically. The
TYC wrote a point-by-point rebuttal to the July 5 story,
which was not published.

Ambassador Demarches PM
--------------


10. (C) Ambassador Powell raised U.S. concerns about the
protection of the Tibetan refugees during her farewell calls
on the Prime Minister, and the Foreign and Home Ministers.
She emphasized U.S. interest in protecting Tibetans' human
rights, including the right to peaceful expression and

KATHMANDU 00000645 003 OF 003


assembly. She underlined U.S. support for Tibetan
registration and the extension of greater rights to Nepal's
Tibetan community. She also noted that the U.S. offer to
resettle some Tibetans, offered first in 2005 and repeated in
2008, remains outstanding. The Prime Minister appeared
unaware of the previous offers and seemed to find it food for
thought.

International Community Reaction
--------------


11. (C) UNHCR Representative Daisy Dell explained at a July
13 meeting her view that registration of Nepal's Tibetans
would be the best first step to address Tibetans' concerns.
She views registration as a mechanism to give both rights and
responsibilities to the Tibetans and as a platform to base
future durable solutions, including true local integration
and third-country resettlement. Dell said that the situation
in Nepal has deteriorated and that registration was unlikely
to make matters worse. She added that it would at least give
some recourse to those who now have no ability to counter
routine shakedowns and harassment when local officials
question their legal status. Dell added that she believed
Nepal is committed to protecting the Tibetans from
deportation so that, on balance, it was unlikely that
registration would make the Tibetans more vulnerable.

Comment
--------------


12. (C) All sources agree that the Chinese are increasing
pressure on Nepal to control the Tibetan population. The
weak Nepali government, teetering on the brink of losing
power and overwhelmed by problems large and small, sees
itself in no position to resist repeated Chinese requests for
action. The Tibetan refugee community is increasingly uneasy
and unable to respond effectively. Friends it thought it
could rely on in Nepal's establishment are wavering despite
efforts by the UN and sympathetic governments to ensure
protection for Tibetan refugees.

MOON