TIBET: POLITBURO MEMBER HU JINTAO RETAINS TIBET TIES

UNCLAS BEIJING 013058 FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY DEPT ALSO PASS NSC - WEIDEMANN THIS IS CHENGDU 0768 QUOTE: E.O. 12356: N/A TAGS: PGOV PREL PHUM CH SUBJECT: TIBET: POLITBURO MEMBER HU JINTAO RETAINS TIBET TIES ¶1. A PUBLISHED DELEGATE LIST FOR THE RECENT NATIONAL PEOPLE'S CONGRESS LISTED POLITBURO STANDING COMMITTEE MEMBER HU JINTAO AS A DELEGATE REPRESENTING THE TIBET AUTONOMOUS REGION. HU WAS REPLACED AS TAR PARTY SECRETARY ON DECEMBER 1, 1992 AND HAS NOT RESIDED IN TIBET FOR AT LEAST 18 MONTHS. WITH HIS ELECTION TO THE POLITBURO LAST FALL AND HIS REPLACEMENT AS TAR SECRETARY, WE THOUGHT HIS DIRECT TIBET INVOLVEMENT HAD ENDED, BUT THIS IS APPARENTLY NOT TRUE. / ¶2. THE TIBET DAILY LISTED HU JINTAO AMONG THE 17 TIBET DELEGATES (THE PEOPLE'S DAILY GAVE THE DELEGATE COUNT AS 19) TO THE NPC. THE TIBET DAILY, REPORTING A MARCH 16 MEETING BETWEEN THE DELEGATION AND JIANG ZEMIN, IDENTIFIED CURRENT TAR PARTY SECRETARY CHEN KUIYUAN AS DELEGATION LEADER, BUT MENTIONED THAT HU JINTAO PARTICIPATED IN THE MEETING AS A TAR DELEGATE. THE PEOPLE'S DAILY ACCOUNT OF THE MEETING SAID HU JINTAO BRIEFED JIANG ZEMIN ON TIBET CONDITIONS. / ¶3. CONGENOFF RECENTLY ASKED A DEPUTY DIRECTOR OF THE TAR FOREIGN AFFAIRS OFFICE DURING A VISIT TO LHASA WHY HU JINTAO, WHOSE SEPARATION FROM TIBET AFFAIRS HAS LONG BEEN COMPLETE IN PHYSICAL TERMS AND WAS RECENTLY SEVERED IN OFFICIAL TERMS, WAS ON THE TAR DELEGATION TO THE NPC. WE WERE TOLD THAT HU, DUE TO HIS LONG EXPERIENCE IN TIBETAN AFFAIRS, WAS ESPECIALLY QUALIFIED TO REPRESENT TAR INTERESTS AT THE NATIONAL LEVEL. / ¶4. COMMENT: IT WOULD SEEM THAT THE TIBET CONNECTION FOR HU JINTAO WILL LINGER ON DESPITE HIS ELEVATION TO THE POLITBURO STANDING COMMITTEE. WE SUSPECT THAT HIS EXPERTISE WILL GIVE HIM THE PRIMARY VOICE IN TIBET POLICY AMONG THE LEADERSHIP. END COMMENT. CAMP UNQUOTE ROY