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China Human Rights and Rule of Law Update
Party Congress Promotes Officials Linked to Harsh Policies Toward Tibetans
Introduction
The 17th Congress of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), which concluded on October 21, 2007, resulted in the promotions of two high-ranking Party officials, Zhou Yongkang and Liu Yandong, whose recent posts associate them with harsh policies that contribute to the repression of human rights such as the freedoms of religion and expression, and that undermine ethnic minority rights guaranteed by China's Constitution and system of regional ethnic autonomy. The Party¡¯s elevation of Zhou and Liu to the highest levels of Party power is likely to signify strong endorsement of their work, and ensure the continuation and perhaps strengthening of the policies associated with them, especially during the period of the Party's 16th Central Committee (2002-2007).
Although Zhou's and Liu's work impacts citizens and groups throughout China, this article will consider their promotions within the context of the human rights and rule of law environment for ethnic Tibetans living in China. Their promotions may presage heightened repression of ethnic minority groups and of cultural, religious, and political rights that the Party suspects could threaten the Party's supremacy or ethnic and national unity. Ethnic and religious issues could be treated as an even higher priority during the period of the 17th Central Committee (2007-2012) than during past five years. The level of Party intolerance toward Tibetan religious activity and expression that it deems threatening may increase, instead of moderating as China becomes a more mature, prosperous, and resilient nation.
Zhou Yongkang is one of the most influential Party figures guiding policy and implementation with respect to public security and the process of investigating, charging, prosecuting, trying, and sentencing cases of alleged criminal activity. Liu Yandong has played a prominent role in ensuring implementation of Party polices toward ethnic minorities and religion. She has played a direct and important role since late 2002 in the on-going dialogue between China and the Dalai Lama's representatives, a process that has resulted in little evidence of progress. Zhou and Liu are both members of the Party's highest ranking group focused on Tibetan issues, giving added weight to their promotions and their views on policy and its implementation.
(See the CECC 2007 Annual Report for more information on human rights in Tibetan areas of China, and on Chinese government implementation of regional ethnic autonomy.)
Zhou Yongkang Promoted to the Standing Committee of the Politburo
(People¡¯s Daily bio, 22 October 07)
Swift Rise to Party's Most Powerful Body
Zhou Yongkang has moved up swiftly to join the Party's highest-ranked and most powerful body, the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau (Politburo) of the Central Committee, and to head one of the Central Committee's most influential supervisory groups, the Political and Legislative Affairs Committee (Xinhua, 26 December 07). Advancing within the Central Committee at each of the 14th-17th Party Congresses, he attained the rank of an alternate Central Committee member at the 14th Congress, full Central Committee member at the 15th Congress, member of the Politburo at the 16th Congress, and member of the Standing Committee of the Politburo at the 17th Congress. Zhou held the posts of Party Secretary and Minister of the Ministry of Public Security from 2002-2007. As Secretary of the Party's Political and Legislative Affairs Committee, Zhou presides over a group whose members include the leadership of the state's security, legal, and judicial establishment (Web site of China's Central Government, State Structure, visited 22 January 08): Xiao Yang (President of the Supreme People's Court), Jia Chunwang (Procurator General of the Supreme People's Procuratorate), Wu Aiying (Minister of Justice), Meng Jianzhu (Minister of Public Security), and Geng Huichang (Minister of State Security). Zhou served as the committee's Deputy Secretary from 2002-2007.
Party Secretary in Sichuan Province
Zhou served as the Secretary of the Sichuan Province Communist Party Committee from 1999-2002, a period that included the partial destruction of the Larung Gar and Yachen Gar monastic teaching institutions, located in Ganzi (Kardze) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, and the expulsion of thousands of Tibetan Buddhist nuns and monks from the institutions. (International Campaign for Tibet, 20 June 01 and 9 July 04). During Zhou's tenure as the Sichuan Party Secretary, authorities throughout the Tibetan autonomous areas of China detained or imprisoned 187 Tibetans for peaceful expression or non-violent activity, based on information available in the CECC Political Prisoner Database (PPD). Of those 187 Tibetans, 60, of whom 33 were monks and nuns, were detained or imprisoned in Sichuan. In two of the Sichuan cases, the Ganzi Intermediate People's Court sentenced to imprisonment popular Tibetan Buddhist teachers who had traveled to India without official permission and met with the Dalai Lama: Sonam Phuntsog (detained October 2004, sentenced to five years¡¯ imprisonment for "splittism"); and Tenzin Deleg (detained April 2002, sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve, later commuted to life imprisonment, for conspiring to cause explosions and inciting splittism).
While Zhou served as the Sichuan Party secretary, he characterized China's ethnic minority educational system, which provides for teaching of ethnic minority languages as well as for classes to be taught in those languages, as a "heavy burden" on the government, and questioned whether the government should "bother so much" with the program (South China Morning Post, in OSC, 14 March 00). He accused Tibetans of having "blind faith" in the Dalai Lama and of wasting their money by offering donations to Buddhist monasteries, according to the article.
Leadership of Party and Government Agencies Pressuring Tibetan Rights
During the 2002-2007 period when Zhou held the top public security posts in both the Party and government and the position of Deputy Secretary of the Party's Political and Legislative Affairs Committee, Chinese security officials, procuratorates, and courts in Tibetan autonomous areas of China pursued a policy of detaining, charging, convicting, and sentencing Tibetans to imprisonment for peaceful expressions and activities that officials characterized as "splittism" (Criminal Law, Article 103: "splitting the State or undermining unity of the country"). After Zhou's promotion to the Secretary of the committee, he called on senior officials attending a December 26, 2007, national conference on "politics and law work" to "master the work objectives of improving the national security strategy and system, earnestly safeguard national security, as well as remain highly vigilant and strictly guard against all kinds of splittist, infiltration and subversive activities," (Xinhua, translated in OSC 28 December 07).
Even as Tibetans have become far less confrontational since the early- and mid-1990s, insofar as more recently they rarely resort to open displays of behavior that Chinese officials punish as threats to state security (see below), authorities have not responded to the change by moderating the level of repression of expressions of ethnic and religious identity¡ªespecially in cases where Tibetan devotion to the Dalai Lama is involved. Instead, officials have tightened enforcement of laws and seek to punish activity that is innocuous in comparison with previous years. Tibetans in the early- and mid-1990s faced imprisonment for bold expressions of public dissent, such as staging demonstration marches in busy public locations. In the post-2000 period, however, authorities imprison Tibetans for activities such as possessing pictures of the Dalai Lama and copies of his teachings, writing or possessing "splittist" literature, or for arguing with a patriotic education instructor.
Imprisonment Data: After Public Protests Decline, Inconsequential Actions Punished
Comparing information about Tibetan political imprisonment for the period 2002-2007 with 1992-1997 shows that while Zhou exercised authority over the public security establishment, officials punished Tibetans for inconsequential activity, claiming that the activities endangered state security, even after Tibetans had dramatically moderated the scale and style of expressions of dissent. During the 1992-1997 period there were 1,232 political detentions of Tibetans, according to CECC analysis of PPD information, of which at least 529 (43 percent) resulted from peaceful public demonstrations by Tibetans. An additional 73 (6 percent) of the detentions were the result of protests (including prison protests). Another 259 (21 percent) of the Tibetans put up small posters or distributed leaflets to make political or religious statements. Of the remaining detentions, 95 (8 percent)--a figure certain to be low--are known to have resulted from making statements or possessing materials about the Dalai Lama or Panchen Lama. Of those 95 Tibetans, 32 (33 percent) used posters or leaflets to make their statements.
In comparison, during 2002-2007, none of the protests is known to have been a public demonstration march in a public area. At least 107 (75 percent) of the 142 known political detentions of Tibetans during the period resulted from making statements about the Dalai Lama or possessing materials associated with him, based on PPD information current in January 2008. About 30 (29 percent) of the 107 Tibetans put up small posters or distributed leaflets to make their statements. Of the remaining 35 detentions, only 13 (9 percent) are known to have been the result of protest activity such as shouting slogans.
Deputy Leader of the Party's Tibet Work Coordination Group
Zhou plays a leading role in the Party's top Tibetan policy work group, which seeks to end the Dalai Lama's influence among Tibetans and to prioritize economic development over protecting Tibetan culture. After the 16th Party Congress in 2002, the Central Committee leadership appointed Zhou as one of three deputy leaders of the group, headed by Jia Qinglin, a member of the Politburo Standing Committee and the Chairman of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), according to a July 10, 2006, People's Daily report (translated in OSC, 23 April 07). The other two deputy leaders are Liu Yandong, Head of the Party's United Front Work Department (UFWD) and Vice Chairman of the CPPCC, and Hua Jianmin, State Councilor and Secretary General of the State Council. An April 17, 2007, Singtao Daily report (translated in OSC, 18 April 07) implied that the group's leadership had not previously been made public and stated that the group is formally known as either the "Central Tibet Work Coordination Group" or the "Central Coordination Group on the Struggle Against the Dalai Clique." The group has "overall charge of Tibetan affairs," the Singtao Daily report said.
The Tibet work group's "main tasks" are "opposing the Dalai clique and maintaining Tibet's stability," and a principal means of achieving those goals is accelerated economic development, according to the People's Daily report. Completion of the Qinghai-Tibet railroad in July 2006, added "a beautiful chapter to the history of Tibet," and demonstrated the "correct leadership" of central authorities in their work to "consolidate and develop" the TAR and other Tibetan ethnic areas, according to the report. The group held five leadership meetings in the 2003-2006 period, according to People's Daily, as well as three regional level work meetings in the Tibet Autonomous Region.
Liu Yandong Promoted to the Politburo
(People's Daily bio, 22 October 07)
Head of the Party's United Front Work Department (UFWD)
Liu Yandong, who served as Head of the UFWD from December 2002 (Xinhua, 5 December 2002) until December 2007 (Xinhua, 2 December 07), has been promoted to the 25-member Politburo of the Central Committee. Liu's attainment of Politburo rank was concurrent with State Council Vice Premier Wu Yi's retirement from the Politburo and Central Committee (Xinhua, 21 October 2007), positioning Liu as China's highest-ranking female Party official. Liu has served since 2003 as a Vice Chairwoman of the CPPCC national committee and a member of its Leading Party Members¡¯ Group. The UFWD oversees the implementation of Party policy toward China's eight "democratic" political parties, ethnic and religious groups, intellectuals, and entrepreneurs, among other functions. In 2005, the UFWD established a new bureau to handle Tibetan affairs, according to a Singtao Daily report (translated in OSC, 15 September 06). The Seventh Bureau's mission is "to cooperate with relevant parties in struggling against secessionism by enemies, both local and foreign, such as the Dalai Lama clique, and to liaise with overseas Tibetans."
As noted above, Liu is a Deputy Leader of the Party's Tibet Work Coordination Group tasked with "opposing the Dalai clique" and pursuing a Tibetan solution based on accelerated economic development.
Dialogue with the Dalai Lama's Representatives
Despite the Party's hostility toward the Dalai Lama, the UFWD served as the host organization for the dialogue process between Chinese officials and the Dalai Lama's representatives, Special Envoy Lodi Gyari and Envoy Kelsang Gyaltsen, during all of their five visits to China. Liu's status as Head of the UFWD during four of the five visits to China by the envoys associates her with the disappointing status of the dialogue. The CECC noted in its 2007 Annual Report:The Commission has observed no evidence of substantive progress in that dialogue toward fair and equitable decisions about policies that could help to protect Tibetans and their religion, language, and culture, even though a session of dialogue took place each year beginning in 2002, and even though a basis for such protections exists under China's Constitution and law. On their first trip, the envoys met with Wang Zhaoguo, then-Head of the UFWD and currently a Vice Chairman of the National People's Congress. Liu served as UFWD Head during the subsequent four visits, and met with the envoys herself on their second and third trips in 2003 and 2004. After meeting with the UFWD's top official during the first three visits, the envoys met UFWD Deputy Head Zhu Weiqun on their fourth and fifth visits in 2006 and 2007. In an address to the Brookings Institution in Washington D.C. in November 2006, Gyari identified the Chinese government's distrust of the Dalai Lama as "one of the most critical obstacles" facing Tibetans in the dialogue process. In Gyari's statement following the 2007 trip, the briefest and least optimistic issued after any of the rounds of dialogue, he noted that the envoys had conveyed their "serious concerns in the strongest possible manner," and that the dialogue process had reached a "critical stage." (See Special Envoy's statements on visits to China in September 2002, May-June 2003, September 2004, February 2006, and June-July, 2007. In June-July 2005, the envoys met with Zhu Weiqun in Bern, Switzerland. See CECC articles on rounds of dialogue in 2005 and 2006. See CECC Annual Reports 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, and 2007 for more information on the dialogue.)
Heading a Tibetan Cultural Preservation Organization
Liu is the head of an organization that describes its purpose as preserving Tibetan culture, and that has registered with the United Nations (UN) as an independent NGO although it is supervised by senior Party and government officials. In her role as Honorary President of the China Association for Preservation and Development of Tibetan Culture (CAPDTC), Liu opened the organization's first China Tibetan Culture Forum in Beijing in October 2006, according to an October 10, 2006, report by the China Tibet Information Center (CTIC),a Chinese government-run Web site. Liu retained the position as of December 2007 when CAPDTC held its second forum in Nepal, according to a December 13, 2007, CTIC report.
CAPDTC was founded in 2004 and promotes increased economic development and tourism as measures that can help to ensure the preservation and development of Tibetan culture. UFWD Deputy Head Zhu Weiqun is also the Vice President of CAPDTC, and Sithar (Sita), director of the UFWD's Seventh Bureau that handles Tibetan affairs, is the Vice Chairman of CAPDTC. (CAPDTC, 9 October 06; CTIC, 10 October 06; China Daily, 10 October 06; CAPDTC, 10 October 06; CTIC, 9 October 06; CAPDTC, 11 October 06).
For more information, see Section IV, Tibet: Special Focus for 2007, in the CECC 2007 Annual Report; Section VIII, Tibet, in the CECC 2006 Annual Report; and Section VI, Tibet, in the CECC 2005 Annual Report.
| Source: -See Summary (2008-01-23 / English / Free) |
Posted on: 2008-05-05 |
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| Link directly to this item with: http://www.cecc.gov/pages/virtualAcad/index.phpd?showsingle=101418 |
Tibetans Appeal Splittism, Espionage Sentences for Horse-Racing Festival Incident
Relatives of four Tibetan men -- two nomads, a monk, and a school teacher -- traveled from a Tibetan area of Sichuan province to the provincial capital, Chengdu City, to submit appeals to the Sichuan High People's Court following the men's sentencing on November 20, 2007, on splittism and espionage charges, according to a December 4 Radio Free Asia (RFA) report. The Ganzi (Kardze) Intermediate People's Court, located in Kangding (Dartsedo), the capital of Ganzi (Kardze) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture (TAP), Sichuan province, sentenced the four men to prison terms of up to 10 years on charges of splittism, espionage, or both, for actions linked to an August 1 incident at a horse-racing festival in Litang (Lithang) county in Ganzi TAP, according to a Xinhua report published the same day as the sentencing.
The Ganzi court convicted one of the men, 52 year-old nomad Ronggyal Adrag (or Runggye Adak) on October 29 on the charges of attempting to "subvert state power" and "split the country" by standing before a crowd gathered at the festival and shouting slogans calling for the Dalai Lama's return to Tibet and greater Tibetan freedoms, according to an October 30 RFA report. Security officials detained him immediately. (For more information, see International Campaign for Tibet (ICT) reports, 2 August 07, 10 August 07.) If the report of conviction on both charges is accurate, Ronggyal Adrag was the first Tibetan convicted under the 1997 Criminal Law on the charges of "splittism" (Article 103: "splitting the State or undermining unity of the country") as well as "subversion" (Article 105: "subverting the State power or overthrowing the socialist system"). The judge presiding over the trial said that Ronggyal Adrag's sentencing would take place within six or seven days (e.g. by November 5), according to the RFA report.
The same court sentenced Ronggyal Adrag to eight years' imprisonment on the charge of splittism on November 20 (about two weeks later than the court predicted), according to another Xinhua report that day. The report did not provide any information showing that Ronggyal Adrag was sentenced on the subversion charge. Articles 103 and 105 each provide sentences ranging from three years up to life imprisonment depending on the court's perception of the seriousness of the alleged activity. In October, the judge presiding over the trial characterized Ronggyal Adrag's crimes as "very severe," according to the October 30 RFA report, leading to initial concerns that he could face a prison sentence of extraordinary length as punishment for an incident of disorderly conduct.
The Ganzi court sentenced the other three Tibetans, monk Adrug Lupoe of Lithang Monastery (detained August 21), middle school teacher Jamyang Kunkhyen (detained August 22), and nomad Jarib Lothog (detained August 19), for alleged activities following Ronggyal Adrag's detention, when Tibetans reportedly protested in and near Litang town, and authorities called in the People's Armed Police (PAP) to enforce a crackdown, according to an August 24 ICT report, an August 28 Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy report, and a September 4 RFA report. Adrug Lupoe (one of Ronggyal Adrag's nephews) and Jamyang Kunkhyen followed "directions from overseas sources" and "took pictures and made discs and provided them to overseas organizations" with Jarib Lothog's assistance, according to information about the sentence provided in the first Xinhua report cited above. The report did not name the photographer or the overseas recipient of the images. According to the September 4 RFA report, Kunkhyen's detention was "thought to be connected to his possession of a video camera at the time of the protests," and followed a search of his residence by security officials. The August 24 ICT report provided images of security officials and PAP in and near Litang on August 8 to disperse Tibetans gathered to protest Ronggyal Adrag's detention.
The court found the three men guilty of espionage (Criminal Law, Article 110) because some of the images recorded on the discs "concern[ed] national security and interests" and "provid[ed] intelligence to overseas organizations," according Xinhua's account of the verdict. In addition to espionage, the court convicted Adrug Lupoe and Jamyang Kunkhyen of inciting splittism by "writing and posting secessionist flyers," and sentenced them to prison sentences of 10 years and 9 years, respectively. Jarib Lothog was sentenced to three year's imprisonment as an accomplice to espionage.
The men's relatives initially attempted to submit appeals to the Ganzi Intermediate People's Court in Kangding, but "they were not allowed to do so in the same court," according to a Kangding source cited in the December 4 RFA report. The Ganzi court's refusal to accept the appeal is consistent with Article 180 of the Criminal Procedure Law (CPL), which provides "the defendant, private prosecutor, or their legal representatives" the right to refuse to accept a judgment and "to appeal in writing or orally to the People's Court at the next higher level." A provincial high court is one level higher than an intermediate court. When the relatives traveled to Chengdu, the Sichuan High People's Court did not at first respond to their requests to submit the appeals, the RFA source said. The provincial court accepted the appeals and provided the relatives with an official receipt only after the relatives produced a "joint appeal" addressed to officials in Beijing and signed by an unspecified number of Tibetan residents of the Litang area.
The CPL imposes strict limits on the period of time during which an appeal may be submitted. Article 180 of the Criminal Procedure Law states, "A defendant shall not be deprived on any pretext of his right to appeal," but Article 183 restricts the period of time during which an appeal may be lodged to 10 days after receipt of the written judgment.
Information is not available about whether or not the men have access to legal counsel during their appeals process. A court-appointed lawyer representing Ronggyal Adrag at his trial in Kangding argued that his call for the Dalai Lama to return to Tibet was strictly religious in nature, and not aimed at toppling the government, according to a November 20 ICT report.
See Section IV, on "Tibet: Special Focus for 2007," in the CECC 2007 Annual Report, available on the Web site of the Government Printing Office (GPO), for more information. The Tibet section of the 2007 Annual Report is available as a reprint on the GPO Web site.
| Source: -See Summary (2007-12-14 / English / Free) |
Posted on: 2008-05-05 |
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| Link directly to this item with: http://www.cecc.gov/pages/virtualAcad/index.phpd?showsingle=101223 |
Tibetan Nomad Calling for Dalai Lama's Return Convicted of Subversion and Splittism
A court in Sichuan province convicted Tibetan nomad Ronggyal Adrag on October 29, 2007, on charges of attempting to "subvert state power" and "split the country" by standing before a crowd gathered at a horse-racing festival and yelling slogans calling for the Dalai Lama's return to Tibet and greater Tibetan freedoms, according to an October 30 Radio Free Asia (RFA) report. The judge presiding over the Ganzi (Kardze) Intermediate People's Court, located in Kangding (Dartsedo), the capital of Ganzi Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, said that sentencing would take place within six or seven days.
Convicting Ronggyal Adrag on the dual charges of "splittism" (Criminal Law, Article 103: "splitting the State or undermining unity of the country") and "subversion" (Article 105: "subverting the State power or overthrowing the socialist system") could result in an unusually long sentence that authorities may intend to serve as a warning to Tibetans that they must adhere to Communist Party policies on ethnic and religious issues. (See the CECC 2007 Annual Report for more information about Party policy and government implementation.) If Tibetans view his punishment as provocative, it may further increase regional tension. Ronggyal Adrag addressed the court, according to the RFA report, and explained the actions that led to his conviction:The main reason was that there is nobody in Tibet who does not have faith in, loyalty to, and the desire to see the Dalai Lama. On the contrary, the Chinese government sends out propaganda saying that the Tibetans inside Tibet have no desire to meet him and have lost faith in him. Ronggyal Adrag (or Runggye Adak) is the only ethnic Tibetan known to have been convicted on the charge of "subversion" since the Criminal Law was amended in 1997 to replace the crime of "counterrevolution" with "endangering state security," based on information in the CECC Political Prisoner Database (PPD). He is the first Tibetan convicted under the 1997 Criminal Law on charges of "subversion" as well as "splittism." If the court sentences Ronggyal Adrag under the "incitement" provisions for each charge, each charge can carry a sentence of not more than five years. But if the court sentences him for "organizing" or "plotting" a "major crime" under either charge, he could face a minimum sentence of 10 years or a maximum sentence of life imprisonment for that charge. Both articles provide for sentences of not less than 3 years and not more than 10 years for persons who "take an active part" in splittist or subversive activity. Web site operator Huang Qi, a resident of Sichuan's capital, Chengdu city, is the only other Chinese citizen known to have been convicted of both charges, according to the PPD. Huang served a five-year sentence and was released in 2005.
Procuratorates and courts nearly always apply the charge of splittism to ethnic Tibetans, Uighurs, and Mongols, whom officials suspect of seeking to break up China through non-violent action. Courts have convicted 131 Chinese citizens of splittism under the 1997 Criminal Law, based on information about official charges in the PPD as of October 31, 2007. Huang Qi is the only known person convicted of splittism or undermining national unity who is not a Tibetan, Uighur, or Mongol. At the same time, courts rarely convict persons of such ethnic groups on the charge of subversion. Of 93 convictions on subversion charges, 1 was of a Tibetan (Ronggyal Adrag) and 2 were of Mongols (Badun and Xu Jian, both now released), based on PPD data for cases with adequate information. The total number of cases of imprisonment resulting from charges of splittism or subversion is higher, but information about official charges is not available for every case.
Ronggyal Adrag climbed onto the stage where officials attending the August 1 horse-races in Litang (Lithang) county were scheduled to speak and, according to an August 2 Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD) report, shouted slogans calling for the Dalai Lama's return to Tibet, the release of Gedun Choekyi Nyima (the Panchen Lama identified by the Dalai Lama), and Tibetan independence. According to other reports (International Campaign for Tibet (ICT), 2 August 07; RFA, 2 August 07), he called for the Dalai Lama's return, freedom of religion, and the releases of the Panchen Lama and Tenzin Deleg. Ronggyal Adrag's statements may have been provoked by a petition drive conducted by Chinese officials who visited local monasteries in the weeks before the festival and told monks to sign a petition stating that they do not want the Dalai Lama to return to Tibet, according to ICT reports on August 10 and October 8.
In an unusually swift and public response, a Xinhua report (reprinted in China Daily, 3 August 07) acknowledged that officials detained Ronggyal Adrag for "inciting separation of the nationalities," and that more than 200 Tibetans had gathered outside the detention center to call for his release. According to an August 24 ICT report, People's Armed Police (PAP) used tear gas and stun grenades on August 8 to disperse Tibetans who gathered peacefully near the horse-racing grounds to call for Ronggyal Adrag's release.
Information about 10 Tibetans detained in Lithang county during the period from mid-July through mid-October, based on RFA, ICT, and TCHRD reports, is available in the PPD. In addition to Ronggyal Adrag, at least five of the Tibetans are believed to remain detained: Adrug Lupoe, a Lithang Monastery monk and nephew of Ronggyal Adrag; Kunkhyen, a middle school teacher who may have had a video camera at the horse-racing festival; Adrug Kalgyam, a nomad who spoke out at a village patriotic education session, saying that Tibetans are not happy under Communist Party control; Lobsang Phuntsog, a Lithang Monastery monk who allegedly had photographs of the Dalai Lama and Panchen Lama in his room and who was associated with Kunkhyen; and Jamyang Tenzin, a monk of Yuru Monastery who argued with patriotic education instructors, saying that Tibetans do not have religious freedom or they would be able to display images of the Dalai Lama in their homes and monasteries. Other detentions have been reported but details about them remain incomplete.
In the weeks following Ronggyal Adrag's protest, officials moved "thousands" of PAP into Lithang county to reinforce security, according to a September 4 RFA report, and replaced Tibetan officials deemed to be insufficiently loyal with officials presumed to be Han Chinese, including the county Party secretary and the heads of the county government and public security bureau. According to an October 8 ICT report, Chinese Party officials presided over patriotic education sessions conducted in local government offices, with leaders of extended nomad families (clans), and at monasteries and schools. A Tibetan source told ICT, "The main points of the meetings are always the same: denounce His Holiness the Dalai Lama, oppose the 'separatist clique,' of which [Ronggyal Adrag] is said to be a part, and finally, to be grateful to the Communist government." PAP were frequently present at such meetings, adding to the level of intimidation, according to the ICT source. Patriotic education instructors required schoolchildren to write essays denouncing the Dalai Lama and his supporters, according to the same report.
See Section IV, on "Tibet: Special Focus for 2007," in the CECC 2007 Annual Report, available on the Web site of the Government Printing Office (GPO), for more information. The Tibet section of the 2007 Annual Report is available as a reprint on the GPO Web site.
| Source: -See Summary (2007-11-01 / English / Free) |
Posted on: 2008-05-05 |
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| Link directly to this item with: http://www.cecc.gov/pages/virtualAcad/index.phpd?showsingle=100376 |
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