Tibet

Zhang Qingli, the Communist Party Secretary of the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR), challenged the Dalai Lama's credibility as a religious leader and dismissed his approach to resolving the Tibetan issue in an interview with the German magazine Der Spiegel that was published on August 14. Zhang also defended the record of the Chinese government and the Party on respecting Tibetan Buddhists' right to religious freedom. Spiegel Magazine, an Online publication, published an English translation of the interview on August 16.

The Intermediate People's Court in Lhasa, capital of the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR), sentenced a Tibetan teacher and writer to 10 years' imprisonment in September 2005 on charges of "endangering state security," according to a July 25, 2006, Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD) press release. Chinese security officials detained Drolma Kyab, a middle school history teacher in Lhasa, on March 9, 2005, and the Court sentenced him on September 16. Drolma Kyab was working on unpublished draft commentaries about such topics as Tibetan history, sovereignty, religion, and the location of People's Liberation Army (PLA) bases in Tibetan areas of China, according to the TCHRD release. Official information about the charges against him is not available.

The Qinghai-Tibet railway began passenger service on July 1, increasing concerns about the railway's impact on the ecology of the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau, according to a July 6 Agence France-Presse (AFP) article reprinted on the Yahoo Web site. Environmentalists and the Tibetan government-in-exile are concerned that increased tourism could create demand for wild plant or animal products and contribute to waste that can contaminate rivers, according to a June 30 South China Morning Post (SCMP) article (subscription required).

Official news media reports also rejected the assertions of critics that the railway will result in increased ethnic Han migration into the TAR, or threaten Tibetan culture and the environment. A July 1 Xinhua editorial dismissed claims that "an influx of the Han people" would lead to Tibetan "cultural genocide," countering that the railway will benefit Tibetans by providing them access to "modern civilization." According to another Xinhua report the same day, Lhasa mayor Norbu Dondrub said, "Tibetan culture will not disappear when there is market demand for it." He added that, "The Tibetan culture will not have fundamental changes with the opening of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway.

Supreme People’s Court and Party officials opened a conference on June 15 that considered the role the judiciary should play in assisting to maintain social stability following the opening of the Qinghai-Tibet railroad in July. Vice President Zhang Jun of the Supreme People's Court (SPC) addressed a conference on "The Judicial Response to the Opening of the Qinghai-Tibet Railroad" in Lhasa on June 15, according to a China Court Network report on June 16. Scheduled to begin operation on July 1, the railroad will link Lhasa, the capital of the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR), with Beijing, Shanghai, Chengdu, Guangzhou, and Xining, the capital of Qinghai province.

The Dalai Lama, a Chinese government official, and the head of the Tibetan government-in-exile expressed views on the outlook for the dialogue between Chinese officials and the Dalai Lama's envoys, the definition of "Tibet," and the level of autonomy that Tibetans living in China should exercise in a series of separate public statements between May 19 and June 1. Differences between Chinese and Tibetan views have not narrowed, but the Dalai Lama urged observers of the dialogue process to be patient as they await results, and the Chinese official described contacts between the two sides as helpful.

Zhang Qingli, the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) Communist Party Secretary, told senior Party officials meeting in Lhasa on May 16 that the Party is engaged in a "fight to the death struggle" against the Dalai Lama and his supporters, according to a Tibet Daily report published the same day (in Chinese, reprinted on the Web site of Xinhua). For this reason, Zhang said, the Party must push ahead with the patriotic education campaign already underway in TAR Buddhist monasteries and nunneries, the report said.

At least three Tibetan Buddhist monks of Gaden Monastery near Lhasa completed 10-year prison sentences on May 6, 2006, and may have been released, according to sentencing details found in case records in the CECC Political Prisoner Database (PPD). Security officials detained monks Lobsang Tenzin, Phuntsog Dondrub, and Atsag at Gaden on May 7, 1996, after a May 6 confrontation at the monastery between hundreds of monks and officials of a patriotic education work team. The officials ordered the monks not to display any photographs of the Dalai Lama at the monastery and to hand over all photographs of the Dalai Lama to the work team.