Tibet
Update, International Tibet Independence Movement ~ January 25, 2001
Recent And Upcoming Campaigns, Larry Gerstein ~ August 6
Millennium World Peace Summit Bring Together More Than 100 Sspiritual Leaders - The Dalai Lama Not Invited, International Campaign for Tibet ~ August 3
China Withdraws the Western China Poverty Reduction Project, International Campaign for Tibet ~ July 7
Stop World Bank's Tibet Resettlement Project, International Campaign for Tibet ~ June 27
March for Tibet in Washington, International Campaign for Tibet ~ June 14
North Leg of the March for Tibet's Independence, Benjamin Cox
Urgent Need For Pressure On The World Bank, International Campaign for Tibet ~ June 6
China Arrests Eight Tibetan Monks for Alleged Plot to Kill New "Living Buddha", AFP ~ June 1
Young Lama Inspires Tibetan Exile Youth, By Rama Lakshmi ~ May 29
Help Defeat Permanent Normal Trade Relations for China, International Campaign on Tibet (ITC) ~ May 11
Activists Win on Petrochina, Target BP-Amaco, by Jim Lobe, (IPS) ~ Apr. 5
Letter from John Ackerly, President, International Campaign for Tibet ~ April 6
PetroChina in Tibet, ICT ~ March 31
Top Human Rights Body Meeting in Geneva
Tibetan Who Made Flag Protest Committed Suicide in Custody, Tibet Information Network ~ March 23
Time To Reassess Tibet Policy, By A. Tom Grunfeld
NGO Statements Criticise China At UN Commission On Human Rights , World Tibet Network News ~ March 30
Oral statement on Behalf of International Union of Socialist Youth (IUSY), by Dolma Choephel, World Tibet Network News ~ March 30
Oral Statement on behalf of Worldview International Foundation, by Mo Li Hua, World Tibet Network News ~ March 30
U. S. Senate Passes Resolution Commemorating Lhasa Uprising and Calls for Negotiations, by Mary Beth Markey ~ March 10
Parents of Buddhist Leader Detained, by Renee Shoof, World Tibet Network News
Dalai Lama Government Worried Over Chinese Crackdown After Lama Escape (AFP)
International Tibet Independence Movement ~ January 25, 2001
Hello and a very Happy Losar! The Tibetan New Year begins on February 24 this year and lasts for about one week. This is the Tibetan Year of the Iron Snake. I hope that you will have a chance to enjoy Losar with your friends, family, and colleagues. The International Tibet Independence Movement (ITIM) has been regrouping since the end of our two month 'March for Tibet' in California last Spring. Thanks to all of you for your help and support. What follows is a list of things you can do for Tibet, an update on ITIM, and ways that you can further help ITIM.
1. We are launching another major Panchen Lama postcard campaign. We have already distributed 550,000 of these postcards and we wish to get out another 50,000 by the time of Gendun Choekyi Nyima's (The Panchen Lama) 12th Birthday, April 25, 2001. Visit our website (www.rangzen.com) for details on how to receive the cards. This coming May, it will be six years since The PRC abducted The Panchen Lama and His family. Let's not allow yet another year of their imprisonment.
2. In collaboration with the Students for a Free Tibet, we are involved in the Boycott of the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. We urge you to speak with athletes, trainers, and government officials and ask them to oppose China's bid to host the Olympics. We also strongly request that you order postcards from us to be sent to the International Olympic Committee. For quantities of 25 or less, we ask that you send $5. For larger quantities, the cost is .19 cents per set, or about $100 for a box.
3. We have designed a new bumper sticker with the following message, ?Free Tibet Now.? This multicolor sticker includes an image of the Tibetan flag. Visit our website (www.rangzen.com) to learn how you can purchase this item.
4. This past November, ITIM was granted 501c3 not for profit tax status by the U.S. Government. What this means is that any donations you make to ITIM are now tax deductable to the extent permitted by law. We rely on your financial assistance to sustain all of our educational and other campaigns.
As always thanks for supporting the Tibet Movement. Tashi Delek!
Larry Gerstein President, ITIM
END
Larry Gerstein, International Tibet Independence Movement ~ August 6
1. Tibet Walk 2000. Our recent March for Tibet's Independence in California which ended on June 24 was extremely successful. It is impossible to fully express our appreciation to all of you who helped organize the walk, actually walked, and those of you who contributed money to support the project. We are extremely grateful. Because of you, we were able to touch the lives of many people who now know and care about Tibet. Thank you so very much!
Numerous people and organizations participated in both the San Francisco to Los Angeles and San Diego to Los Angeles legs of the walk. During the walk, we gave presentations at over 30 Universities, Grade Schools, High Schools, Churches, Community Centers, and Dharma Centers, we secured newspaper articles in more than 70 periodicals (including AP wire, CNN & BBC websites, LA Times), and we appeared on 23 TV and 40 radio (including VOA, RFA, VOT, and NPR) stations. Further, there were 500,000+ hits on our website (www.rangzen.com).
In many other ways, the March for Tibet2000 was highly successful. However, our organization still faces a major challenge. We were unable to raise the necessary funds to cover the expenses of the walk. We estimate that we need to raise an additional $9,000 (U.S. dollars) to offset our expenses (e.g., airline flights for Tibetans coming from India; printing costs; telephone bills; rental of vans). Our organization does not maintain a large bank balance. We operate on limited funds that we receive from grassroot donors. Therefore, we do not have the capitol to cover the remaining expenses. Now, we must respectfully ask you to donate some funds to help our organization continue to function. Many of you gave money during the walk. Thanks again. Please consider another donation. For others, please help us out. Checks can be made out to the International Tibet Independence Movement and mailed to:
ITIM, PO Box 592, Fishers, Indiana 46038 USA
Another way that you can contribute is by purchasing a Walk2000 t-shirt. There are about 50 left and we have reduced the price to $10 each plus shipping. Visit our website (www.rangzen.com) to see the shirt. Thanks for considering helping us in some way.
2. UN & HHDL. From August 28 to 31, the United Nations will be hosting the Millennium Peace Summit of Spiritual Leaders. Over 1000 spiritual leaders have been invited to this entire event, except His Holiness The Dalai Lama. To express your concern about this disrespectful action, sign your name (if you have not done so already) to a petition that will be forwarded to UN General Secretary Kofi Annan. To do this, send an e-mail RIGHT NOW to spiritwalk@earthlink.net and indicate in this message the following: your name, job title, organization, city, state, country, and e-mail address. For further information on this campaign, visit: http://www.interfaithcall.com/petition.html
3. U.S. Democratic Convention. In just 2 weeks the U.S. Democratic Presidential Convention will be held in Los Angeles. Various Tibet organizations are planning some exciting demonstrations at this event. We need large numbers of people to attend the demonstrations. Please consider participating. For further information about this campaign, contact Thubten Tsering at Students for a Free Tibet (sft@igc.org) or Yosh Yamanaka at the Los Angeles Friends of Tibet (free-tibet-now@mediaone.net).
4. The Panchen Lama. The 11 year old Panchen Lama (Gendhun Choekyi Nyima), Tibet's second most important spiritual leader, is still missing and The PRC refuses to allow anyone to see Him. He was abducted by The PRC on May 17, 1995. Since then, ITIM has distributed over 550,000 postcards advocating for His release. These postcards are still available. Visit our website (www.rangzen.com) for details on how to receive the cards. An excellent video about The Panchen Lama was recently released by Garthwait and Griffin Films. For information on how to purchase this video, visit: www.savetibet.org
END
Millennium World Peace Summit Bring Together More Than 100 Sspiritual Leaders - The Dalai Lama Not Invited
International Campaign for Tibet ~ August 3
Dear Friend of Tibet:
On August 27-29th, the Millennium World Peace Summit will bring together more than 100 spiritual leaders under U.N. auspices to create a Declaration for World Peace. More than 100 world spiritual leaders from all faiths will be represented -- but not the Dalai Lama. Why is a world peace summit excluding the 1989 Nobel Peace Laureate? The decision not to invite the Dalai Lama appears to be a result of pressure from the Chinese government. Therefore, we need your immediate help to urge the Summit organizers to include His Holiness the Dalai Lama as an official invitee in all aspects of the Summit, including the opening day at the U.N. General Assembly.
The Peace Summit is **less than a month away!**.
Your immediate efforts could help achieve the a remarkable breakthrough -- His Holiness' presence on the floor of the U.N. General Assembly room.
We are making an urgent action request to all ICT supporters to contact the conference organizers NOW! Jump to our Action Center :
ACTION
Please write the Kofi Annan, U.N. Secretray-General and Bawa Jain, the Secretary-General of the Millennium Peace Summit , and urge them to extend an official invitation to the Dalai Lama.
Use the following points:
1. Express dismay that the Dalai Lama has been excluded from the conference purely for political reasons. The Dalai Lama is world reknowned for his constructive and forward-looking proposals for the solution of international conflicts, human rights issues, and global environmental problems" (from the Norwegian Nobel Committee's citation for the 1989 Nobel Peace Prize).
2. Express concern that since the Dalai Lama is certainly one of the "world's preeminent religious and spiritual leaders" both within and beyond the Buddhist world, his exclusion would be in fundamental contradiction to the spirit of the Summit, would deprive it of a major contributor and would be likely to undermine its purpose and credibility;
3. Finally urge the United Nations and the Summit organizers to reconsider their decision.
PEOPLE TO WRITE TO:
His Excellency, Mr. Kofi Annan, The Secretary General, United Nations
New York, NY 10017 tel: 1-212-963-1234 fax: 1-212-963-4879
Mr. Bawa Jain, Secretary-General, The Secretariat of the Millennium World Peace Summit
United Nations, 301 East 57th Street, 3rd Floor, New York, NY 10022 Tel: 1-212-593-6438 Fax: 1-212-593-6345 e-mail: info@millenniumpeacesummit.org
Visit our web site for further information on the Millenium World Peace Summit.
Thank you for your help!!
PLEASE FORWARD THIS MESSAGE TO OTHERS AND URGE THEM TO RAISE THEIR VOICE FOR TIBET!
International Campaign for Tibet, 1825 K Street NW, Suite 520, Washington, DC 20006 tel. 202-785-1515 * fax. 202-785-4343
END
China Withdraws the Western China Poverty Reduction Project
International Campaign for Tibet ~ July 7
This morning China withdrew the Western China Poverty Reduction Project after a divided Board of Directors would not approve funding for the project. This is a tremendous victory that the international community has refused to legitimize and fund this process.
For the latest news and ICT's official statement on the cancellation, go online to: http://www.savetibet.org
Congratulations and thank you to all ICT members, Tibetans, and friends of Tibet who raised their voices in countless ways to oppose this project. Because of your dedication and commitment to the struggle, the future of Tibet looks brighter than ever. Thank you!
We also want to thank all of the countries who supported the findings of the Inspection Panel and the legitimate rights of the Tibetan peoples. And thanks to the hundreds of parliamentarians from scores of countries and the U.S. Congress for their role in raising objections to this project with their governments.
Please stay tuned to http://www.savetibet.org for more updates on the aftermath of the project's cancellation -- there may be more work to do in the coming weeks to make the best use of this significant victory.
Best regards!
Your friends at ICT.
International Campaign for Tibet, 1825 K Street NW, Suite 520, Washington, DC 20006 * tel. 202-785-1515 * fax. 202-785-4343
END
Stop the World Bank's China-Tibet Resettlement Project
International Campaign for Tibet ~ June 27
IT'S TIME TO PULL OUT ALL THE STOPS! This is the final stretch in the campaign to stop the World Bank's China-Tibet resettlement project -- the project His Holiness the Dalai Lama refers to as international funding of China's policy of cultural genocide in his homeland.
The Bank's Board of Directors will decide the FINAL OUTCOME of the resettlement project on July 6th, 2000. We need YOU to raise your voice NOW and tell the Board NO. No project, no fix-it plan, no compromise for this fatally flawed project. Please focus all of your energies on mobilizing your friends and family to help STOP THE PROJECT today. For rapid fax and e-mail action and the latest updates.
BACKGROUND
The World Bank's independent Inspection Panel Report (IP Report) on their 8-month investigation the project was delivered to Bank management and Board members on April 28th. On June 22nd, Bank Management sent their response to the IP Report to the Board of Executive Directors.
Though the IP Report and Management's Response are still technically confidential, the Financial Times obtained a copy and published the Executive Summary of the IP Report on their website.
The Executive Summary is a scathing indictment of the project. It documents a "climate of fear" in the project area - Tibetans are unable to speak freely about their opinions about the project for fear of reprisal. The Summary also enumerates severe violations of 6 out of 9 of the Bank's most fundamental safeguard policies, including those on Indigenous Peoples, Resettlement, Environmental Assessment and Information Disclosure Policies, among others. Moreover, the Report apparently raises important questions about fundamental institutional problems, and in particular the chronic weaknesses in the Bank's application of its environmental and social policies in China.
TAKE ACTION NOW!!! Here's how: To send a rapid fax to the Board of Directors, to President Wolfensohn, and to Vice President Kassum.
Also, please:
- Contact your Treasury Department/Finance Ministry by phone, fax, e-mail.
- Mobilize sympathetic Members of Parliament/Congress to write letters to your Government's Treasury Department, to President Wolfensohn, and to the entire Board of Executive Directors.
- On all written correspondence, please CC: Peter Stephens from the Office of External Affairs Tel. 202.458.2281; Fax 202.522.3405; and ICT, fax 202.785.4343.
TALKING POINTS
1. Read the Inspection Panel Report.
2. Demand that the project is withdrawn or cancelled in its entirety. The Board should not allow Management to try and "fix" the problems with the project, but should cancel it outright. No amount of tinkering around the edges will fix the fundamental flaws in the project design, nor can they adequately address the "climate of fear" that pervades the project region and will continue to undermine the principle of full and informed consultation.
Remind them that if this project were to go forward it would demonstrate to the international community that the Bank lacks the commitment to enforce its own policies and standards; it would result in increased public and governmental scrutiny of other Bank projects in China and elsewhere, particularly those that involve resettlement; and it would put an international stamp of approval on China's policy of population transfer into occupied Tibet.
THANKS TO ALL OF YOU WHO TAKE THE TIME TO HELP TIBET!
International Campaign for Tibet 1825 K Street NW, Suite 520 Washington, DC 20006 tel. 202-785-1515 * fax. 202-785-4343
END
International Campaign for Tibet (ICT)
We'd like you to join the International Campaign for Tibet (ICT) for a very special Independence Day! Learn more.
This summer promises to offer the most prominent series of events highlighting Tibet in the United States ever! For the first time, His Holiness the Dalai Lama come to Washington to speak to the American people in a free, public address on the National Mall on Sunday, July 2nd for more than 30,000 people. That morning, he will also preside over the Monlam Chenmo -- or Great Prayer Festival -- a sacred Tibetan Buddhist ceremony that is often BANNED IN TIBET.
To kick-off this exciting weekend, ICT, Students for a Free Tibet, and the local Washington, DC Tibetan community will stage the largest Rally & Peace March for Tibet ever held in the U.S on Saturday, July 1st.
March Leaders include Irish Nobel Peace Laureate Mairead Maguire; Tibetan Parliamentary leader the Venerable Samdhong Rinpoche; Thai Buddhist leader and activist Sulak Sivaraska; and actor and human rights activist Richard Gere.
We hope you can JOIN US IN WASHINGTON to see the Dalai Lama and show your support for Tibet!
WE NEED VOLUNTEERS! Please contact us if you would like to volunteer your time for any of the events listed below.
To see the complete schedule of events, visit our web site. We've also listed the schedule below. Please pass this message along to friends and colleagues you think may be interested.
SCHDULE OF EVENTS:
July 1, 2000
March for Tibet 11:00 a.m. Rally begins at Lafayette Park (1600 Pennsylvania Avenue just North of the White House.) 12:00 noon The March Begins 1:00 p.m. The March passes the Chinese Embassy (2300 Connecticut Avenue)
July 2, 2000
His Holiness the Dalai Lama on the National Mall (7th Street and Constitution Avenue) 8:30 am Tibetan Buddhist Ceremony 11:00 am Free Public Address. Other events: The Smithsonian Folklife Festival features "Tibetan Culture Beyond the Land of Snows" on the National Mall. June 23 - July 4, 2000
Tibetan Film Festival -- FREE!-- June 27 and June 30, 2000 7:00 p.m.-9:00 p.m. Meyer Auditorium, Freer Gallery of Art National Mall, Washington, D.C. June 27th: "The Shadow Circus: The CIA in Tibet" and "Tibet's Stolen Child" June 30th: "Windhorse" Both nights also feature remarks by special guests involved in making the films. We hope to see you in Washington this Independence Day Weekend!
International Campaign for Tibet 1825 K Street NW, Suite 520 Washington, DC 20006 Tel. 202.785.1515 Fax. 202.785.4343
END
North Leg of the March for Tibet's Independence
Benjamin Cox, Director, International Tibet Independence Movement
Friends,
Massive updates to online reports for the North Leg (San Francisco to Los Angeles) of the March for Tibet's Independence have been completed. Look for photo updates on old reports, old/lost reports that have been found and posted, new reports with new photos and new photo only reports waiting for words.
The North and South Legs of the walk are still going extremely well. We continue to give 2-5 presentations a week, which are incredibly well received. Talking to folks who have hardly heard of Tibet is a wonderful thing. We continue to get a ton of media attention. In just about every town we make the newspapers and often we are on the local network television news.
Food donations are still coming in strong. The great thing about food donations and people cooking for us is that it means so much more. If people are willing to sit down and break bread with us then it is obvious that they agree with what we are doing. Surprisingly our financial situation is poor. California is an expensive place and this project is very expensive. We are not a large organization with rich supporters. We operate on faith and you can make a difference.
If every person that receives this e-mail would do one simple thing, our financial worries will be remedied. Please mail $5 or its foreign currency equivalent to ITIM at P.O. Box 592, Fishers, IN 46038-0592 USA, right now, and our worries would be over. Just $5 from each of you would do it, but we need everyone's support. Grassroots organizations rely on small contributions from those who believe in them.
What we are doing is so much bigger than ITIM-it's about Tibetans and their struggle for freedom. At every presentation we have given we have touched people's lives. They hear Ani Pachen, Ani Kelsang and Yishe Togden and Palden Gyatos' stories of imprisonment and torture and it changes their lives forever.
There are a couple more ways you can help, too. We have received several donations of airline miles, which have helped reduce immense travel expenses. It is extremely easy to donate miles and you will be helping us save tons of cash. After the walk we will need to fly people to Washington D.C. for the "Tibetan Culture Beyond the Land of Snows" and other people will need to fly home. So, please, if you can spare one ticket's worth of miles you will be making an enormous "financial" contribution. Contact me directly if you wish to donate miles: walk cellular 415.786.4433.
Also, if you are going to be anywhere close to Los Angeles the week of June 19, plan on joining us for 5 days of rallies and walking for Tibet. You can find all of the information you need on our website. If at all possible please plan on joining us for the "Mother of all Tibet Rallies" on June 24-the final day of the March.
Thank you for all of your help and support. Bod Rangzen!
Benjamin Cox, Director, International Tibet Independence Movement
END
Urgent Need For Pressure On The World Bank
International Campaign for Tibet, June 6, 2000
Dear friends --
Once again, we must ask for your assistance in ensuring that justice is served in the China Western Poverty Reduction Project. Our coalition made a powerful impact last year, when the World Bank wanted to give its institutional and financial support to China's population transfer program by financing the resettlement of 58,000 Chinese farmers into an area that is considered to be a part of Tibet. We mobilized a powerful grassroots coalition to flood the key decision-makers with letters, emails and phone calls of concern. Our efforts paid off -- we triggered an independent investigation into the project and we convinced the Board not to release money for the project until after the investigation was completed. However, now we must once again mobilize to prevent the Bank from moving forward with the project.
As most of you know, the independent Inspection Panel has completed its investigation into the violations of the Bank's social and environmental policies. The public has not had access to this carefully-guarded report, but we have been informed by many different sources that the Panel's report vindicates our claim and finds that the Bank was in violation of its policies on Indigenous Peoples, Resettlement, Environmental Assessment, Information Disclosure, and Agricultural Pest Management. We have also heard that the report provides a scathing critique of the Bank's performance in preparing this project, and that it raises very serious institutional issues about the Bank's lack of commitment to its social and environmental policies, particularly in repressive regimes like China.
Under the Inspection Panel procedures, Bank management (the folks who brought you this flawed project) has an opportunity to prepare a response, which must be submitted to the Board of Executive Directors by June 12th. The Board will then have to decide what to do with this project. We need each of you to call/fax/email your Executive Director and urge him/her to CANCEL THE PROJECT NOW. There are rumors that Bank management is preparing an "action plan", a proposal to "fix" the problems and allow the project to move forward under more strict conditions. This action plan approach is simply unacceptable.
Without strong and effective citizen mobilization, the Board of Executive Directors will face intense political pressure to move the project forward. We must immediately engage the Board, and President Wolfensohn, in preparation for the release of Management's report. We should send a very clear message: Though the public does not have access to the report, we know that the independent Inspection Panel has confirmed serious violations of Bank policy. The Inspection Panel has confirmed that people in the project area live in a "culture of fear."
There have been serious violations of the very policies that are supposed to protect ethnic minorities and the environment. No amount of tinkering around the edges will make this project acceptable. NO PROJECT. NO ACTION PLAN. The Bank should, rather, admit its mistakes, apologize for the harm caused, and explain how it will avoid making these mistakes in the future. In case anyone thinks the Bank has already learned its lesson from the China/Tibet project, you should know that they are probably going to approve the Chad/Cameroon oil pipeline project on Tuesday, another highly controversial project that threatens indigenous and local peoples, will have devastating environmental consequences, and puts the Bank in partnership with corrupt and repressive governments and multinational corporations like Exxon and Chevron.
The Bank must change its ways. Please contact your Executive Director (a list of EDs for every country is attached to the following Action Alert from the International Campaign for Tibet). Please also contact President Wolfensohn (fax 202-522-0355). Please also take the time to weigh in with your Treasury Department or Finance Ministries, and/or your Development Ministries, since these agencies generally influence the decisions of the Executive Directors. You should also Finally, let your Congresspeople and Parliamentarians hear about how unhappy you are with the Bank's continuing lack of respect for the social and environmental policies (remember, the Bank is operating with taxpayer money).
Tell them that it is time for accountability. It is time for the Bank to CANCEL the China Western Poverty Reduction Project, once and for all. NO PROJECT, NO ACTION PLAN. Please also urge your Executive Directors to call for an examination of the Bank's continuing lack of compliance with its social and environmental policies, which are supposed to prevent such flawed projects from moving forward . Remember that if we all join together, the truth can and will prevail. We need your help. Please act now.
ACTION ALERT: WORLD BANK CHINA WESTERN POVERTY REDUCTION PROJECT
For More Information Contact: International Campaign for Tibet, 1825 K Street NW, Suite 520, Washington, DC 20006, Tel. 202.785.1515, Fax. 202.785.4343.
All Gloves Are OFF! This is the final stretch in the campaign to stop the World Bank's China-Tibet resettlement project formally known as the China Western Poverty Reduction Project. It is now up to the Bank's Board of Directors to decide the FINAL OUTCOME of the project once and for all. We have just a matter of weeks before the Board is due to meet on this issue. Therefore, it is essential that everyone TAKE ACTION NOW to make sure that this project is CANCELLED. Please focus all of your energies on mobilizing your networks to STOP THE PROJECT.
Go on-line to "http://www.savetibet.org/" "http://www.ciel.org/" "http://www.bicusa.org/" "http://www.tibet.org/sft" "http://www.milarepa.org/" "http://www.ustibet.org/"
BACKGROUND
The Independent Inspection Panel Report which is still highly confidential, was delivered to Bank management and Board members on April 28th. Under the Procedures of the Inspection Panel, Management has six weeks to review the Report and to generate a response. They are expected to send their response to the Board sometime this week, after which the Board has an indefinite amount of time to review both the Panel Report and the Response, before they schedule a Board meeting to make final decisions about the project. They could meet as soon as July 7th!
Though we have not been given access to the report, we have been told by several reliable sources that it is a scathing critique of the project and that it finds policy violations which support the claim's allegations. (Remember, the original claim alleged that the Bank had violated its Indigenous Peoples, Resettlement, Environmental Assessment and Information Disclosure Policies, among others). Moreover, the Report apparently raises important questions about fundamental institutional problems, and in particular the chronic weaknesses in the Bank's application of its environmental and social policies in China.
TAKE ACTION NOW!!! Here's how:
Contact your country's Executive Director and your Treasury Department/Finance Ministry by phone, fax, e-mail AND on official letterhead (E.D. info. follows).
It would also help to have sympathetic members of parliament/ congress to write letters and make phone calls to your country's decision-makers as well:
Ask Decision-Makers To:
1. Read the Inspection Panel Report.
2. Release the Panel's Report to the public before the Board meets on this issue so that there can be full transparency and public debate about this project -- remember that this is public money that we are talking about!
3. Demand that the project is withdrawn or cancelled in its entirety. We have heard from several reliable sources that the Report makes it absolutely clear that this project should not move forward. The Board should not allow Management to try and "fix" the problems with the project, but should cancel it outright.
4. Remind them that if this project were to go forward it would demonstrate to the international community that the Bank lacks the commitment to enforce its own policies and standards; it would result in increased public and governmental scrutiny of other Bank projects in China, particularly those that involve resettlement; and it would put an international stamp of approval on China's policy of population transfer into occupied Tibet.
Please CC: Peter Stephens from the Office of External Affairs Tel. 202.458.2281; Fax 202.522.3405; Room 9-133 and ICT on all written correspondence.
Click here to find out how to contact your Executive Director.
EXECUTIVE DIRECTORS' OFFICES
World Bank Group 1818 H Street NW Washington, D.C. 20433 USA All telephone and fax area codes are 202. All offices are located inside the World Bank Building unless specified IMF.
Khalid M. Al-Saad, [Kuwait] (also representing Bahrain; Arab Republic of Egypt; Jordan; Lebanon; Libya; Maldives; Oman; Qatar; Syrian Arab Republic; United Arab Emirates; Republic of Yemen) Room: MC12-125 Tel 458-1030/31 Fax 477-3537
Kahya Abdullah M. Alyahya, [Saudi Arabia] Room: MC12-525 Tel. 458-0191/90 Fax. 477-1759
Ms. Ruth Bachmayer, [Austria] (also representing Belarus, Belgium, Czech Republic, Hungary, Kazakhstan, Luxembourg, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Turkey) Room MC12-541 Tel 45-84661 Fax# 522-3453
Andrei Bugrov [Russian Federation] Room MC13-635 Tel. 458-7080 Fax#477-4274
Federico Ferrer, [Spain] (also representing Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Republica Bolivariana de Venezuela) Room MC12-453 Tel 458-2089/90 Fax# 522-1575/76
Godfrey Gaoseb, [Namibia] (also representing Angola, Botswana, Burundi, Eritrea, Ethiopia, The Gambia, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Malawi, Mozambique, Nigeria, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Sudan, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe) Room MC12-341 Tel 458-2105/06, Fax 522-1549
Valeriano Garcia, [Aregentina] (also representing Bolivia, Chile, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay) Room MC13-561 Tel. 458-2066/67/69 Fax# 477-3786
Inaamul Haque, [Pakistan] (also representing Afghanistan (informally), Algeria, Ghana, Islamic Republic of Iran, Iraq, Morocco, Tunisia) Room MC13-141 Tel. 458-1084/85 Fax# 477-9052
Jannes Hutagalung, [Indonesia] (also representing Brunei Darussalam, Fiji, Lao People's Democratic Republic, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Singapore, Thailand, Tonga, Vietnam) Room MC13-175 Tel. 458-1197/98 Fax# 477-4116
Neil Francis Hyden, [Australia] (also representing Cambodia, Kiribati, Republic of Korea, Marshall Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Mongolia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Republic of Palau, Samoa, Solomon Islands,Vanuatu) Room MC11-745 Tel 458-1018/19 Fax# 477-2007
Matthias Meyer, [Switzerland] (also representing Azerbaijan, Kyrgyz Republic, Poland, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan) Room MC13-227 Tel 458.7050/1 Fax# 477-9110
Jean-Claude Milleron, [France] IMF13-118 Tel. 623-6505 Fax# 623-4951
Satoru Miyamura, [Japan] Room MC12-305 Tel. 458.0098/99 Fax# 522-1581
Ilkka Niemi, [Finland] (also representing Denmark, Estonia, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Sweden) Room MC13-531 Tel 458-1081/82 Fax# 477-6818
Ms. Terrie O'Leary, [Canada] (also representing Antigua and Barbuda, the Bahamas,Barbados, Belize, Dominica,Grenada, Guyana, Ireland, Jamaica, St.Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines) Room MC12-175 Tel 458-0077/78 Fax# 477-4155
Franco Passacantando, [Italy] (also representing Albania, Greece, Malta, Portugal) Room MC13-751 Tel 458-1169/70 Fax# 477-3735
Stephen Pickford, [United Kingdom] Room: IMF11-120 Tel 623-4560 Fax# 623-4965
Ms. Jan Piercy, [United States] Room MC13-525 Tel. 458-0110/11 Fax# 477-2967
Murilo Portugal, [Brazil] (also representing Colombia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Hati, Panama, Philippines, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago) Room MC12-319 Tel.458-0096/97 Fax# 522-1551
Helmut Schaffer, [Germany] Room MC11-125 Tel. 458-1183/84 Fax# 477-7849
Balmiki Prasad Singh, [India] (also representing Bangladesh, Bhutan, Sri Lanka) Room MC12-151 Tel 458-1046/47 Fax# 522-1553
Peiter Stek, [The Netherlands] (also representing Armenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Georgia, Israel, former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Moldova, Romania, Ukraine) Room MC13-433 Tel. 458-2052/53 Fax# 522-1572/73
Bassary Toure, [Mali] (also representing Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Cote d'Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, Djibouti, EquatorialGuinea, Gabon, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Madagascar, Mauritania, Mauritius, Niger, Republic of Congo, Rwanda, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Somalia (informally), Togo) Room MC13-335 Tel. 458-7126/27 Fax# 522-1585
Zhu Xian [China] Room MC13-111 Tel 458-0058/59 Fax# 522-1579
END
China Arrests Eight Tibetan Monks for Alleged Plot to Kill New "Living Buddha"
BEIJING, June 1 (AFP) - China has arrested eight Tibetan monks on suspicion of plotting to kill a two-year-old boy whom Beijing enthroned as a reincarnation of a "Living Buddha," a Tibetan rights group said Thursday.
The Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy said in a statement released in Beijing that the arrests happened on May 17, the same day monks of the Reting Monastery in Tibet protested against the illegal selection of the boy by Beijing.
The Centre cited information from a former Reting Monastery monk who fled Tibet and arrived in neighboring Nepal recently.
Following the arrests of the monks, no tourists or other common people were allowed to enter the Reting Monastery, the Centre said.
An unconfirmed report also indicated two German tourists were detained following the incident, but later released, the Centre said.
China in January enthroned Sonam Phuntsok -- or Soinam Puncog by Chinese spelling -- as the new Reting, also known as the "Living Buddha."
The move was seen as an attempt by Beijing to increase its control over reincarnations of Tibetan lamas and to legitimize its rule over Tibet.
The enthronement followed the escape of the 14-year-old Karmapa Lama to the Tibetan exile government headquarters in Dharmasala, India in December.
As one of the four most important Tibetan spiritual leaders and one recognized by both Beijing and the Dalai Lama, the Karmapa Lama's escape was a major embarrassment for Beijing.
Beijing's selection of the new Reting lama was met with protest from the exiled Tibetan government.
The Centre said there are unconfirmed reports the eight arrested monks might be detained in Taktse County or Gutsa Detention Centre. The names and details of the monks are not available.
The position of Reting Rinpoche is one of the most important in Tibetan religious hierarchy.
The fifth Reting Rinpoche was once the regent of Tibet. Appointed by the Dalai Lama, the highest ranking lama, a regent's role is to assume
responsibility in the absence of the Dalai Lama or at the time of his infancy. The fifth Reting Rinpoche played an important role in identifying the present or 14th Dalai Lama, who was enthroned in 1940, the Centre said.
END
Young Lama Inspires Tibetan Exile Youth
By Rama Lakshmi, The Washington Post May 29, 2000
NEW DELHI –– Tenzing Dhondup joined about 100 other Tibetan students on a central street one recent Friday evening, chanting a Buddhist prayer. As dusk fell, each carried a candle to the spot where a Tibetan exile had set himself aflame and died two years ago, protesting China's occupation of Tibet.
The next morning, Dhondup, a 22-year-old engineering student, switched on a hip-hop tape and headed out with his fellow protesters to a cybercafe. Later, they made plans for a game of pool. At their age, Dhondup said, what matters most is "hanging out" and "looking cool."
Like many young Tibetans born and raised in India, Dhondup is torn between two worlds. One is that of his parents' generation, who fled Communist China in 1959 and spent their lives trying to preserve the cause and culture of Tibet. The other is that of his own generation, drawn to the wider potential of a modern, interconnected planet.
Dhondup grew up listening to his father's stories of how the family escaped to India, trekking across the Himalayas at night and hiding in caves by day. But as he got older, his interest in his homeland's struggle faded.
In January, though, his interest was rekindled when a 14-year-old Buddhist monk, the 17th Karmapa Lama, escaped from a Tibetan monastery, crossed the Himalayas and arrived in India. As Dhondup watched the tale unfold on television, he sat up in amazement.
"I had always heard my parents tell me about the Dalai Lama's escape, but this was different," he said, referring to the Buddhist leader who heads the Tibetan exile movement >from Dharmsala, India. "Karmapa's escape happened right in front of my eyes," he said excitedly. "I thought, 'Wow, this is cool stuff!' "
The Karmapa Lama's escape has galvanized many young members of India's 100,000-member Tibetan exile community in the last four months. Many had dutifully attended protest rallies with their parents for years, but they were growing impatient with the stagnating cause.
"I feel time is running out," Dhondup said of the struggle to free Tibet. "We need to act fast. It's the 21st century, and we are still not free."
Unlike their parents, who had limited educations, remained in refugee enclaves and sought jobs within the Tibetan exile government, these young Indian-born exiles dream of pursuing lives and careers beyond. Some have seen friends emigrate to the United States, and they long to follow.
For many, college in Indian cities like New Delhi, Chandigarh and Bangalore was the first step. Dhondup, now studying computer engineering at Delhi University, hopes to work in California's high-tech industry.
"Everybody here is so competitive. It is such a fast city," said Kumsang Dorjee, 22, a business student who grew up in Dharmsala. As a child, he was taught that the future meant someday returning to a free Tibet. But as a student in New Delhi, he realized the future could mean something entirely different.
"People here are always thinking of building their careers and earning money," Dorjee said as he and a friend studied for an exam in their dormitory cafeteria. The friend, looked up and laughed. "Sometimes I think money is God," he said.
In the city's cybercafes, Tibetan students chart their own escapes via the Internet. They chat with friends abroad, look for job openings and learn about struggles in places like the Israeli-occupied West Bank and Kosovo. The young men ogle singer Mariah Carey on screen, while the young women shyly confess that they surf for the Backstreet Boys.
At the same time, however, the Internet has brought the students closer to their elders' freedom struggle. The New Delhi students have created a number of Web pages to exchange information and ideas about Tibet, reaching other exiles across the globe.
While older exiles have confined their protests to peaceful rallies, following the pacifist teachings of the Dalai Lama, the younger generation is more attracted to active, even violent methods. Two years ago a group of young ethnic Tibetans here held a hunger strike, and the protest peaked with the self-immolation of the older exile.
"Our struggle has been too passive. Many of our young people are losing patience," said Tenzin Phulchung, president of the Delhi Tibetan Youth Congress. "We believe in what the Dalai Lama says, but sometimes we question everything."
Phulchung often talks about training and sending people to destroy Chinese military bases. He views the Karmapa Lama, who now lives and grants audiences in a Dharmsala monastery, as "the wrathful manifestation of the Buddha," who could propel young Tibetans to take more direct action against China.
Among Tibetan elders, there is growing concern that unless Tibet is freed within this generation, it will be very difficult to keep young people committed to the exile cause.
"To keep our identity intact is our main aim, so we try to absorb the youth," said Tashi Phuntsok, the Dalai Lama's representative, who was in New Delhi to present awards to students excelling in computer studies. "There is a real fear of disintegration if we cannot offer them jobs. If they go away, we will have failed."
END
Help Defeat Permanent Normal Trade Relations for China
International Campaign on Tibet (ITC) ~ May 11
Dear Friend of Tibet:
We need your immediate help to defeat "Permanent Normal Trade Relations" (PNTR) for China! PNTR would end the annual human rights debate on China in our Congress,
which is where we have been able to spotlight China's abuses in Tibet and urge for improvements. The House of Representatives wants to vote on PNTR for China the week of May 22nd-- **less than two weeks away!**. Corporate lobbyists, in step with the Clinton administration, are intensifying their campaign in support of PNTR in hopes of furthering their business interests in China. We are making an urgent action request to all ICT supporters to contact your Representatives NOW! Jump to our Action Center.
ACTION
Please telephone your Representative's district office or Washington, D.C. office and declare your strong opposition to PNTR for China!
Your Representative may not know the following:
-- The annual debate in the Congress on Normal Trade Relations (NTR) is the most important economic leverage the Congress can choose to exert against China on many issues, including Tibet.
-- Permanent normal trade relations (PNTR) are not required for the U.S. to benefit from China's accession into the World Trade Organization. The U.S. can maintain the status quo of annual NTR extensions for China - as long as the status does not lapse.
Constituent calls on PNTR will be tallied up and handed to your Representatives as he or she leaves for the House chamber to vote the week of May 22! A one-minute call, short letter or an e-mail from you can make an important difference. Find your U.S. Representative.
You can also find current phone and address contact information, in your local telephone directory under the government section (blue pages) or call the Congressional hotline at 202 - 224 - 3121.
Visit ICT's Web site for further information on PNTR.
Thank you for your help!!
PLEASE FORWARD THIS MESSAGE TO OTHERS AND URGE THEM TO RAISE THEIR VOICE FOR TIBET!
END
Activists Win on PetroChina, Target BP-Amaco
by Jim Lobe, (IPS) ~ Apr. 5
A coalition of human rights, environment, labor and right-wing groups is claiming victory in discouraging investors from putting their money into a subsidiary of a Chinese state oil company with operations in Sudan and Tibet. Instead of the $7 billion which PetroChina Co. had hoped to raise in its initial public offering (IPO) in New York and Hong Kong this week, the new company, a subsidiary of state-owned China National Petroleum Company (CNPC), is likely to net only $3 billion or less.
Potential investors were deterred mostly by an intense campaign launched less than three months ago by a very broad coalition of groups which claimed that CNPC operations in Sudan and Tibet are responsible for serious human rights abuses and environmental damage. They were joined by groups on the right side of the political spectrum here, including a number of organizations identified with the Christian Right, a protectionist business group called the U.S. Business and Industrial Council, and the Center for Security Policy (CSP), among others.
"This sets a major precedent, because now there is a public discourse about how U.S. capital markets are used by foreign companies to finance activities that undercut values, such as freedom, social justice, and environmental rights, that are held by many smaller investors," said Michelle Chan-Fishel, of Friends of the Earth's Green Investment program. "This is the first example of such a broad coalition of interest groups working to stop an IPO on several different levels, including institutional investors, underwriters of the stock, the Security and Exchange Commission (SEC), members of Congress, and even the New York Stock Exchange itself," she added.
Among other tactics, the campaign included trailing a national tour organized by Goldman Sachs & Company, which handled the IPO for PetroChina, to solicit investor interest and making "shadow" presentations in nearby hotels to explain why investors should not buy into the company.
At a press conference here today, some of the same groups said they are launching a boycott and divestment campaign against BP Amoco PLC which last week announced it would buy the equivalent of $1 billion in PetroChina. "Tomorrow we will start calling on investors in PetroChina to become divestors," said John Ackerly, president of the International Campaign for Tibet (ICT), while Sophia Conroy, national coordinator of Students for a Free Tibet, said her group has called for a boycott of all BP Amoco products to protest the oil giant's decision to buy PetroChina's shares.
PetroChina, which was created by the CNPC on the advice of Goldman Sachs precisely to make the offering less controversial, is the first IPO by a Chinese state-owned company ever presented on the New York Stock Exchange.
Many observers have looked to it as a test of investor interest in what are expected to be dozens of similar offerings as China's state sector is forced to seek foreign private capital.
Indeed, two other Chinese companies -- Sinopec and Boashan Iron and Steel -- were planning for their own IPOs for a total of as much as $8 billion for the coming weeks. But these were put off indefinitely over the last few days, apparently as a result of disappointment over the meager results obtained by PetroChina.
The PetroChina offering comes at a critical moment for anti-Beijing forces which were already mobilized over Pres. Clinton's efforts to persuade Congress to give China permanent "normal trade relations" (NTR) status.
Permanent NTR status, which is likely to be voted on during the last week of May, will facilitate China's admission into the World Trade Organization (WTO) and seal a bilateral trade deal that would make it much easier for U.S. companies to gain access to China's huge consumer market and cheap labor force.
There is substantial overlap between the wildly diverse coalitions opposed to both the PetroChina IPO and NTR for Beijing. "Traditional political lines are being blurred in the face of the libertarianism of globalization," noted Kevin Kearns, president of the U.S. Business and Industrial Council, a group of 1,500 business executives, many of whose companies are threatened by foreign competition. Indeed, the Council's main backer, textile king Roger Milliken, has been politically most closely associated with Patrick Buchanan.
The most potent group opposing both PetroChina and NTR, however, is the AFL-CIO, the largest U.S. labor union confederation. Ron Blackwell, the group's director of corporate affairs, said today that what he called PetroChina's "miserable failure" to attract investors would serve as a warning to developing-country companies hoping to tap capital markets here that their human rights, worker rights, and environmental records will be closely scrutinised.
Labor unions control tens of billions of dollars in pension and retirement funds that are often invested in the stock market. For offerings to be successful, these kinds of institutional investors must be willing to buy up shares. For PetroChina, however, such funds as the California Public Employees Retirement System and the Teachers Insurance & Annuity Association-College Retirement Fund, called "trend-setters" by the Wall Street Journal, stood aside.
As a result, the only major buyers to date, in addition to BP Amoco, are four Hong Kong-based companies which have agreed to buy $350 million apiece. "These 'strategic Hong Kong investors,'" said Roger Robinson, chairman of the CSP's William J. Casey Institute, "are under Beijing's influence."
Opposition to the PetroChina IPO also attracted a number of groups long concerned about Sudan which has been wracked by civil war between the predominantly Arab and Muslim government and the predominantly African and Christian or animist South for almost 20 years. That is because the CNPC is a partner along with the Sudanese government, the Malaysian state oil company, and a Canadian company, Talisman, in developing the country's oil resources which lie mainly in the conflicted southern part of the country. Human rights groups charge that efforts to exploit the oil are contributing directly to the violence and continuation of the civil war, which is estimated to have taken as many as two million lives since 1983.
"There is an inextricable link between the oil pipeline project and Khartoum's genocide and bombing campaign," said Nina Shea, director of the Center for Religious Freedom at New York-based Freedom House, a conservative human rights group. "It is the prospect of new, unimpeded oil revenues that convinces the otherwise-bankrupt Khartoum regime that it can acquire the military means to win the civil war outright," she added, calling for a boycott of BP Amoco for its decision to participate in the PetroChina IPO.
The groups concerned about Sudan last year waged a divestment campaign against Talisman with some effect. Although an effort to get Talisman, which holds a 25 percent share in the venture, expelled from the New York Stock Exchange fell short, a number of large pension funds, as well as several universities and investment groups sold all their shares in the company. At one point, its stock fell by more than 30 percent, or more than $1 billion in value. "Capital markets will be the cutting-edge human-rights tool of the 21st century," said Shea, who noted that the number of foreign companies now registered with the Security and Exchange Commission (SEC), which overseas capital markets here, has tripled in the past decade to more than 1,200.
"More Western funding flows to rogue regimes now through the capital markets than through the multi-national banks," she added, noting that foreign companies should be subject to closer scrutiny by the SEC.
Goldman Sachs was aware that CNPC's Sudan connection could prove problematic in the markets, which is why it advised the company to set up a subsidiary, PetroChina, which would be barred from operating outside China itself.
But the critics argued that, as a subsidiary, PetroChina's assets could contribute indirectly to CNPC's activities elsewhere. "The fire wall they created between PetroChina and CNPC is illusory at best," AFL-CIO Secretary-General Richard Trumka told the New York Times last month, "so money will find its way back into the parent company."
In addition, labor unions, human rights activists, and environmentalists found other reasons within China to bolster their fight against PetroChina and CNPC. CNPC's re-organization is likely to cost more than one million Chinese workers their jobs, an issue on which labor unions here have stressed in their campaign.
In addition, CNPC's plan to build a natural-gas pipeline from fields in Tibet to the more populous central part of China has drawn fire from environmentalists and human rights activists alike. "The area includes a fragile, high altitude ecosystem that has supported a small, hardy population of Tibetan and Mongolian nomads for centuries," said ICT's Ackerley. "Local opposition to natural resource extraction is met with swift and brutal retribution. Moreover, pipeline construction will bring thousands of Chinese into Tibetan and Mongolian lands, and the cost to the environment could be catastrophic," he said.
END
Letter from John Ackerly, International Campaign for Tibet
April 6
Dear Tibet Activist:
On behalf of our entire staff, I want to thank so many of you who took action on our PetroChina campaign. We have won a tremendous victory by reducing the IPO demand for this stock offering from $10 billion to $2.9 billion! For more info, check out "http://www.savetibet.org"
However, PetroChina and partner BP Amoco's pipeline construction still presents one of the greatest threats to the people of Tibet that has been seen in recent years. We have just learned that Liberty Financial has bought some 3 million shares of PetroChina valued at $57 million.
We need your help today.
Please fax or e-mail Mr. C. Allen Merrit, CEO of Liberty Financial, and send a copy to Mr. Gary Countryman, Chairman of the Board. Ask them to divest in this stock immediately and to state publicly their intention to do so. issue a press release stating their intention to do so. You can also reach Liberty by phone at (617) 722-6000.
We have galvanized a powerful coalition of opponents to this deal who are working furiously this very moment to inform Liberty Financial of their mistake. If Liberty divests their 3 million shares, it will drive down the stock price considerably, sending a powerful message to those who would exploit Tibet and Tibetans that it is simply bad business.
Please email the sample letter below, or one of your own, today if you can to C. Allen Merrit, CEO of Liberty. Further, please copy this e-mail to us so we can gauge your response. Our campaign has made extraordinary strides-- help us keep up the momentum! Please help us take the next step! For more information about PetroChina see our website. Thanks for your help,
Sample Letter C. Allen Merrit, CEO of Liberty Financial
<------------------------cut here-------------------->
Dear Mr. Merrit,
I am writing to ask you to divest Liberty Financial's holding of PetroChina shares and to do so immediately. PetroChina's proposed projects in Tibet poses one of the most significant threats to the Tibetan environment and peoples in recent history. I know that you may not have been aware of the recent controversy regarding this stock, but the campaign against holders of this stock by individuals across the United States will intensify in the coming weeks and months. Please divest your company of this stock for the sake of your corporate integrity, financial self-interest and on behalf of the people of Tibet, in whose interest I support.
Sincerely,
<--------Paste your name, city, and state here-------->
END
ICT ~ March 31
PetroChina, a newly formed "domestic" subsidiary of the colossal state-owned China National Petroleum Company (CNPC), is due to list their Initial Public Offering on the New York Stock Exchange next Thursday, APRIL 6th. The lead underwriters, Goldmann-Sachs Group Inc., initially hoped to raise $10 billion to fund the construction of a 7,000 mile pipeline from the Tsiadam Basin of Tibet to Shanghai, to fund the downsizing of millions of workers by parent company CNPC, and to support the CNPC's greater expansion objectives abroad - including in the Sudan where China has been complicit in the slaughter of more than 2 million Sudanese Christians.
Against all odds, a broad coalition of groups including Tibetan rights activists, the AFL-CIO, anti-slavery groups, national security interests and environmental organizations have succeeded in generating a maelstrom of protest that has driven PetroChina's target listing from $10 billion down to $2.8 billion dollars.
We have, among other things, persuaded investors and public pension funds that control morethan $1 trillion in assets - including giants CalPERS and TIAA-CREF -- to commit to not investing in the deal and we have made PetroChina the most politically risky investment on the public market in more than two decades.
BUT THERE IS MORE TO BE DONE AND WE NEED YOUR HELP!
PetroChina, a "domestic" unit of the state owned enterprise China National Petroleum
Corporation (CNPC) is due to list on the New York Stock Exchange on April 6th. The initial public offering has been forced to scale back from the original target of $10 billion to $2.8 billion because of the substantial risks associated with deal including the expansion of PetroChina's operations into the Tsaidam basin of Tibet.
The project could severely impact local peoples on the Tibetan Plateau. Resettlement of large numbers of Chinese gas workers into northeastern Tibetan autonomous prefectures would occur, heightening ethnic tensions and marginalizing Tibetans even further. Hundreds of thousands of Chinese have already entered occupied Tibet, but these earlier migrants are concentrated in Tibetan cities and eastern border regions.
Environmental impacts of CNPC's exploration and extraction on the Plateau could be significant. The area includes a fragile, high altitude ecosystem that has supported a small, hardy population of Tibetan and Mongolian nomads for centuries. This delicate balance might be shattered by CNPC's operations. Given its disastrous record in the Daqing oil fields of northeastern China, even a small-scale replication could seriously damage the region's environment.
Part of the IPO was originally intended to finance operations in Sudan's oil fields. Pressured by the Securities Exchange Commission and a coalition of human rights, religious and national security groups concerned about CNPC's links to the Sudanese government, underwriter Goldman Sachs Asia scaled down and postponed the offering. With operations in Tibet, Sudan, Iran and Iraq, CNPC is engaged in a global effort to secure oil and gas resources. In Sudan, CNPC and its partner, Talisman Energy of Canada, came under widespread criticism for their role in the persecution and displacement of several million Christians in its southern region. Talisman's share prices tumbled after institutional investors began dumping their stocks in January.
The Tibetan Plateau includes the same region in which the World Bank drew a storm of criticism for its proposed resettlement of nearly 60,000 Hui and Han Chinese. After opposition by several countries, including the US, that project is currently undergoing investigation by the Bank's Inspection Panel.
The Effort to Stop PetroChina: Organizations Involved
American Anti-Slavery Group, Boston, MA 617-426-8161
AFL-CIO, Washington, DC e-mail: Brees@aflcio.org phone: 202-637-5313
Center for International Environmental Law, Washington, DC e-mail: bpenhoet@ciel.org phone: 202.785.8700
Freedom House, Center for Religious Freedom, Washington, DC e-mail: religiousfreedom@cs.com phone: 202.296.5101
Friends of the Earth, Washington, DC e-mail: mchan@foe.org phone: 202 783 7400 x 242
Human Rights Watch, Washington, DC e-mail: ganesaa@hrw.org phone: 202.612.4329
International Campaign for Tibet, Washington, DC e-mail: ackerlyict@igc.org phone: 202.785.1515
International Committee of Lawyers for Tibet, San Francisco, CA e-mail: raziclt@igc.org phone: 510.486.0588
The Milarepa Fund, San Francisco, CA e-mail: jc@milarepa.org phone: 415.553.8533
National Wildlife Federation, Washington, DC e-mail: tanner@nwf.org phone: 202.797.6602
Project Underground, Berkeley, CA e-mail: carwil@moles.org phone: 510.705.8981
The Ruckus Society, Berkeley, CA e-mail: han@ruckus.org phone: 510.585.9565
Students for a Free Tibet, New York, NY e-mail: john.sft@juno.com phone: 202.594.5898
Trillium Asset Management, Boston (617) 423-6655 x 225
US Business and Industry Council, Washington, DC phone: 202-728-1980
US Tibet Committee, New York, NY e-mail: ustc@igc.org phone: 212.481.3569
The William J. Casey Institute, Washington, DC phone: 202.223.8034
TAKE ACTION
Much like the proposed World Bank resettlement project, the PetroChina deal will set a sinister precedent for destructive development of the Tibetan Plateau for Chinese interests. If PetroChina is successful it will pave the way for China to list similar deals on international markets and Tibet's future will be for sale to the highest bidder. We have only until April 6th -- one week left -- to stop this deal!
1. SEND LETTER TO ARTHUR LEVITT the Chairman of the Securities Exchange Commission, and demand that he put the PetroChina offering into a "cooling-off period." This type of delay will allow ample opportunity for the SEC to review the numerous securities violations and to achieve greater transparency of the risks involved with the deal -- and is our best shot at stopping the deal all together! Please send a carbon copy of this e-mail to our PetroChina campaign staff so we can keep track of how many letters have been sent.
2. CONTACT YOUR REPRESENTATIVE, in Congress and ask him/her to urge the House Commerce Sub-Committee on Oversight and Investigations to conduct emergency hearings on the PetroChina IPO. The Securities Exchange Commission is accountable to the US Congress and a hearing is our best chance of exposing the fatal flaws in this deal so it can be stopped. To find your Representative or Senator click here, call the Capitol Switchboard at 202.224.3121, or check in your local telephone directory.
3. WRITE YOUR STATE TREASURER, and ask that your State pension fund and other state controlled investments do not buy PetroChina stock. It is crucial that public funds are not used to invest in this risky and unprincipled company. It is also critical that State Treasurers are educated about the severe implications of this deal, so that future attempts by the Chinese government to list companies exploiting resources in Tibet will not be able to move forward.
To find out who your State Treasurer is click here or check in your local telephone directory. Please ask everyone you know to do these actions and check back to this website for updates and breaking news about this important campaign. Thank you in advance for your help!
END
Top Human Rights Body Meeting in Geneva
The 56th Session of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights has begun. Few other forums have greater credibility to discuss the ongoing rights violations of the Tibetan people, and no other forum provides a more valuable opportunity to highlight and review China's overall human rights record.
Unfortunately, for 7 of the last 8 years China has managed to block any resolution critical of its record by using a procedural tactic called a no-action motion. In doing so, members of the Commission were prevented from casting their votes, despite obtaining initial sponsorship. This tactic has frustrated multilateral dialogue on legitimate concerns of the international community, disempowering it in the process. Therefore, when the 53 members of the Commission convene in Geneva from March 20 until April 28 to discuss international human rights concerns, it is crucial that governments actively support sponsorship of a resolution and discourage others from voting for a no-action motion.
Even if the resolution ultimately fails, members of the Commission should be permitted to at least vote their conscience and place on record the dire situation facing Tibetans in occupied Tibet. Write, e-mail or fax your President/Prime Minister, Foreign Minister, or your country’s UN Representative in Geneva. Visit this site to get you the address for the UN representative.
END
Tibetan Who Made Flag Protest Committed Suicide in Custody
Tibet Information Network ~ March 23
Tashi Tsering, the Tibetan who staged a protest in Lhasa last August by lowering the Chinese flag in front of the Potala Palace, died in police custody on 10 February by cutting his jugular vein with a razor-blade, according to reports received by TIN this week. His wife Lhadron is currently in prison under suspicion of involvement with her husband's protest. Several security personnel, both Tibetan and Chinese, who were guarding Tashi Tsering in custody have been questioned by the authorities in order to establish how the razor-blade was obtained.
Tashi Tsering, a building contractor in his thirties, had attempted to commit suicide at the time of his protest but failed to ignite the crude explosives strapped around his body before he was detained. He was beaten so severely by security personnel that he was unable to walk by the time he was taken into custody.
The latest information, which shows that reports of Tashi Tsering's death published by TIN last October were incorrect, states that his protest took place on 26 August, three days after the completion of the National Minority Games in Lhasa. Security had been intensified in Lhasa during the Games, promoted by the authorities as an expression of Chinese national unity in the buildup to the 1 October anniversary of the foundation of the People's Republic of China. Tashi Tsering was detained after he was caught lowering the Chinese flag in the Potala Square and attempting to raise the Tibetan national flag, which is banned in Tibet.
According to reports received by TIN, Tashi Tsering was charged in October 1999 and killed himself on 10 February, following several unsuccessful suicide attempts. His wife Lhadron, who was detained for questioning immediately after the detention of her husband on 26 August, was accused of conspiring with her husband and assisting him with his protest. Lhadron, who is from Lhasa, was reportedly charged in November and is now in prison. It is not known whether some relatives of Tashi Tsering who were also detained for questioning following his protest at the end of August are still in detention.
Tashi Tsering, who was from Lhokha prefecture (Chinese: Shannan) in the Tibet Autonomous Region, came to Lhasa to work as a carpenter and began work as a contractor about five years ago. He won an award from the local community for work he did at his own expense, putting up new buildings and providing furniture for a primary school near Sera monastery. He leaves two children, one of whom is handicapped.
Eyewitness reports of Tashi Tsering's detention in the Potala Square on 26 August last year indicate that Tashi Tsering was detained by four or five security police and beaten so badly that his hands and feet may have been broken and his arm fractured. According to these reports, his head was also struck against the back of the vehicle. The policeman on traffic duty who initially apprehended Tashi Tsering was formally congratulated by the authorities for his "contribution to public security".
On 21 October 1999 Xinhua reported that Xu Mingyang, executive vice chairman of the TAR, had "denied some foreign reports claiming that the man who attempted the explosion was killed in a local prison...The criminal, a farmer from the suburbs of Lhasa, the regional capital, is still alive and has confessed all his criminal activities, showing willingness to correct himself". The Xinhua report did not mention Tashi Tsering's state of health, and did not specify whether he had been sentenced. Had he lived, it is likely that Tashi Tsering would have faced a severe sentence due to the nature of his protest at a politically sensitive time. It is not known whether his 34-year old wife Lhadron has been sentenced, and her current condition in prison is also unknown.
END
By A. Tom Grunfeld
The flight of the 17th Karmapa Lama from Tibet to India in January 2000 catapulted Tibet back into the world headlines, creating an opportunity for both China and the U. S. to reassess their policies toward Tibet.
Tibet's status has been intertwined with China since the 7th century through marriages, wars, and treaties. Mongol conquests in the 13th century made Tibet part of a Mongol-ruled Chinese state, while four centuries later the ethnic Manchu Q'ing dynasty further incorporated Tibet into China. In 1912 the13th Dalai Lama's unilaterally declared independence in 1912 but two years later signed a treaty granting Chinese "suzerainty" and direct rule over "Inner Tibet" while "Outer Tibet" remained under Tibetan autonomy. When the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) reestablished strong central government in 1949, Tibet was regarded as politically "integral" with China but in fact so autonomous that Beijing insisted on a incorporation "treaty" to preempt any claims of independence. But the CCP refrained from stamping out feudalism and theocratic rule. Twice in the 1950s Mao Zedong assured the Dalai Lama that China would make no further inroads against de facto Tibetan autonomy. This policy, however, applied only to Outer Tibet or what was later called the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR). Other ethnic Tibetan areas, known as Amdo and Kham (Inner Tibet) underwent political transformation.
This process of integration sparked rebellion, and minor insurrections in Kham/Sichuan turned into open revolt by1956. Soon support came from the U. S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), which as eager to destabilize the communist government. China's suppression of a 1959 revolt forced the Dalai Lama and 50-60,000 Tibetans into exile. Beijing then subjected the TAR to political and social integration, ending Lhasa's autonomous rule. During the Cultural Revolution the Red Guards, both Chinese and Tibetan, engaged in wholesale destruction of almost every religious building in Tibet, paralleling antireligious campaigns throughout China. From exile, the Dalai Lama directed refugee resettlement and guerrilla warfare--although he officially renounced all violence. CIA support encouraged insurgent Tibetans to continue their war for independence, but the CIA was more interested in harassing communist China than in Tibetan independence.
Following the 1971 visit to Beijing by Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, the U.S. cut off its support to the Tibetan resistance. The Tibetan rebellion of 15 years quickly dissipated; the Tibetans had been unable to create a sustainable, free-standing military force after 15 years.
By the late 1970s China began relaxing its grip on Tibet. In 1978 the Panchen Lama was released from detention, and he began championing the preservation of Tibetan culture. A new round of Dalai Lama-Beijing contacts resulted in several Tibetan-exile delegations visiting Tibet. After these talks faltered in the1980s, the Dalai Lama decided to promote his cause internationally, believing that increased foreign pressure generated by his "Tibet Lobby" would force Beijing to renew serious negotiations. Rising international attention and continued unrest in Tibet sparked a policy debate within China. The moderates argued for more freedom for Tibetan cultural practices and the return of the Dalai Lama, while the hardliners (many of them Tibetan governmental and party officials) urged ending ties to the Dalai Lama and repressing all expressions of Tibetan nationalism.
After the Panchen Lama's sudden death in January 1989, the Dalai Lama was invited for religious funerary ceremonies in Beijing. Even though he was assured that there would be an opportunity for direct high-level talks, the Dalai Lama declined the invitation after his advisers pointed out that the international campaign was giving his cause increasing prominence and objected to the continuing prohibition against his visiting Lhasa. The decision not to go to Beijing and renew direct negotiations was probably the gravest error of his political life. He did, however, agree with the Chinese leadership to accept the reincarnation of the 17th Karmapa in 1992, and there was the suggestion that the Dalai Lama could assist in searching for the 11th Panchen Lama. But tensions escalated again in 1995 when the Dalai Lama (without first consulting Beijing) announced a boy had been selected. The designee and his family were arrested, and Beijing enthroned its own candidate. Since then there has been no progress in Chinese-Dalai Lama relations.
U.S. policy has done little to help resolve the Tibet issue. It is a policy that ignores the complex history, is driven by domestic politics, and is inherently contradictory. While officially recognizing Tibet as part of China, the U.S. Congress and White House unofficially encourage the campaign for independence.
Problems with Current Tibet Policy
Washington in 1943 declared that "...the Government of the United States has borne in mind the fact that the Chinese Government has long claimed suzerainty over Tibet...This Government has at no time raised a question regarding ...these claims." In line with the policy of its Nationalist llies (Guomindang), the U.S. later officially recognized Chinese sovereignty over Tibet. This position remains U.S. policy today, and it is also the policy of China and Taiwan.
Not until the cold war did Tibet become of interest to the U.S. government, which initiated secret talks with Tibetan dissidents in 1950 on the premise that Tibetans were fighting communism not Chinese rule. Washington promised covert aid to Tibetan dissidents if the Dalai Lama would leave China and publicly denounce Beijing. At that time, the Dalai Lama refused to leave Tibet. The CIA threw its covert support to a burgeoning guerrilla movement.
In 1959 the Dalai Lama fled Tibet, and he immediately began receiving an annual U. S. stipend of $180,000 for himself and another $1, 550,000 for his cause (which presumably ended in 1971).
In the late 1980s the Dalai Lama's Tibet Lobby found a receptive hearing with the U. S. Congress, whose members were angry at China over nuclear proliferation, trade imbalances, prison labor, and human rights. Hearings were held, amendments added to bills condemning "human rights violations" in Tibet and calling it an "occupied country." In September 1987, when the Dalai Lama was in the U.S. promoting the Tibet Lobby, the first demonstrations in three decades broke out in Lhasa. Continuing for several weeks, the protests were met with harsh police repression. Undoubtedly expressions of U. S. "support" helped spur on the demonstrators, as Tibetans wrongly interpreted congressional testimony and nonbinding congressional resolutions as evidence of a changing U.S. policy. But official U.S. policy remains unaltered. After 1971 U.S. interest in Tibet had waned as relations with China warmed. Mounting pressure from the Tibet Lobby in the 1980s, however, complicated the policy environment.
In keeping with its principles of its early alliance with the Nationalists/Taiwan and with the principles of its relations with Beijing, Washington had never recognized Tibetan independence (nor the Dalai Lama's "government-in-exile" despite its covert support). But the vociferous U.S. opposition to communist China combined with the rising popularity of the Dalai Lama's cause pressured the White House to open some space in its public diplomacy for the Tibetan issue, resulting in yet another irritant in Sino-U.S relations. Washington's failure to articulate a consistent and definitive policy has displeased all sides: anti-China politicians, the Tibet Lobby, and the Chinese. Moreover, Washington's ambivalence and equivocations have proved harmful to Tibetans living in Tibet.
During the 1980s, CCP moderates paved the way for increased usage of the Tibetan language, the rebuilding of religious buildings (with more in some regions now than before 1951), and encouragement of Tibetan culture.
Officials in power were willing to solidify these policies with the Tibetan pontiff. However, their inability to consummate a deal with the Tibetan religious leadership, the continuing popular protests, and the escalating China-bashing in the U.S. strengthened the power of the CCP hardliners.
U.S. public diplomacy skirts the independence issue, focusing on criticism of human rights abuses. Yet recent concessions and overtures to the Tibet Lobby are seen as evidence by CCP hardline factions that Washington's ultimate goal is to fracture China. Such initiatives as the establishment of Radio Free Asia (RFA), the 1998 appointment of a Special Coordinator for Tibet (a State Department employee who works part-time on Tibet and whom China will never allow into Tibet or to play any role in Chinese-Tibetan affairs), and invitations to the Dalai Lama to the White House have served to strengthen the anti-Dalai Lama, anti-U. S. positions of the hardline CCP faction.
This faction has fostered increased repression in Tibet, outlawed pictures of the Dalai Lama, encouraged increased ethnic Chinese migration into Tibet, tightened security in monasteries, obstructed religious practices, and forced monks and Tibetan officials to undergo "patriotic" retraining.
As a result, there has been rising animosity toward Chinese rule and increased expressions of Tibetan nationalism--including some terrorism such as bombs in Lhasa. Indeed, these anti-Tibetan policies precipitated the flight of the 17th Karmapa, a 14-year old boy who had previously expressed loyalty to the Chinese state.
Restrictions on Tibetan culture, especially religion, also led to the 1964 denunciation of Chinese rule by the Panchen Lama and his subsequent 14-year detention. Once more, repressive practices, which have been fueled in part by ill-considered U.S. practices, alienated a prominent cleric. In the offing, there remains the possibility that the CCP moderates can use this unfortunate development to illustrate the bankruptcy of the hardline approach.
Toward A New Tibet Policy
The departure of the Karmapa Lama should spur Washington to reevaluate the failures of its ambiguous policy approach. It is time--after a long history of CIA betrayal, congressional grandstanding, and White House pandering to China bashers--for the U.S. to implement policies that truly help the people inside Tibet.
Sadly the spiraling success of the international campaign for Tibet has led to a proportional deterioration of the cultural conditions for the people in the TAR through its bolstering of the authority of the hard-liners.
Moreover, support from outside Tibet (especially Tibetan RFA broadcasts) persuades some Tibetans that the U.S. supports their cause and encourages them to continue their brave but futile struggles against Chinese rule.
Time is short. The Dalai Lama is 65; his death would rob Tibetans of the only person with sufficient authority to negotiate a deal with Beijing. In the absence of a negotiated solution, current Chinese policies are allowing a mass migration of sojourners into the TAR to the point where they may already outnumber the indigenous population in the urban areas where they congregate. The Dalai Lama, like his predecessor, is willing, as he declared in April 1999, to "use my moral authority with the Tibetan people so they renounce their separatist ambitions"... autonomy would be the "best guarantee that Tibet's culture will be preserved."
China, including the TAR, has undergone dramatic changes. Tibet has roads, schools, hospitals, a burgeoning middle class, Internet cafes, karaoke bars, discos, and some 100,000 tourists a year. Religion is widely practiced. There are thousands of Tibetan officials, CCP members, and military recruits in Tibet. Indeed, many of the most ardently anti-Dalai Lama officials are Tibetan. To be sure restrictions on religious practice continue and institutional religion has eroded badly, the average income and literacy rate are the lowest in China and animosity between ethnic groups is growing. There are as many as a thousand political prisoners, mostly clergy who peacefully demonstrated against Chinese rule. Clearly, the political conjuncture in Tibet is far more complex than the Tibet Lobby (and Chinese propaganda) portrays.
While condemning human rights abuses, the U.S. must also acknowledge the significant gains in personal freedoms for the vast majority of China's citizens. The Dalai Lama's public pronouncements have become more conciliatory recently; an indication he is reaching out to moderate officials who, while apparently not directing policy on Tibet, are still in the government. The U.S. must do the same: support the moderate elements in the Chinese government by portraying Tibet in a more realistic fashion, by inviting Tibetan officials in Lhasa to Washington, and by not pandering to the Tibet Lobby.
The events of the past decade have demonstrated that public diplomacy, international hoopla, and the involvement of the world's governments, especially the United States, have worsened conditions for the Tibetans in Tibet. More realistic policies can help bring about a peaceful resolution of the Tibet issue which is in the interests, and to the benefit, of both Tibetans and Chinese and, ultimately, the rest of the world.
(A. Tom Grunfeld is Professor of History at SUNY/Empire State College. He is the author of The Making of Modern Tibet (Armonk, NY: M. E. Sharpe Inc., 1996).)
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NGO Statements Criticise China At UN Commission On Human Rights
Tibet Bureau ~ March 29
The 56th UN Commission on Human Rights is now debating one of the most important items of its agenda, "The question of human rights and fundamental freedoms." This is the item under which resolutions tabled on country situation will come for vote on 18 April.
A large number of NGOs strongly criticised China for its human rights failures in China,Tibet and Eastern Turkestan. More NGO statements are expected to be delivered before the Commission concludes its debate on this topic. Earlier during the day a number of government statements also expressed concern on the human rights situation in China. We will publish the references on China and Tibet from these statements in the next update.
Tomorrow, the 30 March, will see a lot of Tibet events both inside and outside the United Nations in Geneva. At 10.00 hours Mr. Richard Gere, Chairman of International Campaign for Tibet and Mr. Lodi G. Gyari, Special Envoy of H. H. the Dalai Lama will appear at "Power Breakfast" meeting with journalists accredited at the UN office in Geneva.
Around the same time, a Tibetan Vigil will be held outside the UN building as organised by the Tibetan Community in Switzerland and Tibetan organisation in the country. The Vigil will conclude at 17.00 hours. A small vigil is also expected to be held at the Permanent Mission of the European Union.
Between 13.00 -15.00 hours, a panel discussion on the topic, "Human Rights and Dialogue for Tibet" will be held inside the UN as organised by Worldview International Foundat