DP Tool Club 15/CD_ASCQ_15_070894.iso/vrac/wtn_0594.zip/WTN-0508.NWS

Text File | 1994-06-06 | 14KB | 283 lines

------------------------   World Tibet Network News   ----------------------
   Published by:     The Canada-Tibet Committee
   Editorial Board:  Brian Given <[e-mail]>
                     Nima Dorjee <[e-mail]>
                     Conrad Richter <[e-mail]>
                     Tseten Samdup <[e-mail]>
   Submissions and subscriptions to:
                     [e-mail]
                     or fax to: [phone]  (U.K.)
   Send us your comments, announcements, news or items for discussion.
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Issue ID: 94/05/08 21:15 GMT                      Compiled by Conrad Richter

Contents
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1. New Law Establishes Important Tibet Programs
2. The Story of Two Lobbies
3. China Has Repeated Warnings About Adverse Consequences if MFN Denied
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1. New Law Establishes Important Tibet Programs
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From: Kelsang Aukatsang, International Campaign for Tibet <[e-mail]>

WASHINGTON, May 5, ICT -- On Saturday, April 30, 1994 President
Clinton signed into law the 1994-1995 Foreign Relations
Authorization Act, commonly known as the State Department
authorization bill.  This bi-annual bill contains several
historic provisions on Tibet which call for extended relations
with the Tibetan Government in exile and establish programs
designed to benefit Tibetans inside Tibet.

The Chinese government has lodged a very strong protest against
the Tibet provisions in this bill, stating that "it is an open
infringement of China's sovereignty and an attempt to split
China."  When he signed the bill, President Clinton issued a
statement of reservation on the Tibet provision, expressing
sympathy for the goals of the bill, but concern that it interferes
with "the president's constitutional prerogatives."

Below is a brief analysis of each provision.  For more information
about this legislation, please contact Rachel Lostumbo at (202)
628-4123.

Relations with Dharamsala There are several provisions in the bill
which build on the 1992-93 Foreign Relations Authorization Act
which declared Tibet to be an occupied country whose true
representatives are the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan Government in
exile.

One provision requires the State Department to issue an annual
report "on the state of relations between the United States and
those recognized by Congress as the true representatives of the
Tibetan people; the Dalai Lama, his representatives, and the
Tibetan Government in exile, and on conditions in Tibet."

Another provision expresses the sense of the Congress that
"whenever a report is transmitted to the Congress on a
country-by-country basis there should be included in the such
report ... a separate report on Tibet listed alphabetically with
its own state heading."

These two provisions send a strong message to the Administration,
the Chinese Government, and the Tibetan people that the Congress
is committed to its position that Tibet is an occupied country and
should be treated as such.  While the Congress cannot mandate that
the Administration recognize a foreign government, it can exert
its influence by demanding reports such as those included in this
provision and passing resolutions that publicize the Congress'
position on such matters.

United States Information Agency There are several provisions in
the bill which call for expanded programs for Tibetans through the
United States Information Agency (USIA).

One such provision directs USIA "to seek to establish an office in
Lhasa, Tibet for the purpose of-- 1) disseminating information
about the United States; 2) promoting discussions on conflict
resolution and human rights; 3) facilitating United States private
sector involvement in educational and cultural activities in
Tibet; and 4) advising the United States Government with respect
to Tibetan public opinion."

If established, this office would create a permanent U.S. presence
in Lhasa and could be a source of information for Tibetans about
events in the outside world.  It would also allow the U.S. to
gather first-hand information about current events in Tibet.  In
the bill the Congress explains that a "U.S. presence in Lhasa and
other Tibetan areas is an important policy priority, for it
permits more accurate understanding of the situation in Tibet and
facilitates Tibetans' exposure to information about the United
States and participation in USIA activities".

Another USIA provision calls for new "programs of educational and
cultural exchange between the United States and the people of
Tibet..."  This provision allows for USIA programs to be
established for Tibetans inside Tibet, even if the Chinese do not
allow the USIA office to open in Lhasa.  Such programs would be
"for persons of Tibetan heritage and not for Chinese immigrants or
temporary Chinese workers in Tibet," and would be designed in
consultation with the International Campaign for Tibet and the
Tibet fund.  This provision also allows expansion of the USIA
programs already established for Tibetans in exile (the USIA
currently provides Fulbright scholarships for Tibetans refugees)
and requests the USIA to establish a presence in Dharamsala to
consult with the Tibetan leadership on all USIA programs
concerning Tibet.

These two USIA provisions illustrate the Congress' concern for the
welfare of the Tibetan people inside Tibet and those in exile, as
well as its desire to help give invaluable educational and
cultural experience to the Tibetan people.  It also helps
strengthen ties between the U.S. and the Tibetan Government in
exile.

Radio Free Asia The bill orders a complete restructuring of
international broadcasting by the United States.  It consolidates
Voice of America and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty under a
single Broadcasting Board of Governors, and establishes a new
Radio Free Asia.  As a result, all U.S. government broadcasting
will now fall under the jurisdiction of USIA.

The provision establishing Radio Free Asia designates broadcasting
to the following countries "The People's Republic of China, Burma,
Cambodia, Laos, North Korea, Tibet, and Vietnam."  Radio Free Asia
will provide local and relevant news to these countries and will
be an invaluable forum for peoples in Asia to learn about
democracy movements in neighboring countries.

The specifics over when and how this broadcast are still to be
worked out.  First the new Broadcasting Board of Governors must
submit a plan for how such a Radio Free Asia would operate,
including technical requirements, and then money must be
appropriated for the broadcasts.  This process could take several
months.

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2. The Story of Two Lobbies
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Forwarded by: Dan Hodel, Tibetan Rights Campaign <[e-mail]>
By A.M. Rosenthal

NEW YORK, May 6, New York Times -- The struggle in Washington on
whether the United States should continue to allow Communist China
low-tariff privilege involves a skein of American interests --
political, economic, strategic and moral.
    But at its center are some simple realities that confront
President Clinton, and every American who has hopes for him, as he
nears the decision he has to make before June 3.
    1. On May 28, 1993, Clinton signed an order committing him to
    remove those privileges unless by June 3, 1994, China had made
''significant progress'' toward human rights in China and occupied
Tibet.
    Congress was about to pass again a bill writing that either-or
plan into law -- a bill once vetoed by President Bush. Clinton
persuaded Congress to let him do the job himself, by executive
order.
    2. In the year since, repression by police and army power in
China and Tibet has remained unalleviated.
    Its instruments, used day in, day out as consistently as ever,
are prison torture, religious persecution, arrest of political
dissidents, forced confessions, arbitrary detention and the
enforcement of the official bastions of economic growth: cheap
labor, prison labor, slave labor and prohibition of labor unions.
    To all this, despite a few carefully timed prisoner releases,
the State Department's own reports bear witness.
    3. Now Clinton is under pressure by American companies trading
    with China to decide that somehow Number 2 fulfills the
promises he made to the American and Chinese people in Number 1.
    Naturally, not a soul in Congress, the administration or
business believes for a moment that China has improved its human
rights record.
    The China lobby wants to dump the promises of last year
altogether or slide around them by accepting as progress more
Beijing statements of intent like the ones they have already
broken.
    4. The China lobby in and out of government sells economic
    fear. It says the debate is about America ''pulling out'' of
China economically. Nobody has suggested that. The lobby and its
servants lie.
    The China lobby heavily breathes warning that China itself
will cut off trade with the United States. The Communists are not
suicides.
    China exports to the U.S. $25 billion more than it buys from
America. The exports to the United States are 38 percent of
China's world total. Without American customers, China's growing
trade deficit could bring the economy down.  Who should be worried
about whom?
    5. The majority of Americans are against low American tariffs
    to China because they strengthen the wardens of the gulag.
These Americans are not without voice or courage.
    Most of Congress is behind them. So is the energetic human
rights lobby -- Asia Watch, the U.S. Conference of Catholic
Bishops, the AFL-CIO, the International Campaign for Tibet,
Amnesty International. They count.
    6. But the China lobby has the money. The Clinton
    administration is sending out so many mixed signals, and so
many are craven, that Washington is convinced Clinton is caving
fast.
    The meaning of Clinton's 1993 order was clear: No human rights
progress, no tariff privileges. A year later, nobody of knowledge
in Washington seems to believe other than that Clinton will sidle
away from that.
    The struggle now is about what is left. Should the human
rights policy just be dumped as a lost cause? Or can Clinton save
his name with a few more promises of intent from Beijing?
    How about a China-U.S. commission to improve human rights? Or
a human rights code, not for the Communists but for American
businesses in China?
    If nobody can keep a straight face about those, how about
ending the low tariffs only for goods produced by the state and
the army? Maybe the Chinese will attach neat labels, for the
convenience of U.S. customs?
    The human rights people would rather have some compromise than
nothing, so that they can fight another day. Most are too strong
in soul to just vomit and walk away.
    By nature, many daily newspapermen are optimistic. How could
they otherwise keep confronting the keyboard?
    All right: Honorable people in government still struggle for
Clinton's mind and honor. So it's best to keep calling around,
until the president makes his decision about the Executive Order
of May 1993, now that it is May 1994.

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3. China Has Repeated Warnings About Adverse Consequences if MFN Denied
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Forwarded by: Bebra Guzman, Human Rights Network <[e-mail]>
By David Dyar

BEiJING, May 5, Voice of America --
INTRO:  CHINA HAS REPEATED WARNINGS ABOUT ADVERSE
CONSEQUENCES IF THE UNITED STATES RAISES TARIFFS ON CHINESE
EXPORTS TO PROTEST CHINA'S HUMAN RIGHTS RECORD.  V-O-A
CORRESPONDENT DAVID DYAR REPORTS FROM BEIJING.

TEXT:  CHINA'S FOREIGN MINISTRY SPOKESMAN REPEATED WARNINGS
OF HARMFUL EFFECTS FOR THE UNITED STATES IF IT RAISES THE
TARIFFS.

THE TARIFFS WOULD BE INCREASED IF PRESIDENT CLINTON DECIDES
NOT TO RENEW CHINA'S MOST FAVORED NATION TRADING STATUS NEXT
MONTH. PRESIDENT CLINTON HAS LINKED RENEWAL OF THE TRADE
PRIVILEGES TO AN IMPROVEMENT OF HUMAN RIGHTS IN CHINA.

CHINESE OFFICIALS HAVE PLEDGED TO RETALIATE IN KIND TO ANY
AMERICAN RESTRICTIONS PLACED ON CHINA'S TRADE WITH THE
UNITED STATES WHICH ARE LINKED TO THE HUMAN RIGHTS ISSUE.

DESPITE THE WARNING, THE SPOKESMAN HAD PRAISE FOR PRESIDENT
CLINTON FOR REMARKS HE MADE TUESDAY IN THE SOUTHERN AMERICAN
CITY OF ATLANTA.

MR. CLINTON SAYS HE IS SEEKING A BALANCED WAY TO RESTORE
GOOD RELATIONS WITH CHINA.  HE SAYS HE DOES  NOT  WISH TO
SEE A WITHDRAWAL OF THE TRADING PRIVILEGES.  BUT HE SAYS
THERE IS STILL A WAY TO GO BEFORE THE HUMAN RIGHTS ISSUE CAN
BE RESOLVED.

THIS WEEK, WESTERN HUMAN RIGHTS GROUPS RENEWED CRITICISMS OF
CONDITIONS IN CHINA.  THE AMERICAN GROUP HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH
- ASIA SAYS HUMAN RIGHTS IN CHINA HAVE DETERIORATED OVER THE
PAST YEAR.  A SECOND GROUP, AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL,
CRITICIZED CHINA FOR THE LARGE NUMBER OF DEATH SENTENCES
CARRIED OUT LAST YEAR, MANY OF THEM FOR NON-VIOLENT CRIMES.

THE CHINESE SPOKESMAN THURSDAY CRITICIZED LEGISLATION PASSED
BY THE U-S CONGRESS CONTAINING LANGUAGE REFERRING TO TIBET
AS A SOVEREIGN NATION.  HE SAID THE ACTION WAS SHOCKING.

A U-S EMBASSY SPOKESMAN SAYS THE UNITED STATES CONSIDERS
TIBET A PART OF CHINA.

THE CHINESE SPOKESMAN SAYS CHINA WILL  NOT  AGREE TO CALLS
BY THE U-S CONGRESS FOR THE UNITED STATES TO SET UP AN
INFORMATION OFFICE IN TIBET.  (SIGNED)

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 * Origin: BODY DHARMA * Moderator, TIBET_NEWS - DharmaNet (96:101/33)