Monster Media 1994 #2/Monster Media No. 2 (Monster Media)(1994).ISO/magazine/wtn_0594.zip/WTN-0520.NWS

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------------------------   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.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Issue ID: 94/05/20 17:00 GMT      Compiled by Conrad Richter

Contents
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. Russia Cool on Dalai Lama Appeal
2. Interrogations at Drapchi Prison; Tibetan Prisoner under Solitary
   Confinement
3. Dalai Lama Using Non-Violence against Powerful Regime
4. Tibetan Torture Victims Protest Consumer Goods Exported by Chinese Military
5. Tibetan Appointed to Council on Asian-Pacific Minnesotans
6. Kalu Rinpoche II - Boy or Living Buddha?
7. In U.S. Demands, China Sees Risk to its Stability; Beijing Says It Can
   Meet Some Conditions Set by Clinton on Keeping Tariffs Low
8. China: Trade and Tradeoffs
9. Letter: Kusum Lingpa Rinpoche Whereabouts
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1. Russia Cool on Dalai Lama Appeal
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
By William Barclay, Lena Afanasyeva and Jeff Berliner
   MOSCOW, May 19, UPI -- The dalai lama Thursday called on Moscow to pressure
Beijing into reopening negotiations on the future sovereignty of the Chinese
province of Tibet, saying that Russia was morally obliged to support the
Tibetan people.
   "I think (Russia) has a moral obligation to (play a role )," the spiritual
leader of Tibet's Buddhists told a news coference. "Russia is a great nation
and we have a tradition of contacts, for example, through the Buddhist
communities here."
   "I am calling on the international community to bring China to the
negotiating table," the dalai lama added.
   However, his appeal seems destined to fall on deaf ears as Russia's Foreign
Ministry made efforts Thursday to distance itself from the Buddhist leader,
whose conflict with Beijing makes him a political hot potato for the Kremlin.
   "We have no affairs with the dalai lama because we believe Tibet to be an
integral part of China and we treasure our relations with China," an unamed
Foreign Ministry official told Itar-Tass news agency.
   His remarks are intended primarily to quash any potential emabarrassment
between Moscow and Beijing before Russian Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin
flies to China next week for three days of political and economic talks.
   Russia's lawmakers defied a Foreign Ministry warning Thursday and gave the
dalai lama an audience.
   Members of the State Duma ignored a written request to the foreign affairs
committee from First Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Panov cautiomning
lawmakers to refrain from meeting the dalai lama.
   Parliament joined the Russian Academy of Sciences in inviting the exiled
Tibetan spiritual leader to Moscow.
   However, Vladimir Lukin, chairman of the Duma's International Affairs
Committee, refused to meet him, saying, "Why should we spoil relations with
China because of him?"
   State Duma speaker Ivan Rybkin echoed Lukin's tone when he told reporters
that "Sino-Russian cooperation is ready to be expanded," adding that the
relative success of the Chinese reform program was a lesson for Russia.
   Following his talks with lawmakers, the dalai lama said, "Russia could draw
many pieces of advice on practical economy from China. At the same time,
Russia could advise China on liberalization."
   The exiled Buddhist leader said he would have liked to meet with President
Boris Yeltsin but added that he wanted "to avoid creating any inconvenience to
leaders or government officials."
   Beijing has frowned on any official government meetings with Nobel peace
prize winner, who has tirelessly campaigned for human rights for Tibetans
under Chinese rule.
   But the dalai lama stressed Thursday that he supported non-violent tactics
in trying to change the situation in Tibet, which was forcibly made into a
Chinese province where Buddhist practices and civil rights are restricted.

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2. Interrogations at Drapchi Prison; Tibetan Prisoner under Solitary
   Confinement
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Human Rights Desk, Department of Information and International
      Relations, Central Tibetan Administration, Dharamsala
Forwarded by: Tibet News Service <[e-mail]>

DHARAMSALA, May 19, DIIR -- According to reports received by the Tibetan
Government in Exile from Lhasa, the Tibetan capital, the Chinese authorities
have intensified command at Drapchi prison.  In an indication that political
prisoners are suffering further intimidation, interrogation, torture and other
forms of ill-treatment, Phuntsok Gyaltsen, a.k.a. Lobsang Yeshi has reportedly
been thrown into solitary confinement cell.  The report which states that the
new tightening of prison administration at Drapchi began in early April, was
however, not able to ascertain the circumstances under which Phuntsok Gyaltsen
has been singled out for further punishment.

According to a 28 February, 1989 official record of the so-called "Tibet
Autonomous Region Higher People's Court," Phuntsok Gyaltsen, now aged 33, was
sentenced to 12 years of imprisonment on 19 January, 1989 for allegedly
"inciting counter-revolutionary propaganda."  On that day, he was sentenced
alongwith six other colleagues from his monastery, Gaden, including 51 year-
old Tenpa Wangdrak, a.k.a. Sonam.

Though unconfirmed, the report may have some connection with recent
independent reports that political prisoners at Drapchi were likely to be
transferred to a prison at Chengdu, the capital of Sichaun province in China.
On the other hand, another spell of crackdown and intimidation at Drapchi
prison which has happened before also, could mean that the Chinese authorities
were gathering "confessions" for any leakages about the prison condition to
the outside world.

Since 1987, political prisoners in the so-called "Tibet Autonomous Region"
have been given severe and unwarranted punishment for allegedly disobeying
prison rules which included the execution of two Tibetan youths, Dawa and
Migmar Tashi on 17 May 1990; transfer to harsher prison conditions as in the
1991 case of Lhasa university student Lobsang Tenzin and four others prisoners
after a prison protest; severe torture and solitary confinement of Tanag
Jigme Sangpo for raising slogans during a December 1991 Drapchi visit of a
Swiss delegation and several instances of prison term extension as in the 1993
case of 14 detained nuns of Gari nunnery.

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3. Dalai Lama Using Non-Violence against Powerful Regime
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Forwarded by: Dan Hodel, Tibetan Rights Campaign <[e-mail]>
By JOHN-THOR DAHLBURG

DHARAMSALA, May 15, Los Angeles Times -- On the veranda of his
audience hall, in the shadow of the saw-toothed Outer Himalayas,
Tibet's ''god-king,'' who lost his kingdom when the Chinese invaded,
walks briskly forth to greet his people. More than a hundred
visiting Tibetans crowd under the corrugated roof. At the
appearance of the Dalai Lama, they bow low, many so in awe they
dare not look him in the face. For them, the owl-eyed, bespectacled
Buddhist monk with a passion for flowers and mending watches is
their nation incarnate.
The Dalai Lama fled into India in 1959, following a failed
revolt.  Ironically, this apostle of non-violence escaped the
Chinese by grabbing a soldier's coat and rifle to disguise his
identity.
Now 58, the spiritual head of Tibetans lives with his
exile government in Dharamsala, in India's Himachal Pradesh state.
Five years ago, he won the Nobel Peace Prize. He does not hide his
regret that his commitment to using peaceful and democratic means
to restore Tibet's freedom has not brought Beijing to the
bargaining table -- despite Deng Xiaoping's assurances, in 1979,
that any option short of independence would be considered. China
has not even been enticed by the high lama's 1988 proposal that
Tibet be a self-governing entity within China, with the Chinese in
charge of foreign policy and defense.
Born Lhamo Dhondrub to a peasant woman with 16 children,
the Dalai Lama was recognized at age 2 as the reincarnation of his
predecessor, the 13th Dalai Lama, and thus an incarnation of
Avalokitesvara, the Buddhist Bodhisattva of Compassion. Since
1642, Tibet had been ruled by the Dalai Lama, whose title can be
translated as ''ocean of wisdom.''
Wearing Burgundy socks that match his sleeveless monk's
robe, the Dalai Lama spoke with a reporter for nearly an hour in a
long, cool room off the porch where he receives delegations.

Question: Last March, in your address marking the 35th
anniversary of the Tibetan uprising, you noted with dismay that
your offers to talk have failed to elicit any positive reaction
from the Chinese. Has your approach been an error?
Answer: I don't consider it a mistake. No. One of the main
purposes of my proposal is to start meaningful negotiations with
the Chinese government or to bring China to the negotiating table.
That so far has failed. Another objective is to reduce Chinese
population transfer into Tibet. That also failed.
However, for the past 14 years, my approach has raised
more interest on the international level and made it easier for
foreign governments to support the Tibet issue. And then, in the
eyes of ordinary Chinese people -- I mean here intellectuals and
students -- in their eyes, my approach is very reasonable and
suitable.
Q: Speaking of choices, the United States has to decide
about China's most-favored-nation status by June 3. As you know,
last year President Bill Clinton made this renewal conditional on
Beijing achieving progress in certain human-rights categories,
including safeguarding of Tibet's culture and religion. Do you
think the United States should continue MFN for China?
A: The decision taken by the president last year was
perfect. This year, I have no particular suggestion.
However, I do feel it is very important to take a decision
according to the wishes of the Chinese -- those Chinese who are
really carrying out the struggle for democracy and freedom.
Q: So Chinese advocates for democracy should decide an
issue that also concerns your homeland?
A: I feel the Tibet issue is very much linked with the
overall Chinese policy or situation. So long as the
hard-line or authoritarian system remains there (in Beijing),
frankly speaking, there is not much chance for change.
Q: It has been five years since the suppression of China's
''democracy spring.'' Reports from China now say apathy and the
desire to grow rich seem to be replacing political consciousness.
Who are you pinning your hopes on?
A: Usually I make three categories among the Chinese. The
top category is the leadership and the Communist Party.
Their main concern is keeping power in their hands.
The second group I consider the most important. That is
the intellectuals and the thinkers and the students. These people
in the last several years have really carried out a life-and-death
struggle for democracy and freedom. This group is the force which
ultimately will bring democracy in China. No one else. No
outsider, not the United States, nobody, can bring democracy to
China, except these people.
Then third, the Chinese masses. Their main concern is
their daily livelihood. They may not be so concerned about
democracy, but democracy is not much relevant in their day-to-day
life.
I think the entire future of China, and, I think,
particularly this region of the planet, is very much linked to
(the second group's) spirit and their work. So if their spirit
diminishes, that is a disaster.
Q: What of the argument that imposing economic sanctions
on China is counterproductive because more two-way trade will
foster greater democracy?
A: More economic prosperity ultimately affects political
liberalization. That is logical. But in the meantime, there is a
risk that the people in the second category get the impression
that the outside world doesn't care about their struggle, that the
outside world is content with the authoritarian regime in China.
The outside world is very much concerned about Russian
authoritarianism, but Chinese authoritarianism seems to be OK. If
that kind of impression develops among the Chinese democratic
movement, I think it will be very, very harmful. If they feel more
pressure in the economic field is more useful, more effective, in
order to bring democracy in China and isolate these communist
leaders in the public eye, then (the approach) should be tougher.
Once their spirit gets stronger, the democratic movement
becomes stronger and political leaders will be compelled to carry
out more liberalization. Liberalize China more, and I am 100
percent sure we can have a true discussion and find a proper
solution to the Tibetan problem. There's no doubt. After all, I am
not insisting on complete separation from China.
Q: And what of your critics who say you aren't hard-line
enough?
A: Quite often they say, ''The Chinese know only force.''
It's not a generational matter. There are many, many elder
Tibetans who think violence is the ultimate answer, too.
Sometimes, perhaps, I think among the younger generation, there is
more attraction toward Yasser Arafat or the moujahedeen in
Afghanistan. They often tell me, ''Oh, look at them. Through
violence, there is more publicity, more support from the outside
world.''
Q: And your reply?
A: My fundamental belief is that human nature lies in
gentleness. Human nature is compassionate, is
affectionate. Therefore, using violence is against human nature.
... Tibetans and Chinese have to live side by side in the
future. In
the past, we lived like that. So in order to live in a friendly,
peaceful and neighborly way, while we are carrying out this
freedom struggle, we must pursue nonviolence, so that our struggle
will not affect our long, long friendship.
Q: You mentioned the influx of Chinese. Is it continuing?
A: ... A few years ago, according to our calculations, the
Tibetan population (of Lhasa) was about 50,000, and the
Chinese population around 100,000. Now, the mayor has stated the
total population at 400,000. The Tibetan population is 100,000,
maximum.
Q: With this huge population disparity, can Tibetans
survive as a distinct nation?
A: Time is running out. In fact, I think the Chinese
leaders are thinking exactly on these lines. To the
outside world, they have stated they are open to dialogue with the
Dalai Lama. But whenever we approach them, there's no response.
The latest policy is to completely suppress (the
Tibetans), and in the meantime, to increase the Chinese
population, so that in a few years time, the Tibetans become
insignificant in their own land. Some of my friends call this the
''Final Solution'' of Tibet.
Q: So Tibet is doomed?
A: I do believe that the international situation is now
changing, and particularly, as I mentioned earlier, that
there are democratic forces in China proper. So actually the
present Chinese government, the authoritarian regime, is in a
state of transition. So I'm quite hopeful.
Q: You are somewhat of an expert on reincarnation. The
Chinese leadership is of a certain age. On July 6 you turn 59. How
do you see the future?
A: In the Chinese case, it's very difficult to predict.
Even the Chinese themselves do not know what will happen.
So I think they are very, very anxious about what will come after
Deng Xiaoping.
In the Tibetan case, I don't know. While I'm alive, I'll
do my best.  After my death, then other people, the new
generation, will manage.
Q: So there will be no 15th Dalai Lama? What's to stop
Beijing or Tibetan communists from announcing that you have been
reincarnated as a member of the Chinese Communist Party?
A: If something happened today to me or my life were to
cease, if the Tibetan people want another reincarnation or
want another Dalai Lama, then certainly my reincarnation, my
rebirth will take place among Tibetans. And not among Chinese!
Because the real purpose of reincarnation is continuing the
previous life's work.
That means while we are outside (Tibet), if I pass away,
then certainly if the Tibetan people want another reincarnation,
they will find it among Tibetans, and not in Chinese hands.
But if death takes place at the time when we have already
returned to Tibet, and there is some kind of freedom
there, I have officially stated that the Tibetan people should
decide whether the institution of the Dalai Lama should continue
or not. If people feel there's not much relevant about this
institution, then it will automatically cease. That's no problem.

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4. Tibetan Torture Victims Protest Consumer Goods Exported by Chinese Military
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Kelsang Aukatsang, International Campaign for Tibet <[e-mail]>

WASHINGTON, May 12, ICT -- A group of Tibetans, Chinese and
Americans picketed a K-Mart store here today, protesting
K-Mart's sale of goods made by the Chinese army.  Among
the protesters was Tsering Dolma, a 24-year old former nun
who herself had been tortured, and raped by Chinese
soldiers stationed in Tibet.  Bearing signs which read "No
M.F.N. for the P.L.A." and "K-Mart: Stop Buying from
China's Army," protesters urged shoppers not to buy any
goods made in China until K-Mart removes Chinese military
goods from its shelves.  Earlier today, Tsering Dolma was
featured at a press conference held by Amnesty
International.  At the press conference, Tsering Dolma
showed torture implements like the ones which had been
used on her that a Tibetan monk had smuggled out of Tibet.
The monk, Palden Gyatso, endured 24 years in prison and
countless forms of torture before fleeing to India with
the implements of his torture that he bought and bribed
from officials.  Now these torture implements are touring
the U.S., graphically showing what American consumers are
subsidizing when the buy goods made by the Chinese
military.  Tibetans who have been tortured and Tibet
activists will be displaying the torture implements at
press conferences and protests in over 12 American cities
between May 13 and June 4.  Press Conferences and protests
will be held in front of K-Mart and Home Depot stores to
demand these stores remove products from its shelves that
are made by the Chinese military.  Unbeknownst to most
consumers, the Chinese military owns factories and exports
goods to the United States, where they are sold at K-Mart,
Home Depot and other stores.  Palden Gyatso, and other
Tibetans now living in the U.S., say that Americans,
buying these Chinese goods, are unwittingly subsidizing
the military that imprisoned and tortured them.  These
goods sold by K-Mart, including rifles, rifle scopes,
alarm clocks and furniture,, receive the low tariffs rates
under Most Favored Nation status which China currently
enjoys.  Tibetan activists say that these goods should not
receive the benefit of low tariffs.  President Clinton
must decide by June 3rd whether to extend or revoke
China's MFN.  Many Tibetan, Chinese and labor groups say
that MFN should at least be partially revoked to prohibit
the Chinese military from directly benefiting from low
tariffs granted under MFN.  "Allowing the Chinese
government and the Chinese military to market goods in
America while they are imposing a military occupation in
our land is outrageous," said Lodi Gyari, president of the
International Campaign for Tibet, a Washington, D.C.-based
advocacy and monitoring organization.  Tibet has been
under military occupation since 1959, when the Chinese
military bloodily suppressed a pro-independence revolt by
Tibetans.  Military-owned businesses that operate at the
local, regional, national and international level are
believed to provide substantial revenue for the armed
forces, including the forces which maintain the costly
occupation of Tibet.  The Chinese military is particularly
pervasive in Tibet, where its power is virtually
unchecked. Abuses by the military against local Tibetans
are frequent, according to Tibetans.  Tsultrim Dolma, a
former nun now living in Salt Lake City, recounts one
incident in 1988 after she had been expelled from her
nunnery and was walking past a Chinese army compound.
Three Chinese soldiers grabbed her, tied a shirt around
her face and stuffed a shirt sleeve in her mouth to quiet
her screaming, and raped her.  Two months later, she
decided to flee to India.  In 1992, she emigrated to the
United States.  The electric cattle prods, self-tightening
hand-cuffs and thumb-cuffs brought out by Gyatso are
commonly used on Tibetan political prisoners.  Both Palden
Gyatso and Tsultrim Dolma were often tortured with several
different kinds of electric cattle prods.  In 1990, prison
guards used the electric baton in Gyatso's mouth.  Gyatso
said that he woke up in a puddle of vomit and urine, and
had lost many teeth.  Tsultrim Dolma, Palden Gyatso and
other Tibet activists hope that, once local residents
learn about this issue, they will contact their members of
Congress, and K-Mart and other stores to voice their
opposition to selling goods that subsidize torture.

The torture implements will be exhibited in Washington,
D.C, New York, Chicago, St. Louis, Santa Fe, Tucson, Los
Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, Salt Lake City, Telluride
and Bloomington.  The tour is being coordinated by the
International Campaign for Tibet, a non-profit Washington,
D.C. based monitoring and advocacy center.  For more
information about dates, and local organizations hosting
events in each city, contact Kelsang Aukatsang at
202-628-4123.

A press packet is available to the media containing bios
and photos of Palden Gyatso and Tsultrim Dolma, a video,
photos of the torture implements and the K-Mart
demonstration, and background information on Chinese
military sales in America.


The following is the final list of host cities along with the
contact person(s)

TUSCON, AZ      May 20-21 Arizona
Friends of Tibet
Kathy Dyer Tel: [phone], Fax: same

SAN FRANCISCO, CA       May 22-24
International Committee for Lawyers for Tibet
Bay Area Friends of Tibet
John Maier Tel: [phone], Fax: [phone]

LOS ANGELES, CA May 24-26
Tibetan Cultural & Community Service Center of Southern California (TCCSC)
Gedun Phuntsog  Tel: [phone]
Robert Dhondrup Tel: [phone], Fax: [phone]

TELLERIDE, CO   May 26-29
Colorado Friends of Tibet
Jeff Long Tel: [phone], Fax: [phone]
Mark Ferrar Tel: [phone]

SALT LAKE CITY, UT      May 30-31
Pema Chazotsang Tel: [phone] (H), 801/364-1376(W), Fax: [phone]

NEW YORK CITY, NY       June 1
U.S. Tibet Commitee
Thubten Samphel Tel: [phone]
Heidi Melz Fax: [phone]

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5. Tibetan Appointed to Council on Asian-Pacific Minnesotans
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Mike Kestell <[e-mail]>

May 19, Minnesota Tibetan Community [Press release] -- The Minnesota Tibetan
Community is pleased to announce Governor Arne Carlson's appointment of Mr.
Karma G. Zurkhang as Representative of Tibet to the Council On Asian-Pacific
Minnesotans.  The Council meets quarterly to advise the Governor and
legislature on issues confronting Asian-Pacific people in the state and is
unique to Minnesota.  Mr. Zurkhang's honorary three year tenure is effective
11 May 1994.

Mr. Zurkhang has lived in Minnesota for two years.  He is currently a member
of the Assembly of Tibetan People's Deputies and returns to Dharamsala
annually for legislative sessions.  He works as copy editor for the Asian
American Press.  His wife and three children remain in India and are looking
forward to family reunification.

In accepting his position, Mr. Zurkhang stated " The challenges we face today
are enormous and whether we like it or not, we are collectively responsible
for these problems.  It would take all we could collectively do to accumulate
enough good Karma to overcome them.  Good Karma has to be the foundation of
all our activities ..."

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6. Kalu Rinpoche II - Boy or Living Buddha?
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
By Benjamin Kang Lim
     TAIPEI, May 20, Reuter -- Kalu Rinpoche II looks and behaves like any
other 3 1/2-year-old boy. He's curious, mischievous and has a sweet tooth.
     But to Tibetan Buddhists he is much more than that.
     They believe he is a "living Buddha," the reincarnation of Kalu Rinpoche
I, a holy lama who promoted the religion in the West.
     Rinpoche I, who died in exile in India in 1989 at the age of 84, is
known as a modern "Milarepa," one of the best known and greatest saints and
teachers of Tibetan Buddhism.
     "Outside he looks like an ordinary boy but inside is a holy lama of great
wisdom and compassion who has attained enlightenment. We believe that," the
boy's father, lama Gyaltsen, said in an interview.
     Rinpoche I did not leave instructions as to where his reincarnated soul
would reappear and a group of holy lamas found Rinpoche II through meditation,
Gyaltsen said.
     The boy was ordained a monk, designated by Tibet's spiritual leader the
Dalai Lama as the reincarnation of Rinpoche I and installed in February 1993,
the father said.
     "He was special but we didn't know he was Rinpoche until he was about 18
months old...this is a blessing," Gyaltsen said.
     Clad in saffron robes, the boy ran around playfully during a visit to a
centre founded by Rinpoche I on the seventh floor of an apartment building on
the outskirts of Taipei.
     He toyed with lit candle lamps and a "five colour flag," which is used to
bless believers.
     The boy watched curiously and reached out to touch the lens of a video
camera being set up by a Reuters Television cameraman.
     He grabbed a bite off a plate of sacrificial cherries on an altar and
screamed when he was taken back to his room. Sounds of laughter and crying
could be heard intermittently.
     The father declined to say what signs led them to believe the boy
embodied Rinpoche I's reincarnated soul. "There were signs but we would like
to keep it simple...it's not necessary to tell you," Gyaltsen said.
     Like most boys his age, Rinpoche II likes cake, candies, cookies and ice
cream. He is also fond of religious dances and toys.
     Five Tibetan lamas, disciples of Rinpoche I, are at the boy's beck and
call at all times.
     But the fun may be over in a few years. The boy will have to begin
studying Buddhist sutras (treatises) when he is six and a group of teachers
will supervise his education.
     Rearing a boy considered by an entire race to be a holy lama is no easy
task.
     "I don't spank him. It's difficult for me. He was my guru. I'll leave it
to his teachers," said Gyaltsen, nephew of Rinpoche I. The boy's mother was
the cook of the holy lama for 12 years.
     The boy, three older sisters and his parents live in the western Bengal
town of Darjeeling in India.
     Rinpoche I was closely associated with the 16th Karmapa Lama, who ranks
just below the Dalai Lama and the Panchen Lama in Tibet's religious hierarchy.
     The Dalai Lama, Tibet's 14th god-king, fled to India in 1959 after a
failed uprising against Chinese rule in his Himalayan homeland, leaving behind
the Panchen Lama as the most powerful spiritual leader. The Panchen Lama died
in 1989.
     China and exiled Tibetans are currently waging a political battle over
which of two boys embodies the Karmapa, who died in exile in 1981.
     The 16th Karmapa designated Rinpoche I as the reincarnation of a great
teacher and asked him to leave Tibet in 1955 to open Tibetan Buddhist centres
around the world.
     Rinpoche I opened more than 70 Tibetan Buddhist centres and 22 retreats
worldwide, from Bhutan to Belgium.

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7. In U.S. Demands, China Sees Risk to its Stability; Beijing Says It Can
   Meet Some Conditions Set by Clinton on Keeping Tariffs Low
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Forwarded by: Lori Cayton <[e-mail]>
By Patrick E. Tyler
  BEIJING, May 18, New York Times [May 19] -- China's leaders
have told the United States that they are willing to make further
gestures on human rights in order to build more constructive
relations.  But they have asked for understanding on what they see
as the need to clamp down on dissent and preserve "sred trading
status, a decision that is expected next week, has prompted an
extensive high-level dialogue, including the dispatch of a secret
envoy from the White House.
  According to a senior State Department official, the envoy,
Michael H. Armacost, a former Ambassador to Japan and Under
Secretary of State, was recruited for the mission by Secretary
of State Warren Christopher.
  The official said Mr. Armacost, in his talks with Chinese
leaders, had reviewed "in painstaking detail" the seven areas
in which Washington insists that China improve its record on
rights.  He made progress in several areas, the official said,
and Washington expects other gestures soon.
  In addition to Mr. Armacost, other American experts on China
have had conversations with Chinese leaders.  These experts and
diplomats say the Chinese expressed deep concern about social
unrest rising from wide-spread unemployment, inflation and
rampant corruption.
  Because of these real and perceived threats to stability,
China has clamped down on dissent, even as it has taken some
steps to meet Washington's demands.
  Thus China is pursuing two goals at once:
  - A stronger relationship with the United States, in order to
protect the $30 billion in export trade that is the engine of
China's growth, and is desperately needed to satisfy the demands
of a fast-growing population.
  - The preservation of stability at all costs, even if that means
confronting Washington over a rights policy that some Chinese
say is aimed at undermining Communist rule.
  Diplomats say these contradictory goals account for the mixed
signals China has been sending.
  Prime Minister Li Peng, in remarks this week, urged the White
House not to listen to dissidents and rights advocates who say
Beijing's mixed record over the past year warrants canceling
or restricting China's trade privileges.
  "Foreign statesmen will surely make mistakes in their decisions
if they base their understanding of China merely on the words or
views of a tiny number of Chinese, and ignore the interests and
wishes of all other Chinese people," Mr. Li said to Zbigniew
Brzezinski, President Jimmy Carter's national security adviser.
Mr. Li's comments were reported by the New China News Agency.
  Mr. Li voiced what has become a fundamental appeal from the
Chinese leaders, as well as a warning:  stable growth in China
will contribute to world peace in the next century, and an
unstable China could be a disaster for Asian security, the
international economy and the environment.
  "In the early period of establishing a socialist/market
economic structure, it is of strategic importance to maintain
social stability," Mr. Li told party officials this week.
  Similar messages delivered to emissaries from Washington
underscore the hard choices Beijing faces.

  - 'Excruciating Dilemma'-
  "China's leaders face an excruciating dilemma," said David
M. lampton, an American specialist on China who has just
completed a week of discussions with prty officials.  "They
cannot send a signal of accommodation to the United States
without seemingly encouraging dissidents at home, and they
cannot stifle dissent at home without further complicating
relations with Washington."
  Mr. Lampton is the president of the National Committee on
U.S.-China Relations, a nonprofit foundation in New York that
finances research and exchange programs with China.
  On the one hand, China has released on medical parole the
"black hands" behind the Tiananmen Square uprising in 1989,
Wang Juntao and Chen Ziming, both of whom were serving 13-year
sentences.  The United States Ambassador, J. Stapleton Roy,
has characterized their release as a "significant" gesture of
progress on human rights.
  But with the other had, security forces continue to make
arrests anywhere dissent breaks out.  There are still at least
3,000 political prisoners in China, and more are discovered
by rights organizations every day.  Indeed, Human Rights Watch,
based in New York, released a list of 500 political prisoners
today who it says are still being held from the 1989 uprising.
  At the same time, economic reforms begun 15 years ago by
Deng Xiaoping, the paramount leader, are entering a new and
decisive stage, pushing hundreds, perhaps thousands of state-
owned factories into bankruptcy and forcing others to close.
Millions of workers are being sent home, and there is no
social-welfare safety net to rescue them.
  "For the first time, the reforms are creating losers as well
as winners," said Michel Oksenberg, a China expert traveling
with Mr. Brzezinski.  "The reform process is creating enemies
as it never did before, and at the same time they are having
to bring down the growth rate and deal with the problems of
inflation," said Mr. Oksenber, president of the East-West
Center in Hawaii.  "These are the reasons for their nervousness."

 - A Few Areas of Progress -
  As the grievances of millions of workers merge with those
of political reformers into a wave of protest and strikes,
party leaders have gone into a defensive crouch.  Still, they
continue to make some concessions.
  This week, China agreed to begin "technical" discussions
with the United States on ending the jamming of Voice of
America broadcasts; President Clinton had asked for progress
on this issue.
  The Foreign Ministry has also responded to an inquiry from
Washington about Wei Jingsheng, China's most famous dissident,
who was re-arrested in March.  The ministry said Mr. Wei was
under investigation but was not facing "treason" charges, as
one news report said this week.
  Still, whether China's leaders can control all the forces
turned loose by 15 years of economic reform remains an open
question.
  "The authority of the regime continues to erode," Mr. Oksenberg
said in an interview.  "As that authority erodes, there are more
opportunities for testing the limits of the regime's control."

 - Guarding the Future -
  Chinese officials insist they are making steady progress on
human rights, but they have told United States diplomats that
this progress should not be confused with a willingness to
turn lose diddident forces, especially when those forces are a
threat to Communist Party rule.
  The Politburo's fear of being overturned cannot be under-
estimated.  With Mr. Deng's health in serious decline -- he will
turn 90 this year -- the next generation of leades is aggressively
guarding its rights to accession.
  Since March, when China gave Secretary Christopher a bruising
reception, senior leaders have reiterated that they are willing
to confront any Administration whose rights policy seems aimed
at undermining Beijing politically.
  These officials see the State Department's embrace of Mr. Wei,
who says the Communist leadership is irredeemable tainted by
its past repression, as the beginning of a destabilization
campaign.
  Mr. Lampton, of the U.S.-China committee, said a meeting in
Beijing on Feb. 27 between Mr. Wei and the State Department's
top rights official, John Shattuck, "increased the level of
suspicion and the Chinese elite's resolve to take a tough
public line during Secretary Christopher's visit."

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8. China: Trade and Tradeoffs
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Forwarded by: Dan Hodel, Tibetan Rights Campaign <[e-mail]>
By Hobart Rowen

WASHINGTON, May 18, Washington Post -- MFN will be extended for
China. The word from informed administration sources is that
President Clinton will cop out on his pledge of last year to
withdraw most favored nation status if Chinese leaders failed to
pass specific tests showing their respect for human rights.
    The only question still bitterly debated at the White House is
whether it will be an unqualified extension or will be accompanied
by an attempt at limited sanctions designed to target specific
Chinese exports to the United States, such as automatic rifles.
    An effort to block specific exports, however worthy the cause,
would be an administrative nightmare. It seems to me that the
president now has only one viable option: to admit that MFN won't
work to ensure human rights in China, and acknowledge that he will
have to pursue that laudable objective in some other way.
    I'm ambivalent on this issue. One part of me argues we will be
morally bankrupt if we let China's leaders get away with
outrageous behavior. Another is swayed by the probability that
withdrawing MFN won't pressure the Chinese leaders to relent, and
might make things worse.
    I recognize, also, that other issues are at stake, including
the effort to restrain North Korea's crazy reach for nuclear
weapons. We desperately need China's support to help contain North
Korea. Extension of MFN won't buy that support: China, like any
other nation, will always act in its own self-interest. But
revocation surely won't make a joint U.S.-Chinese approach any
easier to achieve.
    What tilts the case toward allowing China to continue to enjoy
MFN privileges is something I've named the "trickle-down human
rights theory." Economic progress in China, it is said, is a more
effective force for human rights than the across-the-knuckles blow
of trade sanctions.
    Thus, former representative Stephen Solarz of New York, who
chaired the House Foreign Affairs subcommittee on Asian and
Pacific affairs, contends that nothing is going to transform China
into a true democracy overnight, but that this is more likely to
happen "in the context of growing prosperity and interaction."
    In an appearance on PBS's "Firing Line" with Solarz, Paula
Stern of the Progressive Policy Institute agreed: "Through a
movement towards market-oriented, privatized forces in China and
elsewhere, you release the social forces that then move towards
political reform." Others point out that human rights conditions
in China - although miserable by Western standards - are a lot
better than they were 15 years ago under Mao.
    The amazing boom in China over that period - real annual
growth rates are in the double digits - spawned a prosperous
middle class that is gradually gaining political concessions from
the dictators in Beijing. Take away MFN, the argument goes, and
you diminish the growing power of this new class. That's why I
call it "trickle-down" - a slow drip, drip of freedom that may or
may not work.
    Things may be better in China than they were under Mao, but
human rights violations, as Columbia University Asian specialist
Andrew J. Nathan observes, "remain pervasive and systemic rather
than occasional and incidental." The real thrust behind Clinton's
capitulation is fear that revocation of MFN will cost American
business billions of dollars in trade with China.
    A study by James R. Lilley and Wendell L. Willkie II for the
    American Enterprise Institute estimates that to deprive China
of MFN could cost America "180,000 high-paying jobs" in the
aircraft and other industries. There is little doubt that if MFN
privileges were withdrawn next month, the Chinese would abruptly
cancel contracts with Boeing.
    As business leaders see it, the immediate trade impact if MFN
is taken away is a mere drop in the bucket compared with future
losses. Say Lilley and Willkie: "Highly competitive American
products - aircraft, fertilizer, computers, and telecommunications
and environmental technology - will be in intense demand in China
in the next few years. ... Aggressive pursuit of this huge
emerging market is likely to become a national imperative."
    Some Democratic politicians in Western states where Clinton
won critical victories in 1992 are convinced that withdrawal of
MFN would cost Clinton those states - and with that, reelection -
in 1996.
    Rep. Nancy Pelosi, a California Democrat, argues against a
complete renewal of MFN, pointing out that China's businessmen are
more dependent on the American market than are our businessmen on
theirs. She calculates that 38 percent of Chinese exports come
here, while less than 2 percent of ours go there.
    Clinton would be the object of global contempt, Pelosi said,
if he decided, "'Well, I said (no MFN) unless you made real,
significant progress, but I really didn't mean it."
    The bottom line is that America will appear to be putting
business ahead of human rights whatever Clinton does, unless he
makes good on his pledge to cancel MFN for China. I'm glad I am
free to write about this problem, but Clinton is the one who has
to solve it. He created the problem for himself.

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9. Letter: Kusum Lingpa Rinpoche Whereabouts
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Sharon Bacon <[e-mail]>

According to the schedule I have His Holiness Kusum Lingpa,
Rimpoche can be reached May 13-26 at Chagdud Gompa/Rigdzin Ling
at 916-623-2714 ask for anyone.  This is the center for Chagdud
Tulku. I did hear from another friend ca. 4 days ago that there was
trouble in one of his nunneries so he may already know. He is
scheduled to go to Arcata, Calif. today May 20 for one day contact
there is Ira Green at 707-822-4232. Then he is back to Chagdud
Gompa until May 27-29 when he goes to Seattle, WA. Contact there
is Richard Baldwin @[phone]. Hope this helps.

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--- GoldED 2.41+/#1067
 * Origin: BODY DHARMA * Moderator, TIBET_NEWS - DharmaNet (96:101/33)