A Year After the March 2008 Protests: Is China Promoting Stability in Tibet? Roundtable Congressional-Executive Commission on Ch

A YEAR AFTER THE MARCH 2008 PROTESTS: IS CHINA PROMOTING STABILITY IN TIBET? ROUNDTABLE BEFORE THE CONGRESSIONAL-EXECUTIVE COMMISSION ON CHINA ONE HUNDRED ELEVENTH CONGRESS FIRST SESSION MARCH 13, 2009 Printed for the use of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China ( Available via the World Wide Web: http://www.cecc.gov U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 48–753 PDF WASHINGTON : 2009 For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office Internet: bookstore.gpo.gov Phone: toll free (866) 512–1800; DC area (202) 512–1800 Fax: (202) 512–2104 Mail: Stop IDCC, Washington, DC 20402–0001 VerDate Nov 24 2008 11:10 Jun 24, 2009 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 5011 Sfmt 5011 U:\DOCS\48753.TXT DEIDRE CO N T E N T S Page Opening statement of Charlotte Oldham-Moore, Staff Director, Congressional- Executive Commission on China ........................................................................ 1 Grob, Douglas, Cochairman’s Senior Staff Member, Congressional-Executive Commission on China .......................................................................................... 2 Sperling, Elliot, Associate Professor, Department of Central Eurasian Studies, Indiana University ............................................................................................... 3 Wangchuk, Tseten, Senior Research Fellow, Tibet Center, University of Vir- ginia; Senior Editor, Voice of America, Tibetan Language Section ................. 6 Smith, Warren, Writer, Radio Free Asia, Tibetan, Service .................................. 9 APPENDIX PREPARED STATEMENTS Sperling, Elliot ......................................................................................................... 28 Smith, Warren ......................................................................................................... 29 (II) VerDate Nov 24 2008 11:10 Jun 24, 2009 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 U:\DOCS\48753.TXT DEIDRE A YEAR AFTER THE MARCH 2008 PROTESTS: IS CHINA PROMOTING STABILITY IN TIBET? FRIDAY, MARCH 13, 2009 CONGRESSIONAL-EXECUTIVE COMMISSION ON CHINA, Washington, DC. The roundtable was convened, pursuant to notice, at 10:02 a.m., in room 628, Dirksen Senate Office Building, Charlotte Oldham- Moore, Staff Director, presiding. Also present: Douglas Grob, Cochairman’s Senior Staff Member and Steve Marshall, Senior Advisor and Prisoner Database Pro- gram Director. OPENING STATEMENT OF CHARLOTTE OLDHAM-MOORE, STAFF DIRECTOR, CONGRESSIONAL-EXECUTIVE COMMISSION ON CHINA Ms. OLDHAM-MOORE. Thank you for attending this morning’s roundtable. My name is Charlotte Oldham-Moore. I am the Staff Director of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China. My colleague, Doug Grob, who is the Cochairman’s Senior Staff Mem- ber, and I will give brief introductions of our guests, and then we will turn it over to the panelists who will have 10 minutes each to speak. Then, of course, we will turn to you in the audience for questions. The topic of this roundtable, as you all are aware, is the current situation inside the Tibetan areas of China a year after the protests and the Chinese Government’s crackdown. This roundtable takes place between two dates that many Tibetans consider to be highly sensitive. The first is March 10, which marks the 50th anniversary of what Tibetans know as the 1959 Tibetan uprising. It also marks the first anniversary of the start of last year’s wave of Tibetan protests that occurred across the plateau and in other areas of China. That wave resulted in the arrest of thousands, and an untold number who are missing. March 28, the second date, will mark the first instance of the Serf ’s Emancipation Day, a newly established Tibetan Autonomous Region holiday that celebrates China’s dissolution, in 1959, of the Dalai Lama’s Lhasa-based government. This past year, in order to strengthen further its security crackdown, officials in Lhasa implemented a ‘‘Strike Hard Anti-Crime Campaign’’ that will run, they indicate, until at least late March, after Serf ’s Emancipation Day is observed. International tourists and journalists, for now, are denied access to Tibetan areas of China. Chinese media reports tell us that secu- (1) VerDate Nov 24 2008 11:10 Jun 24, 2009 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 U:\DOCS\48753.TXT DEIDRE 2 rity forces are prepared to prevent Tibetan attempts to stage further protests. The Chinese Government, over the past year, continues to press policies that have stoked frustration among Tibetans, saying such policies are essential for stability. The questions before our roundtable today, and to be addressed to the panelists, and also the audience are: have those policies served that objective? Has the dy- namic between the Chinese Government and Tibetans changed over the last year, and if so, how? What should U.S. policymakers, Congress, and the Executive Branch watch for in the days and weeks ahead? These are the central questions before us today, a time of considerable fear and suffering, and, of course, uncertainty for many Tibetans. Our distinguished panelists will discuss the situation in Tibet today and help us to understand the background, as well as the outlook. Now I will turn to my colleague, Doug Grob, who will introduce the witnesses. STATEMENT OF DOUGLAS GROB, COCHAIRMAN’S SENIOR STAFF MEMBER, CONGRESSIONAL-EXECUTIVE COMMISSION ON CHINA Mr. GROB. Thanks very much, Charlotte. And thank you all for joining us here today. On behalf of Representative Sander Levin of Michigan, Cochairman of the Commission, I extend a warm wel- come and thanks to you. I have the privilege of introducing our panelists to you today. To my left, Professor Elliot Sperling, an As- sociate Professor in the Department of Central Eurasian Studies at Indiana University. Professor Sperling has written extensively on Tibetan history and Sino-Tibetan relations. He is the recipient of MacArthur and Fulbright Fellowships. From 1996 to 1999, he served on the Secretary of State’s Advisory Committee on Religious Freedom Abroad. Professor Sperling teaches courses on the Civili- zation of Tibet, the History of Tibet, Tibet and the West, Sino-Ti- betan Relations, and other topics. He is currently working on a short history of modern Tibet for Cambridge University Press. So, we are very fortunate and honored to have you here with us today. Seated also to my left is Mr. Tseten Wangchuk. Mr. Wangchuk is a Senior Research Fellow at the University of Virginia’s Tibetan Center, and a Senior Editor with the Voice of America’s Tibetan Language Service. He is currently based in Washington, DC, but was born in Lhasa and grew up in Tibet. In 1983, Mr. Wangchuk completed his bachelor’s degree in Tibetan history in Beijing at the Central Nationalities University, which is now named Minzu Uni- versity of China. From 1983 to 1996, he was a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, and participated in field research in the Tibetan Autonomous Region, as well as in Tibetan autonomous areas in China outside of the Tibetan Autonomous Re- gion. Mr. Wangchuk also completed his Master’s degree in public policy and international affairs at Columbia University in 1992. So, we are extremely pleased and honored by your presence here today, and we look forward to your remarks. And, finally, to my right is Dr. Warren Smith. Dr. Smith is an independent scholar and received his Ph.D. in international relations from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy. He writes VerDate Nov 24 2008 11:10 Jun 24, 2009 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 U:\DOCS\48753.TXT DEIDRE 3 about Tibetan politics for the Tibetan service of Radio Free Asia here in Washington, DC. His publications include ‘‘China’s Tibet: Autonomy or Assimilation?,’’ which was published last year by Rowman & Littlefield, and as well a book published in 1997 by Westview Press titled, ‘‘Tibetan Nation: A History of Tibetan Na- tionalism and Sino-Tibetan Relations.’’ So, thank you very much for your time this morning. We are very privileged to have you here, and look forward to your remarks. At this point I would like to turn the floor over to Mr. Sperling. STATEMENT OF ELLIOT SPERLING, ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR, DEPARTMENT OF CENTRAL EURASIAN STUDIES, INDIANA UNIVERSITY Mr. SPERLING. Well, thank you very much. There is a prepared statement which I have, which is outside if anybody wants a copy of it. I will try and go over the main points. Please follow along. Over the last several weeks, there’s been a build-up of tension in Tibet. We here have been asked to answer the question: is China promoting stability in Tibet? The short answer to that is, at the moment, by and large, yes. But it has to be qualified by pointing out that this stability is established by means of an effective lockdown in Tibet, as some have termed it, as well as the ongoing detention of political prisoners, hundreds of whom have been held since last year. There are reports of monasteries blockaded, Internet and cell phone use cut over large areas of the Tibetan plateau, and a very intense security presence. So the answer to the question is, yes, there is stability, but it is at the cost of severe security measures and a population subject to severe restrictions on movement and communications. Part of the measures designed to secure Tibet are related to the imposition of political education inside and outside monasteries, which are meant to reaffirm China’s narrative of Tibet’s historical place within the Chinese state. This, in turn, is tied to the fact that discontent in Tibet—inevitably—goes at some point to the question of the legitimacy of China’s presence there. The fact that March 10, which Tibetans observe as an effective national day, is the day on which mass protests began last year and which was the target date for the lockdown this year; the fact that protesters used the Tibetan national flag as their symbol: these attest to the nationalist content in Tibetan resentments and grievances. This is not to play down other areas of repression, but it is to assert something that this commission—in fact, I would say all outside observers—should bear in mind.

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