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DE RUEHCN #0090/01 0960643
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R 060643Z APR 07
FM AMCONSUL CHENGDU
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 2431
INFO RUEHOO/CHINA POSTS COLLECTIVE
RHEHAAA/NSC WASHINGTON DC
RUEHCN/AMCONSUL CHENGDU 2948

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 CHENGDU 000090 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR EAP/CM, DRL AND G/STC 
BANDKOK FOR USAID/MSTIEVATER 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL:  4/6/2027 
TAGS: ECON PHUM PGOV CH
SUBJECT: TAR OFFICIALS TOUT BENEFITS OF NOMAD RESETTLEMENT PROGRAMS 
 
REF: 06 CHENGDU 969 
 
CHENGDU 00000090  001.2 OF 002 
 
 
CLASSIFIED BY: Kathryn Pongonis, Acting Consul General, United 
States Consulate, Chengdu. 
REASON: 1.4 (b), (d) 
 
 
 
¶1.  Summary:  According to government officials in the Tibetan 
Autonomous Region (TAR), policies to resettle Tibetan nomads and 
pastoralists are not only good for the grassland, but are also 
good for the people because they improve living conditions and 
access to education and health care.  In the TAR, five types of 
resettlement programs provide subsidies of between USD 1290-3225 
to individual households.  During the course of the Eleventh 
Five-Year Program (before 2010), the government hopes to 
resettle over 220,000 households, or 80 percent of the rural 
population in the TAR.  Officials said the policy was warmly 
welcomed and that an open and modern society had a significant 
effect on enticing young Tibetans to abandon a traditional 
herding lifestyle.  While government officials paint a rosy 
picture of Tibetan resettlement, critics express concern that 
resettlement policies pose a threat to the important nomadic 
component of the traditional Tibetan lifestyle.  End Summary. 
 
¶2.  (U) During a March reporting trip to the Tibetan Autonomous 
Region (TAR), CG, Beijing POLMINCOUNS, and Chengdu CONGENOFF met 
with officials from the Naqu Prefecture Animal Husbandry and 
Labor and Social Security Bureaus, and TAR Poverty Alleviation 
and Animal Husbandry Bureaus, the principal offices tasked with 
carrying out nomadic and pastoral resettlement work.  "The 
policy to resettle Tibetan nomads and pastoralists is not only 
good for the grassland, but is also good for the people," 
according to Wang Jian, Director of the TAR Poverty Alleviation 
Office (PAO).  With a fixed dwelling and lifestyle, Tibetan 
children have better access to education and families can get 
health care.  Wang said that resettlement takes numerous forms. 
The TAR's "Rural Economic Housing Project" includes the 
following five categories: 
 
-  nomadic resettlement; 
-  housing project for poor households; 
-  endemic disease relocation; 
-  house repair project for middle class people; and 
-  housing project for border households 
 
¶3.  (SBU) Unlike Tibetan areas outside the TAR, there is no 
"ecological immigration" which is a program linked to the 
Grassland Responsibility System and is not considered migration, 
according to Wang.  He added that ecological preservation 
programs such as "Convert Pasture to Grassland" were not 
successful. 
 
The "Incentives" 
----------------- 
¶4.  (SBU) Households receive monetary "subsidies" for their 
participation in the resettlement program which range from 
10,000-25,000 RMB (USD 1290-3225) per household.  According to 
all officials in separate meetings, the subsidies are cash 
payments which are not expected to be repaid.  (Note:  Other 
Consulate non-governmental contacts in the TAR told us there is 
a general belief that the resettlement "subsidies" are in fact 
loans.  End note.) 
 
¶5.  (SBU) Resettlement is a completely voluntary program, 
according to Dozha (one name), Director of the Naqu Prefecture 
Animal Husbandry Bureau.  Nomads and farmers provide their own 
labor to build their new homes.  When queried about whether 
resettled families are required or forced to sell their 
livestock, Dozha responded that the government was in no way 
involved in the sale of livestock, nor did it require such sale. 
 He added that some households might choose to sell some animals 
in order to cover the additional costs of building their new 
homes.  In another meeting, a representative of the TAR PAO said 
selling a couple of yaks "does no harm to a family" and can help 
them raise 8000 RMB (USD 1032) toward the construction of their 
new house.  (Note:  One yak currently sells for 4000 RMB 
(USD516) or 14 RMB (USD 1.80) per pound in the TAR.  End Note.) 
Tsutrim (one name), Vice Director of the TAR Animal Husbandry 
 
SIPDIS 
Bureau said his office was developing a program of subsidies to 
encourage sale of livestock because in general nomads are not 
willing to kill or sell their animals. 
 
¶6.  (U) Wang of the TAR PAO said 25,000 households were 
resettled in the TAR in 2006.  In the Eleventh Five-Year 
Program, there is enough funding from the central level to 
accomplish the resettlement of 220,000 households in the TAR, 
after which 80 percent of the rural population will be settled. 
 
Is the Nomadic Lifestyle a Way of the Past? 
 
CHENGDU 00000090  002.2 OF 002 
 
 
------------------------------------------- 
¶7.  (C) When asked about the effect of the resettlement program 
on young Tibetans and whether they were interested in continuing 
a lifestyle of herding, Wang of the TAR PAO said that the "open 
society" affected Tibetan lifestyles more than just a 
resettlement policy.  "If society were not open, they would stay 
with traditional ways, but because of modernization and contact 
with the outside world they know about and desire changes in 
their lifestyle."  Wang insisted Tibetans have freedom to choose 
their lifestyle and added that the PAO was in fact having a hard 
time meeting the demand for settlement.  He said, "everyone 
living in a tent is not a good thing," and that the government 
could "maintain the culture by preserving a few tents."  Wang 
stated, "they can remember their culture, but they don't need to 
live the ancient lifestyle.  We must remember that we are not 
doing animal protection, we are doing human development."  In a 
separate meeting, Tsutrim of the TAR Animal Husbandry Bureau 
echoed the sentiment that the resettlement policy was warmly 
welcomed and that there is cooperation at all levels of 
government. 
 
Comment 
------- 
¶8. (C) The Consulate's ability to solicit opinions on the policy 
from resettled nomads and farmers in Tibet is quite limited. 
Even though government officials paint a rosy picture, there is 
at least some resistance to a policy that has been criticized by 
outside observers as posing a threat to the important nomadic 
component of the traditional Tibetan lifestyle.  In private 
conversations on a number of reporting trips, we have heard 
general grumbling about lack of economic opportunities for 
resettled families and inability to sell livestock at 
fair-market prices. 
BOUGHNER