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ZNY CCCCC ZZH
R 250758Z JUN 07
FM AMCONSUL CHENGDU
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 2543
INFO RUEHOO/CHINA POSTS COLLECTIVE
RHEHAAA/NSC WASHINGTON DC
RUEHCN/AMCONSUL CHENGDU 3073

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 CHENGDU 000157 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR EAP/CM AND G/STC 
DEPT ALSO FOR DRL/IRF AND TIBET COORDINATOR 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL:  6/25/2032 
TAGS: PHUM ECON PGOV EAID SOCI CH
SUBJECT: CONVERSATIONS IN NORTHERN TIBET 
 
 
CHENGDU 00000157  001.2 OF 003 
 
 
CLASSIFIED BY: John Hill, Acting Consul General, United States 
Consulate, Chengdu. 
REASON: 1.4 (b), (d) 
 
 
 
¶1.  (C) Summary:  Consulate Chengdu recently accompanied the 
United States Agency for International Development (USAID) on a 
project monitoring trip to some of the highest and most remote 
areas of the Tibetan Autonomous Region (TAR).  The TAR Foreign 
Affairs Office (FAO) said it valued U.S. NGO projects in the 
TAR, as well as their quality personnel, but hoped "small-scale" 
NGO projects would not overshadow or take credit away from the 
work the central government is doing in the TAR.  Traveling for 
over 40 hours and 1,200 miles on unpaved, bumpy and dusty tracts 
of plateau, CG and Congenoff had almost unlimited time to 
dialogue with TAR FAO "companions," local NGO representatives, 
and their local government counterparts.  In multiple separate 
conversations, our traveling companions discussed political, 
economic, environmental, health, infrastructure, and social 
issues in Nagchu Prefecture, one of the poorest areas of Tibet. 
Public and National Security Bureau officials assigned to 
accompany us were nonchalant and appeared to care little about 
the content of our discussions or field visits.  End Summary. 
 
The "Roof of the World" 
----------------------------- 
¶2.  (SBU) From June 11-18, CG, Congenoff and Political LES 
accompanied two USAID program officers on a grueling journey to 
some of the highest and most remote areas of the Tibetan 
Plateau.   Departing the relative comforts of Lhasa, situated at 
12,500 ft. above sea level, our group of five four-wheel-drive 
sports utility vehicles traveled northeast for four hours on 
paved roads to Dangxiong (Tibetan:  Damshung) County in Nagchu 
(Tibetan:  Naqu) Prefecture.  The next 18 hours of the trip 
through Nagchu were accomplished on unpaved, bumpy, and dusty 
tracts of plateau. 
 
¶3.  (SBU) Nagchu is a prefecture with a population of 340,000 
mostly nomadic people and 6.8 million livestock.  According to 
official reports, the per capita annual income was 2,489 RMB 
(USD 328) in 2006, although some local people and development 
workers believe the statistic has been exaggerated.  Setting a 
pace of approximately 16-19 miles per hour, after six hours we 
stopped for the night in Bangge County (population 32,300) at 
16,400 ft. above sea level.  On day two of the journey, we 
traveled 186 miles over the course of ten hours to arrive in 
Nyima County (population 34,300) at an elevation of 15,400 ft. 
Ours was the first official U.S. delegation ever to visit this 
remote county on the edge of the Chang Tang, the highest and 
second largest protected area in the world.  Two days later, 
after visiting half a dozen USAID-funded NGO projects, we 
retraced our steps, traveling 600 miles over the course of two 
days and 20 hours on the "road." 
 
¶4.  (C) Lengthy travel time in Nagchu Prefecture allowed us the 
opportunity to dialogue extensively with our Tibetan Autonomous 
Region (TAR) Foreign Affairs Office (FAO) "companions," local 
NGO representatives implementing projects on the plateau, and 
their local government counterparts.  Over the course of six 
days, they offered opinions directly to CG and Congenoff, as 
well as to Political LES using Tibetan language. 
 
TAR Government on NGO Projects 
-------------------------------------------- 
¶5.  (C) Prior to departing for Nagchu, we met with TAR FAO Vice 
Director Liu Yaohua.  At the request of the USAID-funded NGO The 
Bridge Fund (TBF), CG thanked the TAR FAO for supporting TBF's 
projects in the TAR, and encouraged the FAO to facilitate the 
renewal of TBF's contract with its local government partner, the 
TAR Forestry Bureau.  Without commenting on the contract issue, 
Liu said the TAR Government values the NGO projects.  He said 
that while the projects have achieved very positive results and 
are welcomed by local people, they play only a "supplementary 
role" to the development work carried out by the government. 
Liu and other local government interlocutors in Nagchu all 
hammered on the theme of giving the Chinese Government credit 
for its work and investment in Tibet, and that this work should 
not be overshadowed by the small scale projects being carried 
out by international NGOs.  Liu also repeated messages we have 
heard in the past about the government's desire for increased 
financial transparency and greater investment from the U.S. 
NGOs.  He concluded on a positive note, saying the FAO was very 
happy with the quality and methodology of U.S. NGO personnel. 
 
Politics 
---------- 
¶6.  (C) The FAO Consular Section official assigned to accompany 
us on our trip was a young disgruntled ethnic Tibetan who has 
 
CHENGDU 00000157  002.2 OF 003 
 
 
worked for the FAO without being promoted for seven years 
(Septel).  Even though Chinese Government officials are required 
to adhere to a code of atheism, our handler was clearly an 
active Buddhist who prayed fervently throughout the whole trip 
whenever we passed a significant religious landmark.  Our 
driver, also an FAO employee, blessed our vehicles prior to each 
leg of the journey.  In the course of our first day on the road, 
we passed two Han Chinese hikers who appeared a bit overwhelmed 
by their surroundings.  Our FAO handler remarked in Tibetan to 
the driver, "forget about them, they are Han." 
 
¶7.  (C) During a visit to a construction skills training project 
in Bangge County, we visited a two-room house built by Tibetan 
trainees.  When asked how many people might live in such a 
house, an NGO representative responded that a family with five 
children might inhabit it, commenting that "in this part of the 
world, people don't pay any attention to family planning rules." 
 In a separate conversation in the county town, CG observed 
several Hui Muslim-run businesses and asked the county Party 
Secretary how many Hui people had migrated to the area.  He 
 
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counted quickly on one hand, and said "three." 
 
Economics 
------------- 
¶8.  (SBU) In many areas of the Tibetan plateau, caterpillar 
fungus harvesting season is in full swing, with students being 
kept home from school to assist in collection of the fungus 
which is currently selling for upwards of 80,000 RMB (USD 
10,500) per kilogram.  However, when asked about the 
significance of the fungus to Bangge County's economy, one of 
the NGO representatives said caterpillar fungus was irrelevant 
to the economy, because it does not grow at such high altitudes. 
 It grows best at elevations between 2,300 and 3,800 meters. 
 
¶9.  (C) Nyima County, a full two-day drive from Lhasa, feels 
like it is located at the end of the earth.  It is an 
"artificial" town which has been built up, paved and lighted 
(with solar power) through corporate sponsorship over the last 
few years.  Sinopec is the primarily corporate sponsor of the 
town.   Privately, the NGO representative described the Sinopec 
investments as "image projects with no follow up."  When asked 
about energy supplies to the region, the prefecture FAO official 
said petroleum comes to the TAR by pipeline, primarily from 
Golmud in Qinghai and from Xinjiang.  It is then trucked 
throughout the plateau.  During the trip, we observed large 
tanker trucks with white sacks underneath them.  We were later 
told the tanker trucks arrive full of petroleum and leave 
sitting on top of bags of white borax, a cash commodity found in 
the region.  Since gold mining was outlawed in Nyima County in 
2006, borax is one of the only legally mined substances. 
(Note:  White borax, also called sodium borate, is a mineral and 
salt of boric acid.  It is used in detergents, cosmetics and 
enamel glazes.  It is also used as a buffer solution in 
biochemistry, a fire retardant, an anti-fungal compound for 
fiberglass and an insecticide.  In the 1960s, Mao Zedong used 
borax to repay debts to the USSR.  End Note).  In a separate 
conversation, the NGO representative told CG the Muslim 
population had dropped dramatically in the region after gold 
mining was made illegal. 
 
Environment 
--------------- 
¶10.  (C) The Chang Tang Nature Preserve is home to numerous 
endangered species including wild yak, snow leopards, blue sheep 
and black-necked cranes.  During our travels, we were fortunate 
to see large numbers of endangered Tibetan antelope, gazelles 
and wild ass.  The NGO representative said his organization was 
training both nature preserve and village wildlife patrollers in 
the Chang Tang, but that poaching of some species, particularly 
the Tibetan antelope, was difficult to combat.  Many groups of 
animals have moved closer to the Nyima county town where they 
feel safer, due to vigilant village patrols that report poachers 
to authorities.  However, far from town, poachers use 
motorcycles to round up and herd the antelope into fenced areas 
where they slaughter them.  Government officials told CG that 
one wildlife patroller had been killed by poachers within the 
last several years.  In a side comment, the NGO representative 
noted that underpasses built into the Qinghai-TAR Railway to 
allow wild animals to pass were ineffective.  He said planners 
placed breadcrumbs on the pavement in the underpasses to entice 
animals to pass.  This is ridiculous, he claimed, because these 
animals eat grass, not bread.  The underpasses are just "great 
propaganda," but don't really work, he concluded. 
 
¶11.  (C) On the road from Bangge County to Nyima County, serious 
desertification was evident.  Government officials raised such 
degradation of the plateau as an area ripe for international 
cooperation.  They noted that due to global climate change, 
glaciers are melting and lakes are getting deeper, but there is 
 
CHENGDU 00000157  003.2 OF 003 
 
 
less snow on the mountains.  In their opinion, this contributes 
to dryer conditions resulting in increasing desertification.  On 
the subject of grassland management, the NGO representative in a 
separate conversation complained to CG about the fencing policy. 
 He said the government claimed nomadic resettlement and the 
related fencing policies were intended to protect delicate 
grassland from overgrazing.  The NGO representative asserted the 
fencing policies actually have the opposite effect -- when 
nomads' herds are relegated to small, fenced-off portions of 
grassland, rather than being allowed to follow traditional 
migratory patterns, those small sections of grassland become 
degraded beyond recovery. 
 
Transportation Infrastructure 
---------------------------------- 
¶12.  (C) During the long journey, the conversation turned to the 
issue of transportation infrastructure and potential visits by 
Chinese government officials to these remote areas.  Local 
government officials admitted central and regional level 
officials did not make visits to these areas.  When CG asked 
about air transportation and whether helicopters were used to 
facilitate such visits, the prefecture FAO official said there 
was no technical ability to bring helicopters to these 
altitudes.  (Note:  Our TAR FAO handler later told LES the 
airspace was tightly controlled by the military which does use 
helicopters in the region.  We also note that the military sent 
helicopters to similar altitudes in Sichuan's Ganzi Prefecture 
in 2006 to look for two lost American climbers.  End Note). 
 
Health 
-------- 
¶13.  (C) The most significant health problem in the prefecture 
is high blood pressure because of bad diet, according to the NGO 
representative.  General infections are the number one killer 
due to lack of prompt medical attention and appropriate 
medication.  In general, tuberculosis is not a problem in these 
areas because of limited contact with Han Chinese, unlike in 
eastern Tibet, where TB is a significant problem.  The 
representative predicted that sexually transmitted diseases 
would increase along the Qinghai-TAR Railroad.  He added that 
alcoholism is a problem among young nomads in resettlement areas 
because they have nothing to do. 
 
Social Instability 
-------------------- 
¶14.  (C) Continuing on the topic of nomadic resettlement, the 
NGO representative said there is significant out-migration of 
young Tibetans from Nagchu Prefecture to other areas of the TAR. 
 In a separate conversation, another Lhasa-based NGO 
representative said many young Tibetans are migrating into 
Lhasa, but cannot find jobs due to lack of skills and language 
ability.  This leads to social problems and disgruntled young 
nomads, the representative asserted. 
 
Comment 
----------- 
¶15.  (C) Unlike previous trips to the TAR in which our Public 
Security Bureau (PSB) and National Security Bureau (NSB) 
companions filmed and photographed our every movement, this time 
our security friends were nonchalant and appeared to care little 
about the content of our discussions or field visits.  Even the 
FAO officer assigned to accompany us was frequently seen 
snoozing in our official government meetings while his tape 
recorder rolled on.  We speculate that this relative lack of 
attention was due to the fact the FAO had already thoroughly 
prepared by visiting our field sites in advance, and felt 
assured we would not cause any diplomatic incidents in our 
meetings with participants in NGO-funded school library 
projects, construction skills and village doctor trainings, and 
wildlife protection projects. 
HILL