VZCZCXRO4655
RR RUEHGH RUEHVC
DE RUEHCN #0158/01 1760903
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
R 250903Z JUN 07
FM AMCONSUL CHENGDU
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 2546
INFO RUEHOO/CHINA POSTS COLLECTIVE
RHEHAAA/NSC WASHINGTON DC
RUEHCN/AMCONSUL CHENGDU 3076

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 CHENGDU 000158 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR EAP/CM AND S/STC 
DEPT ALSO FOR DRL/IRF AND TIBET COORDINATOR 
BANGKOK FOR USAID/MSTIEVATER AND SWALTER 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL:  6/25/2032 
TAGS: PHUM ECON PGOV SOCI SCUL CH
SUBJECT: SOCIAL DISTURBANCES FLARE UP IN TIBETAN AREAS 
 
REF: CHENGDU 152 
 
CHENGDU 00000158  001.2 OF 002 
 
 
CLASSIFIED BY: John Hill, Acting Consul General, United States 
Consulate, Chengdu. 
REASON: 1.4 (b), (d) 
 
 
 
¶1.  (SBU) Summary:  In recent weeks there have been three 
separate social disturbances in Tibetan areas inside and outside 
the Tibetan Autonomous Region (TAR).  Accounts of the incidents 
were originally reported in the international press.  Recently, 
Post was able to confirm and learn more details about each of 
the three events.  In two conflicts in Kardze Prefecture of 
Sichuan Province, local Tibetans clashed with authorities over 
mining and tourism development of important holy sites.  In a 
separate incident in the TAR, authorities destroyed an important 
religious statue at Samye Monastery and imposed restrictions on 
construction of new religious images.  End Summary. 
 
Tibetans in Sichuan Clash with Police 
Over Mining of Holy Mountain 
-------------------------------------- 
¶2.  (U) On June 11 and June 13 Taiwan and Hong Kong-based news 
outlets reported an incident in late May in which at least 400 
Tibetans from Bamei Town, Dawu County, Kardze Tibetan Autonomous 
Prefecture in Sichuan Province protested the construction of a 
mine at the base of Mt. Zhara (Chinese:  Yala Shan), a mountain 
considered holy by Tibetan Buddhists.  According to the reports, 
Tibetans destroyed the residences and vehicles of Party and 
government officials and the mine owner.  Armed police were 
called in to quell the disturbance and several Tibetans were 
reportedly detained.  This incident was previously mentioned 
reftel. 
 
¶3.  (C) Consulate spoke to contacts from Bamei Township and 
Tagong who confirmed the press accounts, but qualified there was 
no news about any Tibetans or police seriously injured or 
killed.  The Bamei contact said that after the riots, ten 
villagers took the train to Chengdu to petition the Sichuan 
Provincial Government.  These individuals were taken off the 
train and arrested.  Also following the disturbance, many 
residents of three villages in Bamei Township ran away for fear 
of reprisal, and there are rumors that some were arrested.  Our 
contacts reported that police went to several Bamei villages and 
beat the relatives of individuals who ran away and destroyed 
some personal property. 
 
¶4.  (C) Our contacts explained that following the May 27 
disturbance due to the beginning of large-scale construction at 
the mine site, local officials sought to negotiate with local 
Tibetans who opposed the development.  Officials contacted the 
reincarnate lama Yunden Gyamtso, Abbot of Garthar Monastery in 
Bamei Township and Vice Director of the Kardze Prefecture 
Buddhist Association to speak to villagers.  According to our 
contact in Bamei, Tibetan villagers called him a 
"Chinese-minded" reincarnate lama and rejected his attempts at 
mediation.  A second reincarnate lama, Abbot Druga from Tashi 
Monastery in Tagong was also recruited to assist government 
officials in negotiations with villagers.  Bamei villagers told 
the reincarnate lama not to come, saying the issue was "none of 
his business." 
 
¶5.  (C) Following these attempts at negotiation, villagers went 
to Tagong Monastery with several pages of "petition documents" 
or complaints and sought to have them translated into English by 
an English-speaking monk.  Our Tagong contact did not say 
whether the villagers were successful in having the documents 
translated.  The contact highlighted two main issues leading to 
the escalation of the Bamei disturbance.  He said the first 
issue was one of Tibetan villagers trying to protect a holy 
site, a relatively common occurrence as Tibetan areas become 
more developed.  The second issue, which led to the 
explosiveness of the situation, was the anti-Chinese political 
element accompanied by the destruction of government and private 
property.  The contact speculated the villagers ran the risk of 
being charged with separatism and "destruction of ethnic 
solidarity" for these anti-Chinese actions. 
 
Tibetans in Sichuan Protest Development of Holy Mountain 
--------------------------------------------- ----------- 
¶6.  (C) A similar disturbance, also in Sichuan Province's Kardze 
Prefecture, was reported on June 16 on a Hong Kong based 
internet site (Kan Zhongguo Baodao).  According to the report, a 
conflict between local Tibetans and government developers 
occurred in Yading of Daocheng County in mid May because of 
local opposition to the development of hotels and a cable car in 
a protected area which includes a holy mountain area. 
Developers had begun to cut down swaths of forest in the 
 
CHENGDU 00000158  002.2 OF 002 
 
 
mountain area.  (Note:  Yading is a nation level reserve in 
Daocheng County which was unknown to the outside world until the 
late 1990s.  It is a mountain sanctuary and major pilgrimage 
site which was sanctified by the Fifth Dalai Lama.  End Note). 
 
¶7.  (C) A contact from Yading Management Bureau confirmed to 
consulate there had been a "serious clash," and that three or 
four construction workers were injured.  The official said the 
area had been closed to the public since May 20, and that he did 
not know when the park would be reopened.  He added that major 
travel agencies in Chengdu have been informed not to bring any 
tourists to the area until receiving further instructions from 
the government.  The contact did not comment on injuries to 
local Tibetans involved in the conflict. 
 
Chinese Officials Destroy 
Statue of Reincarnate Lama in the TAR 
-------------------------------------- 
¶8.  (C) On June 5, the Tibetan Center for Human Rights and 
Democracy (TCHRD), based in India, reported on the May 
demolition by Chinese police of a nearly completed religious 
statue at Samye Monastery in Lhoka Prefecture of the TAR.  The 
huge gold and copper statue of Guru Padmasambhava, a reincarnate 
lama revered by both Tibetan and Chinese Buddhists, was funded 
by Chinese devotees from inland China. 
 
¶9.  (C) A consulate contact who runs a business connected with 
Samye Monastery confirmed that a large group of Chinese soldiers 
came to the monastery and destroyed the statue.  The director of 
the monastery's Democratic Management Committee (DMC) was 
seriously criticized, and the monastery banned from building any 
new statues in the future.  Consulate contacted the General 
Director of the Samye Monastery DMC who said "small statues can 
be donated, but big ones are banned.  I have nothing more to say 
now." 
HILL