R 260938Z JUN 08
FM AMCONSUL CHENGDU
TO SECSTATE WASHDC 2872
INFO CHINA POSTS COLLECTIVE
NSC WASHINGTON DC
AMCONSUL CHENGDU

S E C R E T CHENGDU 000140 
 
 
DEPT FOR EAP/CM, DRL, G, INR 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL:  25X1 - HUMAN 
TAGS: PGOV PHUM PINR CH
SUBJECT: SECURITY CRACKDOWN IN CHENGDU'S "TIBET TOWN" 
 
REF: A. CHENGDU 135  (NOTAL) 
     ¶B. CHENGDU 85 (NOTAL) 
 
CLASSIFIED BY: James A. Boughner, Consul General, U.S. Consulate 
General, Chengdu. 
REASON: 1.4 (b), (d) 
 
 
¶1.  (S) Summary:  Following several days of a progressively 
escalating People's Armed Police (PAP) presence in a Tibetan 
area of downtown Chengdu, a large-scale security sweep was 
conducted the evening of June 25.  A growing floating population 
of ethnic Tibetans in the city, including monks who have fled a 
"patriotic education campaign" currently underway in western 
Sichuan Province, may have precipitated the crackdown.  End 
Summary. 
 
¶2.  (C) Security patrols in Chengdu's "Tibet Town," located near 
a major downtown tourist center, were stepped up several days 
ago with the arrival of the Olympic torch in Lhasa.  Cars were 
not allowed to stop on streets in the area.  One ethnic Tibetan 
described to us when he tried to park in "Tibet Town" on June 21 
how he was immediately confronted by a uniformed security 
officer cradling an automatic weapon who yelled,  "Go, you can't 
stop here." 
 
¶3. (S) At approximately 9:00 pm on June 25, PAP officers 
cordoned off "Tibet Town."  They stopped people on the street, 
checked identification cards, and searched cars.  Owners of 
small hotels, who reportedly were tipped off the previous day 
that a security crackdown was being planned, closed their 
establishments ahead of time and left the area.  According to 
one contact (a Han Chinese security official from western 
Sichuan currently visiting Chengdu), the PAP may have been 
searching for specific individuals wanted in the province's 
Tibetan Autonomous Prefectures of either Ganzi or Aba. 
 
¶4. (C) An ethnic Tibetan legally resident in Chengdu told us he 
was visited by security officers at his apartment at 10 pm on 
June 25, just after receiving two guests from Gansu Province. 
The security officers checked IDs and searched every room of the 
apartment.  The security officers, who could not speak Tibetan, 
told the Gansu residents they needed to register with the police 
as temporary visitors.  One of the visitors was from a remote 
herding district of Gansu and did not have a PRC national ID 
card.  He was told he would need to do that immediately in 
Chengdu.  The security officers loitered outside the apartment 
for several hours, perhaps to see if extra people would emerge. 
 
¶5. (S) Comment:  The recent crackdown on the Tibetan floating 
population of Chengdu may have occurred because many monks have 
reportedly gone into hiding in the city to escape the "patriotic 
education campaign" now underway in monasteries in western 
Sichuan (reftels).  Up to 100,000 Tibetans may reside in Chengdu 
at any given time, including many retired government and party 
cadres. 
 
BOUGHNER