[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 116 (Friday, September 5, 1997)]
[House]
[Pages H6957-H6959]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[[Page H6957]]
                        TIBET--A FIRST-HAND LOOK

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 7, 1997, the gentleman from Virginia [Mr. Wolf] is recognized 
for 60 minutes as the designee of the majority leader.
  Mr. WOLF. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate this opportunity to have this 
time.
  I recently returned from a journey to Tibet where I visited during 
the period of August 9-13 this summer, accompanied by a member of my 
staff and another Western man who was fluent in Tibetan and steeped in 
the culture. At no time while I was there did I tell the Tibetan and 
Chinese Government that I was a Member of Congress. I wanted to just 
kind of bring the body up to date on some of the things that we had an 
opportunity to see.
  At the outset, one of the first things I would show the Members is a 
picture of a monastery in ruins. The Chinese Government has ruined 
several thousand monasteries and is trying to eradicate the Buddhist 
faith.
  The second picture is a picture of an individual who was showing us a 
picture of the Dalai Lama. It is against the law to have a picture of 
the Dalai Lama and to show a picture of the Dalai Lama.
  The next picture is a picture of the Potala and then the marketplace. 
Around the marketplace, the Chinese are bulldozing a lot of the 
buildings and turning what was a Tibetan culture into a Chinese 
culture.
  This next picture is of a guard tower. If there is one growth 
industry in Tibet, it is prisons. It is a guard tower of the Sangyip 
prison complex. We went out and visited a number of prisons outside to 
take pictures.
  The last picture is the main gate of the Drapchi prison, which is a 
particularly brutal place that we heard stories of terrible, terrible 
punishment and types of torture that are really almost beyond the 
imagination.
  An approved delegation would have been very difficult to have been 
there because the Chinese have a history of denying Members of Congress 
who want to visit, visit Tibet. I cannot think of any other place in 
the world where a tighter lid is kept on open discussion. Government 
agents and spies and video cameras guard against personal outside 
contact. Offenders and even suspected offenders are dealt with quickly 
and brutally.

  In Tibet, humane progress is not even inching along and the repressed 
people live under unspeakably brutal conditions in the dim shadows of 
international awareness. One of the purposes of the trip is so that the 
world will know and will have to face and have to address, and the 
Clinton administration, which will be meeting with the President of 
China at the end of next month, will have to confront and address the 
horrible situation that is taking place in Tibet. We hope that when the 
American people know and when the Clinton administration knows that 
they will demand that China change its policy of boot-heel subjugation 
and end what one monk I met termed ``cultural genocide.''
  What they mean by cultural genocide is the Chinese are coming in and 
stripping the Tibetan society of its culture and trying to turn it into 
a Chinese society. The fact is Lhasa, the capital, is really no longer 
a Tibetan city. It is more a Chinese city than it is a city from Tibet.
  We found that the People's Republic of China has a near perfect 
record of vicious, immediate, and unrelenting reprisal against the 
merest whisper of Tibetan dissent. We met with monks and men and women 
on the streets and others who I may say risked their personal safety 
and well-being to just give us a few minutes alone to tell us how bad 
the conditions are in Tibet and to petition and urge that there be 
support from the West.
  Tibet is about the geographic size of Western Europe with a Tibetan 
population of around 6 million. It has been estimated that in the past 
2 decades, nearly 1 million Tibetans have been killed, starved, or 
tortured. That is 1 million out of roughly 6 million have been killed 
under the occupation of the People's Republic of China, of the Chinese 
Government. Let me just say that the Clinton administration ought to 
make it perfectly clear that 5 million Tibetans are of no danger to 1.2 
billion Chinese. Tibet is about the geographic size of Western Europe 
with a population, as I said, anywhere from 5 to 6 million. The 
People's Republic of China has undertaken a program of mass infusion of 
Chinese people who probably now outnumber Tibetans in their own 
country. There are no valid census data, but some estimate that in the 
capital of Lhasa there are about 160,000 Chinese and only 100,000 
Tibetans.
  In this market, many places would be Tibetan merchants but 
interspersed would be Chinese merchants. But yet when we went into the 
parts of town that were Chinese, there would be almost no Tibetans and 
the stores and the karaoke bars and different things like that would be 
all over the place. We have seen that change, the startling change that 
is taking place by the stripping away of the culture. Stores, hotels 
and bazaars and businesses and tradesmen are largely Chinese. 
Storefront signs bear large Chinese writings beneath much smaller 
Tibetan inscriptions. Driving out from Lhasa, one encounters as many 
Chinese villagers, shepherds, farmers, construction workers, and 
travelers as Tibetan. In short, Tibetan culture is rapidly 
disappearing.
  What do the Tibetan people say? Before my trip, I was told that 
individuals would seek me out, an obvious Westerner, visitor, to hear 
their story. I might say at no time did I ever tell anyone in Tibet 
that spoke to me or anyone else that I was a Member of Congress. I was 
told that it would be very dangerous for them, that informers were 
everywhere and being caught talking to a Westerner was a guaranteed 
ticket to prison and more. Frankly I was skeptical that anyone would 
approach us and yet I was wrong. Someone took advantage at almost every 
opportunity for a guarded word or two.
  During our first encounter with a Tibetan who realized we were 
Westerners and one of us was fluent in Tibetan, we found that he could 
not contain himself. He said, ``Many are in jail, most for political 
reasons.'' We saw the Drapchi prison which is off the beaten path in a 
slum area. Guards in pairs were ever present as we showed in the photo. 
We saw the Sangyip prison complex, which I also put in the photo and 
then Gusta prison.
  As I said, prisons certainly appear to be a growth industry in that 
area. We were told that Tibetans would not take chances, and yet they 
did take chances. The man went on to tell us that it was important that 
we see these places. He did not care and he wanted us to see what a 
nightmare tour this was going to be. We passed the main security 
bureau, the intelligence headquarters, and then the prison bureau, each 
heavily guarded. All the while, we heard about monks and nuns and 
common men and women who were dragged away to prison and tortured. He 
said to us, ``Don't worry about me at all,'' and continued to tell 
about the torture that was taking place of Tibetan monks and nuns and 
the Tibetan people.

                              {time}  1515

  They are routinely beaten with sticks, kicked and poked with electric 
sticks, cattle prods with huge electric charge. Political prisoners are 
isolated from the general prison population and kept in unlighted and 
unheated areas with no sanitary or medical facilities, almost no food 
or water at times. He added that the people have no rights. They cannot 
talk freely.
  Even though Tibetans view the Dalai Lama as their spiritual and 
political leader, they are forbidden to show their affection and love 
for him, and possessing a picture of the Dalai Lama could be an offense 
which could draw harsh and brutal punishment and imprisonment.
  He went on to say, ``We Tibetans must have permission from the 
Chinese to do everything, and we can do nothing on our own.'' So when 
Clinton gets the opportunity to meet their President, when our 
President meets their President, he should make the issue of the 
Tibetan people a priority issue, not privately, but publicly; not 
behind the scenes, but in front of the scenes.
  Strangely enough, strangely enough, the Chinese Government officials 
have gotten to visit the White House to meet with the President, and 
yet when the Dalai Lama came, they had what they called a ``drop-by,'' 
where the President dropped by another office,

[[Page H6958]]

but would not see him in the Oval Office, as he did some of the people 
from China.
  Why should the Tibetan people have to go through and suffer under 
this type of oppression? The Dalai Lama has asked for help. They have 
asked a number of Western countries for help, and a number of Western 
countries are helping.
  All of this story that I was telling came from one man. The agony, 
the agony of his people, the agony of his family. Yet he ended by 
saying, ``I am not afraid. Some day the sun will again shine in 
Tibet.'' And throughout we found overwhelming support for the Dalai 
Lama by every single Tibetan that we talked to.
  Yet, if you read the Chinese newspapers, they give the impression 
that the Dalai Lama is not supported. Quite frankly, the PRC Government 
is wrong, and the people of Tibet support the Dalai Lama.
  On the issue of religious persecution, next week this body will hold 
hearings on a piece of legislation introduced by about 115 members of 
this body, Republicans, Democrats, conservatives, liberals, 
Independents, across the board, which will set up a special office in 
the White House to look at the religious persecution.
  As many people know, there are perhaps more Christians being 
persecuted today than at maybe any other time in the history of this 
country in so many other countries, and last year this Congress proudly 
put the Congress on record to deal with the issue of the persecution of 
people of faith of whatever faith. And one of the faiths that we 
discussed in the last Congress, and we will deal with in this 
legislation, will be those of the Buddhists in Tibet.
  We visited numerous monasteries where monks and nuns would talk to 
us. Their stories amplified what we had already learned. Every 
monastery we visited was tightly controlled by a small group of Chinese 
overseers, who have a cadre to report. And how would you like to have a 
cadre at your church, a cadre at your synagogue, a cadre at your 
mosque? Why does the Chinese Government have to put cadres at all the 
monasteries in Tibet?
  I call on the government to demonstrate that they should withdraw and 
pull these people out, whereby these Buddhist monks and nuns can 
worship without having Chinese overseers watching everything that they 
do.
  Every report we heard told of a dramatic reduction in the number of 
monks at the monasteries. Many were imprisoned for not turning their 
backs on the Dalai Lama. It would almost be like somebody asking you to 
deny something, to deny your family, to deny your mother, to deny your 
father; and they refuse to deny them, and thereby they are taken away 
to prison.
  Many are in prison for not turning their backs on the Dalai Lama, or 
even refusing to give up the pictures of him.
  Young monks, some under 15, are turned out, and since the Cultural 
Revolution, many monasteries have been destroyed. Rebuilding, although 
there is some rebuilding, rebuilding has been painfully, painfully 
slow.
  We were told on several occasions that the monks are afraid. When 
asked what message they would like me to take back to America, I was 
told that they are not allowed in many cases to practice their religion 
and that their people are suffering. Their biggest hope is to be free, 
free to practice their faith, free to travel, free to teach their 
children their culture.
  My goodness, how does that harm China? Under the Chinese 
constitution, under their constitution that they sometimes will refer 
to, Tibet ought to have the freedom whereby they can do these things. 
They want the opportunity to be free.
  At one place we met a woman at worship. When she realized we were 
Americans, she burst forth. She started to talk and then began to sob 
and tears poured down her face as she told us of the conditions.
  She said ``Lhasa may be beautiful on the outside, but inside it is 
ugly. We are not allowed to practice what we want to practice. Senior 
monks are gone, and there are no replacements, and they are our 
teachers.''
  Asked for a message to America, she said, ``Please help us, please 
help the Dalai Lama. When there is pressure from the West,'' and I 
would urge this administration that has not put pressure, and she said, 
``Many times when there is pressure from the West, things loosen up a 
bit before returning to as before. Please have America help us.''
  Every single person with whom we spoke had very positive feelings 
with regard to America and with regard to the American people. We were 
always given a thumbs-up or a smile with a comment, ``America is 
great.''
  The people would not stop talking to us, even when their safety could 
have been potentially threatened. But when they knew that we were from 
America, they were pleased, they smiled, because they have great 
respect. They listen to Radio Free Asia and they know about America, 
and they were pleased to see that somebody was going to go back and 
take the word back.
  The Chinese stranglehold, the Chinese assault is on the cities, the 
countryside, the environment. It has been no less harsh than its 
assault on the people.
  What they are doing to the environment of Tibet is terrible. Tibet 
areas in Lhasa are being demolished and replaced with smaller and more 
confined structures, with remaining space being given over to Chinese 
users. The area in front of the Potala Palace has been bulldozed and 
leveled and turned into sort of a minimum or small Tiananmen Square, 
with a MiG, a Chinese MiG, in the middle, like it is something that 
people want to see, some MiG on stilts. All of the Tibetan buildings in 
front of the Potala have been destroyed or demolished.
  This is not a pretty picture. The glowing reports of progress from 
Beijing or Shanghai, where business is booming and skyscrapers may be 
rising and industry and education perhaps is increasing, have certainly 
not reached Tibet. It has not reached Tibet.

  I am not connecting this to the issue of MFN and everything else, but 
I have heard Members say that conditions were improving in China, and 
they actually had laptop computers and things were wonderful. Those 
conditions, if they exist, have not reached Tibet.
  America and the rest of the free world should help and urge China to 
back off from its clear goal to plunder Tibet. The true story of Tibet 
is not being told, aside from a few courageous journalists. Many times 
people in the political process can complain about the press.
  I say, as Thomas Jefferson said, ``God bless the free press, because 
if the press were not going in and covering many of these cases, the 
world would not know about it.''
  So the press, whenever they can get in, are attempting to tell the 
story, but the Chinese Government will not allow the press in.
  The U.S. Government's policy seems many times to be based on 
economics, to open more and more markets with China and to ignore every 
other aspect of responsible behavior. Men cannot live by bread alone, 
and economic growth, while it is important, is not the main thing in 
life. Also, the spiritual aspects and the opportunity for faith are 
important, and the United States Government and President Clinton, when 
he meets with the Chinese, should raise this issue.
  The clock is ticking. The clock is ticking for Tibet. If nothing is 
done, a country, its people, its religion, its culture, will continue 
to grow fainter and fainter and could one day disappear. That would 
indeed be a tragedy.
  Based on the observations, I will submit a complete copy of the 
report for the Record at the summation of these comments, here are some 
of the observations and recommendations.
  First, the administration must appoint a special representative for 
Tibet who will both understand the conditions there and who will 
aggressively pursue improvements. The person that they should appoint 
for Tibet should be someone like Richard Holbrook, somebody who is 
strong and knows the issue, somebody who speaks out, somebody like 
that, and not somebody who will just go along and get along and not do 
anything.
  Second, the administration should raise with the People's Republic of 
China the issue of Tibet, both before and during the forthcoming visit 
by Chinese President Jiang Zemin to Washington. Efforts to obtain the 
release of political prisoners must be part of that initiative. We know 
of approximately 700 political prisoners that

[[Page H6959]]

are rotting away in the jails of Tibet, and these political prisoners, 
their cases should be raised.
  Third, efforts to open Tibet to the international press and human 
rights groups must go forward. As long as the Chinese continue to 
exercise power away from the public scrutiny, brutal excesses will 
continue.
  Asia Watch should go in. The American Red Cross, the ICRC, the Swiss 
Red Cross, religious groups, different people should all ask for the 
opportunity to go and visit Tibet, see if the people in Beijing are 
being true when they say that Tibet is open and you can travel.
  You should ask to travel. You should ask for a visa. You should ask 
for a permit and see if you are able to go.
  Fourth, I urge my colleagues in the House and in the Senate to make 
every effort to travel to Tibet. Congressional delegations traveling 
into Tibet could very well make a difference. Even though they may have 
a Chinese handler with them, the very nature of an American Member of 
Congress or a Western member of the parliament coming in, being there, 
walking through the markets, walking through the town, being seen, 
sends a message to the Tibetan people that the people of the West and 
the people of the United States care.
  I urge my colleagues in the House and in the Senate to adopt a 
prisoner of conscience and contact the People's Republic of China time 
and time again on his or her behalf.
  When Perm Camp 35 in the Soviet Union existed during the dark days of 
communism, we went in and met with the prisoners. The prisoners told us 
they knew when a family in the United States or the West adopted them 
and wrote to them. They knew about it. Sometimes the letters got to 
them, sometimes they just got to the warden. If the warden knew that 10 
or 20 letters a week or a day were coming in for prisoner X or Y, the 
warden was careful how they treated that prisoner. If it never got to 
the Perm Camp, but it got to Moscow, then the word came forth from the 
Communist official, be careful what you do to prisoner X or Y.
  So we in the Congress and the American people should adopt prisoners 
of conscience and write to them and send them messages and try to visit 
them, send them magazines, write to the Chinese Government, write to 
the Chinese Embassy here in Washington, because we have to let the 
world know.
  If you can imagine you are in the darkest, most dingy place almost on 
the Earth and nobody cares, you wonder, does anybody care? So by 
adopting these prisoners of conscience, as we did in the Soviet Union 
in the 1970's and 1980's, we make a difference.
  Just talk to Natan Scharanski, who was so courageous, in Perm Camp 
35. He knew the West was thinking of him, was praying for him, was 
remembering him. He was so proud and so bold and encouraged that when 
he got out of Perm Camp 35, on the bridge in Berlin going from East to 
West Berlin, the Communist officials told him to walk straight across 
the bridge. What did Scharanski do? He walked this way and then that 
way, and he zigged and zagged, because he was a free man, and he 
remembered that the people of the West stood with him, and we should 
stand with the prisoners of conscience in Tibet.
  Sixth, we urge a strong effort that officials from the International 
Committee of the Red Cross, the ICRC, and the American Bureau of 
Prisons visit the Tibetan prisons to observe the condition and 
treatment of prisoners and urge and push for improvements.

                              {time}  1530

  If the Chinese want to come into our prisons, fine, let them come 
into ours, and we will go into theirs.
  Seventh, I urge the administration and the press for representatives 
from the free world to attend the trials of Tibetans accused of 
political crimes, as has been done in Eastern Europe and elsewhere.
  During the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe we would send an American 
representative of the American Embassy who would go and sit in the 
courtroom, be at the trial, which would put some restraint on the 
Communist officials.
  Eigth, I urge religious leaders of all denominations around the world 
to pressure the Peoples Republic of China for permission to visit 
Tibet.
  Last, I urge the administration and others to press the Chinese 
Government to engage in negotiations and in dialogue with the Dalai 
Lama concerning the future of Tibet, and to give the people of Tibet 
their freedom.
  I close by saying to the Chinese Government, 5\1/2\ million Tibetans 
are of absolutely no threat to 1.2 billion Chinese.

                          ____________________