[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 148 (Wednesday, October 29, 1997)]
[Senate]
[Pages S11339-S11340]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                            NGAWANG CHOEPHEL

  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, I regret that I must again bring to the 
Senate's attention the situation of imprisoned Tibetan music and dance 
scholar, Ngawang Choephel. I had hoped that Chinese authorities would 
have recognized by now the grave mistake they made in sentencing him to 
18 years in prison.
  In 1995, Mr. Choephel was in Tibet making a documentary film of 
traditional Tibetan music and dance when he was detained by Chinese 
authorities. After being held incommunicado for 15 months without 
access to his family or independent legal counsel, Mr. Choephel was 
sentenced to 18 years in

[[Page S11340]]

prison for violating the State Security Law. It was insinuated that he 
was paid by the U.S. Government to spy on behalf of the Dalai Lama. No 
evidence to support such a claim has ever been produced. The 16 hours 
of film Mr. Choephel sent to India during the first weeks of his 
project simply contain footage of the traditional music and dance he 
said he had gone to document.
  Persistent inquiries to Chinese authorities regarding Mr. Choephel's 
whereabouts and the condition of his health have produced little 
information. I wrote to the head of the Chinese Communist Party soon 
after Mr. Choephel's detention and received no reply. I raised his case 
personally in meetings with President Jiang Zemin and other Chinese 
officials last November in Beijing and received no reply. I have 
written to President Jiang since then to urge his personal intervention 
in this case and received no reply. I am just one of many who have 
sought information about Mr. Choephel to no avail. As of today we have 
no information as to where Mr. Choephel is being held, or even if he is 
still alive.
  This is an outrageous situation. A former Fulbright Scholar has been 
deprived of 18 years of his life as a result of spurious charges by a 
government that will not even reveal his whereabouts. I have urged the 
White House to raise Mr. Choephel's case with President Jiang. I plan 
to do the same. If President Jiang is interested in fostering closer 
ties with the United States, he could make no gesture more meaningful 
than ordering his release.
  Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that excerpts from an article 
entitled ``Who Is Invited to the Banquet?'' by Jeff Kaufman of the 
Rutland Daily Herald be printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the article was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

             [From the Rutland Daily Herald, Oct. 23, 1997]

Who Is Invited to the Banquet?--Tibetan From Vermont Remains in Chinese 
                                 Prison

                           (By Jeff Kaufman)

       In a few weeks, the Clinton administration will welcome 
     Chinese President Jiang Zemin on his first state visit to the 
     United States. Champagne, smiles, encouraging words and a 
     good dose of pomp and circumstance will be broadcast, not 
     just to Americans, but around the world. Sidebar statements 
     about human and workers' rights will be drowned out by 
     televised images that will instantly convey the central 
     message of such a historic meeting: The leaders of the 
     world's most powerful countries are celebrating joint 
     ventures and common purpose.

                           *   *   *   *   *

       Anonymity for political prisoners is a tyrant's ally, so 
     here is a name and a story to personalize the kind of cruelty 
     imposed by China's prison archipelago. This individual case 
     may be not be typical in that it involves a young man who 
     left the safety of America to travel to his native Tibet, but 
     it is all too typical in its show of intolerance, judicial 
     abuse and lack of regard for basic standards of human rights.
       Tibetan exile and Fulbright scholar Ngawang Choopal came to 
     this country at the age of 27 to study ethnomusicology at 
     Middlebury College in 1993. In the summer of 1995, he 
     returned to Tibet to film a documentary about traditional 
     Tibetan music and dance. Sixteen hours of video were sent to 
     friends in the West; they show beautiful images and sounds of 
     a great culture, but no military installations, no political 
     protests, not a critical word against China.
       Nonetheless, Chinese authorities arrested Ngawang Choepal 
     in Llasa's Shigatse market in September 1995. He was 
     incarcerated for 15 months without being allowed to meet his 
     family, independent legal counsel, or American 
     representatives. Sen. Patrick Leahy visited Beijing in 
     November 1996 and appealed directly to President Jiang Zemin 
     on behalf of Ngawang. That plea was at first followed by a 
     vague promise to examine the case. A month later, Chinese 
     authorities convicted Ngawang Choepal of espionage and 
     providing information ``to the Dalai Lama clique's 
     government-in-exile and to an organization of a certain 
     foreign country.''
       The sentence imposed was stunningly severe: 18 years in 
     prison. Eighteen years in a Chinese jail for videotaping 
     people dancing to old Tibetan songs.
       The Chinese government has ignored assurances from the 
     United States that Ngawang Choepal is just a non-political 
     music student, several congressional resolutions in his 
     support, pleas from his family and a number of worldwide 
     letter-writing campaigns.
       In fact, the international Campaign for Tibet reports that 
     the American Embassy in Beijing is not even certain in what 
     prison Ngawang is being held.
       Ngawang Choepal's case is tragic on its own very personal 
     terms and as a reflection of a much wider Chinese decision to 
     wipe out all opposition no matter how benign and no matter 
     how inadvertent.
       Such an outrageous violation of human rights should be a 
     serious obstacle to productive relations between the United 
     States and China (it certainly would be if the offending 
     country had less trade potential).
       Sadly, President Clinton and in essence our whole country 
     will soon host the man who is responsible for locking up 
     Ngawang Choepal and who could instantly set him free. When 
     President Jiang Zemin visits America later this month, he'll 
     be toasted, feasted, and courted by businesses and lobbyists. 
     Ngawang Choepal's voice will not pass through the thick stone 
     walls that he faces every day.
       Who will speak out for him and thousands like him?
       It should be our president and secretary of state using the 
     impressive clout of the United States. Soon we will see what 
     this country really stands for.

                          ____________________