Thursday, December 29, 2011
Krakauer article from The New Yorker
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December 28, 2011
Why Is Nepal Cracking Down on Tibetan Refugees?
Posted by Jon Krakauer
Friction between Chinese authorities and the five million Tibetans who live within the borders of China is on the rise, and nowhere is the strife more apparent than in the neighboring nation of Nepal. Last month in Kathmandu, I spoke with five young Tibetans who had just journeyed across the Himalayas to escape draconian policies imposed by the Beijing government in their homeland. More than six hundred Tibetans have fled to Nepal this year, even though it’s a dangerous undertaking. Asylum seekers have lost limbs to frostbite, perished in blizzards, and been arrested by Chinese border patrols. Some have been shot. The youngest of the refugees I met was a fourteen-year-old girl. She was aware of the hazards but lit out for the border anyway, hoping that if she made it into Nepal she’d find safe passage to India, where in 1959 the Dalai Lama established the Tibetan government-in-exile, and where more than a hundred thousand Tibetan refugees presently reside.
According to an informal arrangement hammered out twenty-two years ago between the government of Nepal and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (U.N.H.C.R.), Kathmandu pledged to allow Tibetans to travel through Nepal en route to India, and to facilitate their transit. Lately, however, this established protocol has been ignored with increasing frequency. Nepalese police have been apprehending Tibetans far inside Nepal, robbing them, and then returning them to Tibet at gunpoint, where they are typically imprisoned and not uncommonly tortured by the Chinese. According to “Tibet’s Stateless Nationals,” a hundred-and-thirty-three-page report issued by the Tibet Justice Center, a relatively small number of these Tibetans have been beaten, raped, and/or shot by the Nepalese police—abuses confirmed by several refugees with whom I spoke during my recent visit to Nepal.
These violations of the U.N.H.C.R. agreement and international law were bought and paid for by Beijing. According to a confidential U.S. embassy cable published by WikiLeaks in 2010, China “rewards [Nepalese forces] by providing financial incentives to officers who hand over Tibetans attempting to exit China.” Another cable stated, “Beijing has asked Kathmandu to step up patrols … and make it more difficult for Tibetans to enter Nepal.”
With an annual per capita income of $645—less than two dollars a day—Nepal is desperate for whatever alms China offers, never mind the strings attached. In 2009, Beijing promised to promote tourism to Nepal, invest in major Nepalese hydropower projects, and increase its financial assistance by approximately eighteen million dollars annually. In return, Kathmandu pledged to endorse Beijing’s “one-China policy” (which decrees that both Taiwan and Tibet are “inalienable parts of Chinese territory”) and to prohibit “anti-Chinese activities” within Nepal. Activities deemed unacceptable include gathering for prayers on the birthday of the Dalai Lama and displaying the Tibetan flag. On November 10th, after a Buddhist monk in Kathmandu doused his robes with kerosene and ignited himself to protest Chinese thuggery, a spokesman for Nepal’s Home Ministry declared that the government was considering revoking “all the rights granted to Tibetans residing in Nepal,” despite the fact that Nepal’s constitution guarantees such rights as freedom of expression and peaceful assembly to all persons, and Nepal’s Supreme Court has ruled that restricting Tibetans’ civil rights is illegal.
An estimated twenty thousand Tibetan refugees now live in Nepal, mostly in settlements established after the 1959 invasion of Lhasa by the People’s Liberation Army prompted many Tibetans to flee. For the next thirty years, Nepal welcomed Tibetans, and every Tibetan in the country was issued a “refugee identity certificate,” known as an “R.C.” But Kathmandu stopped accepting additional Tibetan refugees in 1989, ceding to pressure from Beijing, and that pressure has been intensifying. Since 1998, the Nepalese government has refused to issue R.C.s to Tibetans, including children born in Nepal to refugee parents who’ve been residing in the country for decades.
The upshot is that a generation of Tibetans who’ve spent their entire lives in Nepal don’t exist as far as the Nepalese bureaucracy is concerned. Lacking R.C.s, these young refugees cannot obtain driver’s licenses, apply for jobs, or open bank accounts. It is difficult or impossible for them to attend Nepalese schools. Without an R.C., a Tibetan has no legal right to remain in Nepal and may be deported to China at any time—yet Kathmandu refuses to provide these refugees with travel documents that would allow them to immigrate to nations such as the U.S., Canada, and India, where they have been offered asylum.
Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao was slated to travel to Kathmandu on December 19th for an official state visit, leading a hundred-and-one-member delegation from Beijing. Wen was expected to sign a commitment to provide Nepal with a five-billion-dollar line of credit—in return for promises from Nepal to clamp down even harder on Tibetan refugees. At the last minute, however, Beijing postponed the visit indefinitely; according to an official quoted by AFP, the delay had to do with security concerns, specifically the “possibility of protests from Tibetan exiles.” The Chinese ambassador to Kathmandu, Yang Houlan, had previously warned that “Nepal is turning into a playground for anti-China activities,” prompting speculation that Beijing is using the postponement of Wen’s visit as a cudgel to discourage Nepal from softening its policies toward Tibetan refugees.
At a refugee settlement outside the city of Pokhara, a Tibetan in his twenties proposed a simple step to dial down the tension: “If the government is worried about Tibetans threatening Nepal’s security, give us R.C.s.” Such a move would be win-win for all parties, he suggested, because it would allow the authorities to “know what we are doing, and we can get education and jobs.”
“How would it harm China for me to have an identity card?” a Tibetan teen-ager wondered at another refugee settlement. “I was born in Nepal. I’m seventeen years old. All I want is the opportunity for education and a job. How does denying me such things help anyone?”
He has a point. Nepal’s bullying of its Tibetan community is more likely to incite unrest inside China than to dampen it. The Dalai Lama has repeatedly and unequivocally stated that he and his followers “do not seek independence for Tibet.” But few Chinese trust such assurances from a man their leaders have long characterized as a conniving monster. Beijing is adamant that granting concessions to any Tibetans, even Tibetans in exile, poses a dire threat. The great fear is that Tibetan dissent will inflame other ethnic groups inside China, initiating a chain reaction that culminates in the People’s Republic suffering the same fate as the Soviet Union. Given Chinese perceptions of what’s at stake, and Beijing’s ability to purchase apparently limitless influence in Kathmandu, the future doesn’t look bright for Tibetan youth now coming of age in Nepal.
Photograph by Prakash Mathema/AFP/Getty Images.
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Keywords
China;
Nepal;
Tibet
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I would like to see these alleged statements by the US lauding the Nepalese government's handling the Tibetan situation in Nepal. Earlier this year, in the "2010 Human Rights Report) released by the State Department, the report condemned the Nepalese Government for confirmed reports of the Nepalese government returning Tibetans to Chinese occupied Tibet. What sort of government returns refugees to the country they are fleeing from, fully aware of what will happen to them once they are in the hands of such repressive authorities? The Maoists and UPN-CML reneged on the "Gentleman's Agreement" in 2008, as cited in the article "Nepal Deporting Tibetans to China Secretly" in the "Indian Defense Review" issue of April 15, 2011, or read more about this and other articles concerning Nepal and Tibet at dwhammerblog.blogspot.com.
Posted 12/29/2011, 7:26:24pm by dwh
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Oh please "JRINALDI" you are too much of an apologist. I have no view on Tibetan independence, but the fact that Nepalese police are robbing and raping Tibetans is a bit over-the-top no? Or is that the Nepalese police are only raping 30% of the refugees, while the Chinese government is demanding that they rob and rape 100%?
Posted 12/29/2011, 2:33:22pm by PxP
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No, the UN Agreement has stipulated that Tibetans be allowed to transit through Nepal to India. The sticking point is that Nepal does not, in its constitution, recognize refugees as a valid, existential and political status. From what I have read the US Government has not indicated that they feel that the Nepalese government is doing a "good" job, and have, in fact, registered deep concern over the treatment of Tibetan refugees in Nepal. I live part time in Nepal, and have assisted Tibetan refugees at the Tarshi Palkhiel Refugee Camp outside of Pokhara, and I can attest from personal experience that what Mr. Krakauer states here is spot on. Prachanda, the Maoist leader, offered a few years ago to send refugees back to Tibet, a violation of many UN Human Rights agreements that the Nepalese government has signed on to. There have been videos taken of Chinese border guards shooting Tibetan refugees attempting to cross into Nepal in the Himalaya. Nepalese police brutalized pro-Tibet protesters during the run up to the Beijing Olympics in 2008 in Kathmandu and Lalitpur. I helped a Tibetan family relocate from the refugee camp, to the US, and on to Canada, and though the husband, like many Tibetans of his generation, was born in Nepal in the refugee camp (he is 43 now), and had the right to residency status, he was never granted this status, and the government let it be known that it would cost thousands of dollars to have his status readjusted, on top of the regular fees. Almost everyone of his generation in the camp, and outside of it, born in exile in Nepal, cannot get their ID cards, and therefor exist in legal limbo: they cannot work, own land, even travel. Really, the list of crimes and prejudicial acts against Tibetans, legally residing in the country, and those of Tibetan origins, such as the Tamang, Sherpas, and others, is too long to reiterate. But the assertion that China, through the Maoist Party in Nepal, is trying to control Nepal's domestic policy, is undeniable. The International Campaign for Tibet has had its Nepal workforce team detained and beaten up by Chinese government squads IN Nepal. Why should the US worry about irritating a "volatile" China, when their policy towards Tibet, and those who are in a position to help Tibetans, has been perfectly clear for the past 60 years - exterminate Tibet. I suspect that part of China's contempt for Nepal's right to sovereignity stems from the fact that the Nepalese Government allowed the CIA to train Khampa guerillas, and launch attacks, from Mustang, a semi-autonomous region in Nepal, up until Nixon signed detente with Mao, then disbanded the entire operation, but now I'm getting a little off track. In short, China cries foul when it deems that foreign powers are meddling in its internal affairs. Yet it is doing the same here to Nepal, but some posters condemn Americans for "irritating" the Chinese - is this our biggest concern in foreign affairs? Maybe himalayanaid.org receives significant funding from the Chinese.
Posted 12/29/2011, 12:55:41pm by dwh
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Your assessment is fundamentally incorrect in one key aspect: The UN agreement, as it is, simply stipulates that transiting Tibetans that are captured by Nepali forces in Nepal are to be turned over to the UNHCR for a determination of status. It is tremendously irresponsible and dangerous to put forward the idea that Nepal must somehow guarantee safe passage for Tibetans. Such false assertions irritate a volatile China which in turn pressures Nepal to increase its oppression of Tibetans. It would certainly have benefited your level of accuracy here if you would have done a bit of research on the U.S. position regarding this issue as offered by Ambassador Scott DeLisi. You would have uncovered the fact that the U.S. believes Nepal is doing a good job in handling Tibetans considering the tremendous pressures exerted upon their efforts by a China that seeks a more repressive treatment. James Rinaldi himalayanaid.org
Posted 12/28/2011, 8:32:34pm by JRinaldi
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Read more http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/newsdesk/2011/12/why-is-nepal-cracking-down-on-tibetan-refugees.html#ixzz1hyShjz00
Notes on Washington and the world by the staff of The New Yorker.
.
« Ben Nelson and the Politics of Pork and Polarization
Main
To-Do List: Betrayal in the Bachmann Camp? »
December 28, 2011
Why Is Nepal Cracking Down on Tibetan Refugees?
Posted by Jon Krakauer
Friction between Chinese authorities and the five million Tibetans who live within the borders of China is on the rise, and nowhere is the strife more apparent than in the neighboring nation of Nepal. Last month in Kathmandu, I spoke with five young Tibetans who had just journeyed across the Himalayas to escape draconian policies imposed by the Beijing government in their homeland. More than six hundred Tibetans have fled to Nepal this year, even though it’s a dangerous undertaking. Asylum seekers have lost limbs to frostbite, perished in blizzards, and been arrested by Chinese border patrols. Some have been shot. The youngest of the refugees I met was a fourteen-year-old girl. She was aware of the hazards but lit out for the border anyway, hoping that if she made it into Nepal she’d find safe passage to India, where in 1959 the Dalai Lama established the Tibetan government-in-exile, and where more than a hundred thousand Tibetan refugees presently reside.
According to an informal arrangement hammered out twenty-two years ago between the government of Nepal and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (U.N.H.C.R.), Kathmandu pledged to allow Tibetans to travel through Nepal en route to India, and to facilitate their transit. Lately, however, this established protocol has been ignored with increasing frequency. Nepalese police have been apprehending Tibetans far inside Nepal, robbing them, and then returning them to Tibet at gunpoint, where they are typically imprisoned and not uncommonly tortured by the Chinese. According to “Tibet’s Stateless Nationals,” a hundred-and-thirty-three-page report issued by the Tibet Justice Center, a relatively small number of these Tibetans have been beaten, raped, and/or shot by the Nepalese police—abuses confirmed by several refugees with whom I spoke during my recent visit to Nepal.
These violations of the U.N.H.C.R. agreement and international law were bought and paid for by Beijing. According to a confidential U.S. embassy cable published by WikiLeaks in 2010, China “rewards [Nepalese forces] by providing financial incentives to officers who hand over Tibetans attempting to exit China.” Another cable stated, “Beijing has asked Kathmandu to step up patrols … and make it more difficult for Tibetans to enter Nepal.”
With an annual per capita income of $645—less than two dollars a day—Nepal is desperate for whatever alms China offers, never mind the strings attached. In 2009, Beijing promised to promote tourism to Nepal, invest in major Nepalese hydropower projects, and increase its financial assistance by approximately eighteen million dollars annually. In return, Kathmandu pledged to endorse Beijing’s “one-China policy” (which decrees that both Taiwan and Tibet are “inalienable parts of Chinese territory”) and to prohibit “anti-Chinese activities” within Nepal. Activities deemed unacceptable include gathering for prayers on the birthday of the Dalai Lama and displaying the Tibetan flag. On November 10th, after a Buddhist monk in Kathmandu doused his robes with kerosene and ignited himself to protest Chinese thuggery, a spokesman for Nepal’s Home Ministry declared that the government was considering revoking “all the rights granted to Tibetans residing in Nepal,” despite the fact that Nepal’s constitution guarantees such rights as freedom of expression and peaceful assembly to all persons, and Nepal’s Supreme Court has ruled that restricting Tibetans’ civil rights is illegal.
An estimated twenty thousand Tibetan refugees now live in Nepal, mostly in settlements established after the 1959 invasion of Lhasa by the People’s Liberation Army prompted many Tibetans to flee. For the next thirty years, Nepal welcomed Tibetans, and every Tibetan in the country was issued a “refugee identity certificate,” known as an “R.C.” But Kathmandu stopped accepting additional Tibetan refugees in 1989, ceding to pressure from Beijing, and that pressure has been intensifying. Since 1998, the Nepalese government has refused to issue R.C.s to Tibetans, including children born in Nepal to refugee parents who’ve been residing in the country for decades.
The upshot is that a generation of Tibetans who’ve spent their entire lives in Nepal don’t exist as far as the Nepalese bureaucracy is concerned. Lacking R.C.s, these young refugees cannot obtain driver’s licenses, apply for jobs, or open bank accounts. It is difficult or impossible for them to attend Nepalese schools. Without an R.C., a Tibetan has no legal right to remain in Nepal and may be deported to China at any time—yet Kathmandu refuses to provide these refugees with travel documents that would allow them to immigrate to nations such as the U.S., Canada, and India, where they have been offered asylum.
Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao was slated to travel to Kathmandu on December 19th for an official state visit, leading a hundred-and-one-member delegation from Beijing. Wen was expected to sign a commitment to provide Nepal with a five-billion-dollar line of credit—in return for promises from Nepal to clamp down even harder on Tibetan refugees. At the last minute, however, Beijing postponed the visit indefinitely; according to an official quoted by AFP, the delay had to do with security concerns, specifically the “possibility of protests from Tibetan exiles.” The Chinese ambassador to Kathmandu, Yang Houlan, had previously warned that “Nepal is turning into a playground for anti-China activities,” prompting speculation that Beijing is using the postponement of Wen’s visit as a cudgel to discourage Nepal from softening its policies toward Tibetan refugees.
At a refugee settlement outside the city of Pokhara, a Tibetan in his twenties proposed a simple step to dial down the tension: “If the government is worried about Tibetans threatening Nepal’s security, give us R.C.s.” Such a move would be win-win for all parties, he suggested, because it would allow the authorities to “know what we are doing, and we can get education and jobs.”
“How would it harm China for me to have an identity card?” a Tibetan teen-ager wondered at another refugee settlement. “I was born in Nepal. I’m seventeen years old. All I want is the opportunity for education and a job. How does denying me such things help anyone?”
He has a point. Nepal’s bullying of its Tibetan community is more likely to incite unrest inside China than to dampen it. The Dalai Lama has repeatedly and unequivocally stated that he and his followers “do not seek independence for Tibet.” But few Chinese trust such assurances from a man their leaders have long characterized as a conniving monster. Beijing is adamant that granting concessions to any Tibetans, even Tibetans in exile, poses a dire threat. The great fear is that Tibetan dissent will inflame other ethnic groups inside China, initiating a chain reaction that culminates in the People’s Republic suffering the same fate as the Soviet Union. Given Chinese perceptions of what’s at stake, and Beijing’s ability to purchase apparently limitless influence in Kathmandu, the future doesn’t look bright for Tibetan youth now coming of age in Nepal.
Photograph by Prakash Mathema/AFP/Getty Images.
.
Keywords
China;
Nepal;
Tibet
POSTED IN
News Desk
6
Comments
6 comments |
I would like to see these alleged statements by the US lauding the Nepalese government's handling the Tibetan situation in Nepal. Earlier this year, in the "2010 Human Rights Report) released by the State Department, the report condemned the Nepalese Government for confirmed reports of the Nepalese government returning Tibetans to Chinese occupied Tibet. What sort of government returns refugees to the country they are fleeing from, fully aware of what will happen to them once they are in the hands of such repressive authorities? The Maoists and UPN-CML reneged on the "Gentleman's Agreement" in 2008, as cited in the article "Nepal Deporting Tibetans to China Secretly" in the "Indian Defense Review" issue of April 15, 2011, or read more about this and other articles concerning Nepal and Tibet at dwhammerblog.blogspot.com.
Posted 12/29/2011, 7:26:24pm by dwh
Report abuse
Oh please "JRINALDI" you are too much of an apologist. I have no view on Tibetan independence, but the fact that Nepalese police are robbing and raping Tibetans is a bit over-the-top no? Or is that the Nepalese police are only raping 30% of the refugees, while the Chinese government is demanding that they rob and rape 100%?
Posted 12/29/2011, 2:33:22pm by PxP
Report abuse
No, the UN Agreement has stipulated that Tibetans be allowed to transit through Nepal to India. The sticking point is that Nepal does not, in its constitution, recognize refugees as a valid, existential and political status. From what I have read the US Government has not indicated that they feel that the Nepalese government is doing a "good" job, and have, in fact, registered deep concern over the treatment of Tibetan refugees in Nepal. I live part time in Nepal, and have assisted Tibetan refugees at the Tarshi Palkhiel Refugee Camp outside of Pokhara, and I can attest from personal experience that what Mr. Krakauer states here is spot on. Prachanda, the Maoist leader, offered a few years ago to send refugees back to Tibet, a violation of many UN Human Rights agreements that the Nepalese government has signed on to. There have been videos taken of Chinese border guards shooting Tibetan refugees attempting to cross into Nepal in the Himalaya. Nepalese police brutalized pro-Tibet protesters during the run up to the Beijing Olympics in 2008 in Kathmandu and Lalitpur. I helped a Tibetan family relocate from the refugee camp, to the US, and on to Canada, and though the husband, like many Tibetans of his generation, was born in Nepal in the refugee camp (he is 43 now), and had the right to residency status, he was never granted this status, and the government let it be known that it would cost thousands of dollars to have his status readjusted, on top of the regular fees. Almost everyone of his generation in the camp, and outside of it, born in exile in Nepal, cannot get their ID cards, and therefor exist in legal limbo: they cannot work, own land, even travel. Really, the list of crimes and prejudicial acts against Tibetans, legally residing in the country, and those of Tibetan origins, such as the Tamang, Sherpas, and others, is too long to reiterate. But the assertion that China, through the Maoist Party in Nepal, is trying to control Nepal's domestic policy, is undeniable. The International Campaign for Tibet has had its Nepal workforce team detained and beaten up by Chinese government squads IN Nepal. Why should the US worry about irritating a "volatile" China, when their policy towards Tibet, and those who are in a position to help Tibetans, has been perfectly clear for the past 60 years - exterminate Tibet. I suspect that part of China's contempt for Nepal's right to sovereignity stems from the fact that the Nepalese Government allowed the CIA to train Khampa guerillas, and launch attacks, from Mustang, a semi-autonomous region in Nepal, up until Nixon signed detente with Mao, then disbanded the entire operation, but now I'm getting a little off track. In short, China cries foul when it deems that foreign powers are meddling in its internal affairs. Yet it is doing the same here to Nepal, but some posters condemn Americans for "irritating" the Chinese - is this our biggest concern in foreign affairs? Maybe himalayanaid.org receives significant funding from the Chinese.
Posted 12/29/2011, 12:55:41pm by dwh
Report abuse
Your assessment is fundamentally incorrect in one key aspect: The UN agreement, as it is, simply stipulates that transiting Tibetans that are captured by Nepali forces in Nepal are to be turned over to the UNHCR for a determination of status. It is tremendously irresponsible and dangerous to put forward the idea that Nepal must somehow guarantee safe passage for Tibetans. Such false assertions irritate a volatile China which in turn pressures Nepal to increase its oppression of Tibetans. It would certainly have benefited your level of accuracy here if you would have done a bit of research on the U.S. position regarding this issue as offered by Ambassador Scott DeLisi. You would have uncovered the fact that the U.S. believes Nepal is doing a good job in handling Tibetans considering the tremendous pressures exerted upon their efforts by a China that seeks a more repressive treatment. James Rinaldi himalayanaid.org
Posted 12/28/2011, 8:32:34pm by JRinaldi
Report abuse
Read more http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/newsdesk/2011/12/why-is-nepal-cracking-down-on-tibetan-refugees.html#ixzz1hyShjz00
Big Trouble in Little Nepal
Big Trouble in Little Nepal
It’s the dry season now in Nepal, stretching from the end of the monsoon in early September until the humid and moisture-laden clouds start pushing into the country from the south in late spring. In between, little to no snow or rainfall disturbs this land-locked mountainous country. But something has been ruffling the political climate in the country, creeping through the Himalayas, that impassible physical barrier that forms a giant barrier along the northern edge of the country. The clumsy hand of Chinese politics, like a puppeteer working the instruments of Nepalese domestic policy, has manipulated Nepal’s treatment of its Tibetan residents – legal and refugees – in the country to the point where the message is clear to the Tibetans, and to others: do not criticize China or you will be dealt with harshly. Beatings and imprisonment have become common, often carried out not only by the Nepalese police, but by agents of the Chinese government working inside Nepal. This, despite a UN “gentleman’s agreement” that allows Tibetan refugees to pass through Nepal on their way to India (China Brief Volume: 11 Issue: 11; J. Vijay Sakhuja; “China’s Strategic Advantage in Nepal”).
This, among other topics, was discussed at an Executive Annual Meeting of the International Campaign for Tibet in San Francisco on Wednesday December 8th, at the Urban Center on Mission Street. The Special Envoy to his Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama, Lodi Gyari, spoke, along with ICT Vice President Mary Beth Markey, and others, to a group of ICT members. Ms. Markey, in detailing ICT’s activities around the world, especially in light of the recent spate of immolations by Tibetans in Tibet, Western China and Nepal, addressed the extreme pressure being put on the Nepalese government to silence Tibetans in their country, and to deny Tibetan refugees entrance. Nepal, situated as it is between the two Asian giants of India and China, now more than ever before, finds itself caught in a vice between the two countries, both attempting to secure Nepal within their respective domains of influence. Historically, due to its Hindu and Buddhist populations (the former around 80% of the total population, the latter at least 8%), the plain fact that Nepali, the national language, derives from Hindi and ultimately Sanskrit, economic, cultural and social ties, India has played the role of the mother ship, from which all things emanate (http://www.fco.gov.uk/en/travel-and-living-abroad/travel-advice-by-country/country-profile/asia-oceania/nepal/). China, walled off by the Himalayas, has historically been relegated to the sidelines. But this all started to change dramatically about five years ago.
With the ascendancy of the Nepalese Maoist Party, now the largest of Nepal’s over 20 political parties, China saw an opportunity to get their foot in the door. The dragon has been generous in economic support, but as usual with China, there is a price. That price is toeing the line on the “One China Policy” dogma espoused by the CCP, which states that Tibet never existed – it was always China – and that anything that the Chinese Politburo deems as being against this policy cannot be tolerated. The crackdowns on pro-Tibet protests in Kathmandu and its sister city of Lalitpur have been numerous, and ongoing since before the run-up to the 2008 Beijing Olympics. The Maoist’s eagerness to follow Beijing’s dictates has led them to abandon the 2008 “Gentlemen’s Agreement,” as detailed in the April 15, 2011 issue of the Indian Defense Review, in the article “Nepal Deporting Tibetans to China Secretly” by Nidhi Bardwaj:
But the political ascendancy of Nepalese Maoist and Communist parties and their assertion of “One-China” policy, Kathmandu dumped the “Gentlemen’s Agreement” in 2008. The government stopped giving refugee status to Tibetans and with this they lost their right to safe passage through Nepal. In fact, Nepalese police and Maoist cadres were ordered to spot and arrest Tibetan refugees escaping into Northern Nepal, and hand them over to the immigration authorities.
Nepal, formerly an independent country, is now becoming a puppet state controlled by the Chinese, turning their backs on their historic partners in South Asia, namely India, and in the process also rejecting basic human rights agreements that they have signed on to.
This brings us to the case of Tibetans burning themselves as an act of protest against Chinese occupation of their homeland, acts that testify to the Tibetan spirit in the face of 60 years of oppression. These should be read rightfully as acts of desperation, but also as symbols of an unshakeable belief in Tibetan rights to self-determination, freedom and basic human rights. Demonstrations have been held in Kathmandu by Tibetan refugees and residents, mainly in Jawlakhel, Lalitpur, and demonstrators showing their solidarity with pro-Tibetan freedom sympathizers were beaten and jailed. Ms. Markey, at the meeting, also detailed how one of their support teams was corralled by a group of Chinese political operatives, dragged into a van and beaten. And this is only the latest example of Chinese pressure on Nepal to toe the party line.
I lived in Nepal during 2008 and 2009, and had spent time in the country before then, back to the time of the People’s Revolution toppling King Gyanendra in the spring of 2006. A similar situation played out during the run-up to the Beijing Olympics of 2008, when pro-Tibet demonstrations – which the Chinese government depicts as the emanations of “splittist” anti-China agitators – were also attacked by government police in Nepal, with demonstrators beaten and jailed. In fact, in the past few years, the Maoist led government in Nepal has reacted in lock-step to Chinese pressure, and whenever an upwelling of pro-Tibetan activities have occurred, the red faction of the Nepalese government applies force without regard to freedom of speech or human rights. At least 20,000 Tibetan refugees live in Nepal, most of them without the right to work, and own land, farm or other basic rights – rights which are guaranteed by the Nepalese Constitution. Additionally, historically, virtually all of the northern half of the country – north of the Himalayas and to the south as well – are areas where the indigenous populations – the Sherpas, Bon-po, Tamangs and others – are of Tibetan descent. But under the current government, you wouldn’t know this. As Chinese money and influence pours into the country, Nepalese government oppression of the Tibetans within their own country becomes more openly draconian. With a wretched national economy, depleted by years of civil war, and one of the most corrupt governments in the world – whether ruled by a King, the Maoists, the UPN-CML or Nepali Congress, it’s the same “pocket” economy – perhaps it is understandable that the government would cave in to any foreign power willing to devote large amounts of aid. That this aid comes with such a heavy ideological, and human price, is something that clearly matters little to Prachanda and his fellow Maoists.
It is high time for the US government to step up and do something. The US government decries oppression and genocide in Sudan, in the Balkans, in Burma, in many countries around the world, and moves to pressure governments to cease such policies. It’s time for the US government to apply such pressure on Nepal, before the situation grows direr. For to ignore such developments, wherever they might occur, in the long run, only validates them, and makes it easier for oppressive governments to continue their atrocious actions. We should make it clear that aid to Nepal, and visas for students and workers seeking to come to the US, will be severely curtailed, until the Nepalese government allows Tibetan refugees Tibetan citizens of Nepal the full rights to demonstrate for their beliefs – as is allowed to all other citizens in Nepal – and give them full residential rights, transit rights, employment and land ownership rights. Unless pressurized, the Nepalese leadership will continue their drift towards becoming a willing satellite of Chinese foreign policy.
Notes and sources
Religion(s): Officially 80% Hindu, 8% Buddhist and 4% Muslim – but accurate figures are not available. Hinduism and Buddhism overlap considerably in Nepal. Estimates suggest that there are some 400,000 Christians in the country. United Kingdom Foreign and Commonwealth Office. http://www.fco.gov.uk/en/travel-and-living-abroad/travel-advice-by-country/country-profile/asia-oceania/nepal/
In the past, the Nepalese police and government officials had worked closely with the UNHCR and agreed to abide by a ‘Gentlemen's Agreement,’ “an informal compact established in 1989 with the UNHCR thus ensuring a safe transit for Tibetan refugees through Nepal and onward to India” [7]. This arrangement had worked well before the Nepalese Maoist and Communist parties gained political ascendency in 2008. Since then, there has been a sharp decline in the number of Tibetan refugees registering at reception centers in Kathmandu. China’s Strategic Advantage in Nepal
Publication: China Brief Volume: 11 Issue: 11
June 17, 2011 06:19 PM
By: Vijay Sakhuja C:\Users\David\Desktop\Writing and Blog\The Jamestown Foundation China’s Strategic Advantage in Nepal.mht
A former Nepalese ambassador to China has noted that, “China's concerns over Nepal are growing” and that “the visit [of General Chen Bingde, chief of general staff of the PLA] shows that China wants the support of our army to control anti-Chinese activities following the resignation of the Dalai Lama” (Thetibetpost.com, March 28). It is also reported that China may be secretly giving financial incentives and paying Nepalese officials to arrest and deport Tibetans in Nepal (Indian Express, December 20, 2010). On March 10, the Nepalese police arrested 34 protesters after thousands of Tibetan refugees marched through the streets of Kathmandu to commemorate the Chinese invasion of Tibet of 1951 (Asia-news.us, March 18). The next day, Nepalese police prevented a prayer meeting at the Buddhist temple in Kathmandu, and two days later on February 13, the police stormed into polling stations and seized ballots and other electoral material for Tibetan community internal elections to vote for a new Tibetan Government in Exile (Thetibetpost.com, March 28). The Nepalese government has been under great pressure to control Tibetan refugees in Nepal, and the chief district officer of Sindhupalchowk was quoted as saying “They [the Chinese] urged us not to allow anti-Chinese activities [on] our soil' (TIME, March 29). It is quite evident that China has been able to prevail upon the Nepalese government to ensure that anti-China activities by the Tibetan refugees are sternly dealt with.
….
First, Beijing has obtained assurances from the Nepalese leadership that the territory would not be used by the Tibetan refugees living in Nepal for anti-China activities. This issue is particularly significant when there is a ‘Free Tibet’ movement spreading across the globe and China has been under international scrutiny over human rights issues, particularly against the Tibetans.
Same source as above
When Chen Bingde, the Chinese army chief, and his 15-member delegation landed in Kathmandu on March 23, 2011, he brought him a loyalty-trust proposal for the pro-China ruling coalition of the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist Leninist) aka CPN-UML and the Unified Communist Party (Maoist) under Prime Minister Jhala Nath Khanal.
Bingde laid down a clear cut proposal: Deport Tibetan refugees to China to prevent the rise of a militant Tibetan émigré force. Nepal deporting Tibetans to China secretly
By Nidhi Bhardwaj
Issue: Net Edition | Date: 15 April, 2011 http://www.indiandefencereview.com/
It’s the dry season now in Nepal, stretching from the end of the monsoon in early September until the humid and moisture-laden clouds start pushing into the country from the south in late spring. In between, little to no snow or rainfall disturbs this land-locked mountainous country. But something has been ruffling the political climate in the country, creeping through the Himalayas, that impassible physical barrier that forms a giant barrier along the northern edge of the country. The clumsy hand of Chinese politics, like a puppeteer working the instruments of Nepalese domestic policy, has manipulated Nepal’s treatment of its Tibetan residents – legal and refugees – in the country to the point where the message is clear to the Tibetans, and to others: do not criticize China or you will be dealt with harshly. Beatings and imprisonment have become common, often carried out not only by the Nepalese police, but by agents of the Chinese government working inside Nepal. This, despite a UN “gentleman’s agreement” that allows Tibetan refugees to pass through Nepal on their way to India (China Brief Volume: 11 Issue: 11; J. Vijay Sakhuja; “China’s Strategic Advantage in Nepal”).
This, among other topics, was discussed at an Executive Annual Meeting of the International Campaign for Tibet in San Francisco on Wednesday December 8th, at the Urban Center on Mission Street. The Special Envoy to his Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama, Lodi Gyari, spoke, along with ICT Vice President Mary Beth Markey, and others, to a group of ICT members. Ms. Markey, in detailing ICT’s activities around the world, especially in light of the recent spate of immolations by Tibetans in Tibet, Western China and Nepal, addressed the extreme pressure being put on the Nepalese government to silence Tibetans in their country, and to deny Tibetan refugees entrance. Nepal, situated as it is between the two Asian giants of India and China, now more than ever before, finds itself caught in a vice between the two countries, both attempting to secure Nepal within their respective domains of influence. Historically, due to its Hindu and Buddhist populations (the former around 80% of the total population, the latter at least 8%), the plain fact that Nepali, the national language, derives from Hindi and ultimately Sanskrit, economic, cultural and social ties, India has played the role of the mother ship, from which all things emanate (http://www.fco.gov.uk/en/travel-and-living-abroad/travel-advice-by-country/country-profile/asia-oceania/nepal/). China, walled off by the Himalayas, has historically been relegated to the sidelines. But this all started to change dramatically about five years ago.
With the ascendancy of the Nepalese Maoist Party, now the largest of Nepal’s over 20 political parties, China saw an opportunity to get their foot in the door. The dragon has been generous in economic support, but as usual with China, there is a price. That price is toeing the line on the “One China Policy” dogma espoused by the CCP, which states that Tibet never existed – it was always China – and that anything that the Chinese Politburo deems as being against this policy cannot be tolerated. The crackdowns on pro-Tibet protests in Kathmandu and its sister city of Lalitpur have been numerous, and ongoing since before the run-up to the 2008 Beijing Olympics. The Maoist’s eagerness to follow Beijing’s dictates has led them to abandon the 2008 “Gentlemen’s Agreement,” as detailed in the April 15, 2011 issue of the Indian Defense Review, in the article “Nepal Deporting Tibetans to China Secretly” by Nidhi Bardwaj:
But the political ascendancy of Nepalese Maoist and Communist parties and their assertion of “One-China” policy, Kathmandu dumped the “Gentlemen’s Agreement” in 2008. The government stopped giving refugee status to Tibetans and with this they lost their right to safe passage through Nepal. In fact, Nepalese police and Maoist cadres were ordered to spot and arrest Tibetan refugees escaping into Northern Nepal, and hand them over to the immigration authorities.
Nepal, formerly an independent country, is now becoming a puppet state controlled by the Chinese, turning their backs on their historic partners in South Asia, namely India, and in the process also rejecting basic human rights agreements that they have signed on to.
This brings us to the case of Tibetans burning themselves as an act of protest against Chinese occupation of their homeland, acts that testify to the Tibetan spirit in the face of 60 years of oppression. These should be read rightfully as acts of desperation, but also as symbols of an unshakeable belief in Tibetan rights to self-determination, freedom and basic human rights. Demonstrations have been held in Kathmandu by Tibetan refugees and residents, mainly in Jawlakhel, Lalitpur, and demonstrators showing their solidarity with pro-Tibetan freedom sympathizers were beaten and jailed. Ms. Markey, at the meeting, also detailed how one of their support teams was corralled by a group of Chinese political operatives, dragged into a van and beaten. And this is only the latest example of Chinese pressure on Nepal to toe the party line.
I lived in Nepal during 2008 and 2009, and had spent time in the country before then, back to the time of the People’s Revolution toppling King Gyanendra in the spring of 2006. A similar situation played out during the run-up to the Beijing Olympics of 2008, when pro-Tibet demonstrations – which the Chinese government depicts as the emanations of “splittist” anti-China agitators – were also attacked by government police in Nepal, with demonstrators beaten and jailed. In fact, in the past few years, the Maoist led government in Nepal has reacted in lock-step to Chinese pressure, and whenever an upwelling of pro-Tibetan activities have occurred, the red faction of the Nepalese government applies force without regard to freedom of speech or human rights. At least 20,000 Tibetan refugees live in Nepal, most of them without the right to work, and own land, farm or other basic rights – rights which are guaranteed by the Nepalese Constitution. Additionally, historically, virtually all of the northern half of the country – north of the Himalayas and to the south as well – are areas where the indigenous populations – the Sherpas, Bon-po, Tamangs and others – are of Tibetan descent. But under the current government, you wouldn’t know this. As Chinese money and influence pours into the country, Nepalese government oppression of the Tibetans within their own country becomes more openly draconian. With a wretched national economy, depleted by years of civil war, and one of the most corrupt governments in the world – whether ruled by a King, the Maoists, the UPN-CML or Nepali Congress, it’s the same “pocket” economy – perhaps it is understandable that the government would cave in to any foreign power willing to devote large amounts of aid. That this aid comes with such a heavy ideological, and human price, is something that clearly matters little to Prachanda and his fellow Maoists.
It is high time for the US government to step up and do something. The US government decries oppression and genocide in Sudan, in the Balkans, in Burma, in many countries around the world, and moves to pressure governments to cease such policies. It’s time for the US government to apply such pressure on Nepal, before the situation grows direr. For to ignore such developments, wherever they might occur, in the long run, only validates them, and makes it easier for oppressive governments to continue their atrocious actions. We should make it clear that aid to Nepal, and visas for students and workers seeking to come to the US, will be severely curtailed, until the Nepalese government allows Tibetan refugees Tibetan citizens of Nepal the full rights to demonstrate for their beliefs – as is allowed to all other citizens in Nepal – and give them full residential rights, transit rights, employment and land ownership rights. Unless pressurized, the Nepalese leadership will continue their drift towards becoming a willing satellite of Chinese foreign policy.
Notes and sources
Religion(s): Officially 80% Hindu, 8% Buddhist and 4% Muslim – but accurate figures are not available. Hinduism and Buddhism overlap considerably in Nepal. Estimates suggest that there are some 400,000 Christians in the country. United Kingdom Foreign and Commonwealth Office. http://www.fco.gov.uk/en/travel-and-living-abroad/travel-advice-by-country/country-profile/asia-oceania/nepal/
In the past, the Nepalese police and government officials had worked closely with the UNHCR and agreed to abide by a ‘Gentlemen's Agreement,’ “an informal compact established in 1989 with the UNHCR thus ensuring a safe transit for Tibetan refugees through Nepal and onward to India” [7]. This arrangement had worked well before the Nepalese Maoist and Communist parties gained political ascendency in 2008. Since then, there has been a sharp decline in the number of Tibetan refugees registering at reception centers in Kathmandu. China’s Strategic Advantage in Nepal
Publication: China Brief Volume: 11 Issue: 11
June 17, 2011 06:19 PM
By: Vijay Sakhuja C:\Users\David\Desktop\Writing and Blog\The Jamestown Foundation China’s Strategic Advantage in Nepal.mht
A former Nepalese ambassador to China has noted that, “China's concerns over Nepal are growing” and that “the visit [of General Chen Bingde, chief of general staff of the PLA] shows that China wants the support of our army to control anti-Chinese activities following the resignation of the Dalai Lama” (Thetibetpost.com, March 28). It is also reported that China may be secretly giving financial incentives and paying Nepalese officials to arrest and deport Tibetans in Nepal (Indian Express, December 20, 2010). On March 10, the Nepalese police arrested 34 protesters after thousands of Tibetan refugees marched through the streets of Kathmandu to commemorate the Chinese invasion of Tibet of 1951 (Asia-news.us, March 18). The next day, Nepalese police prevented a prayer meeting at the Buddhist temple in Kathmandu, and two days later on February 13, the police stormed into polling stations and seized ballots and other electoral material for Tibetan community internal elections to vote for a new Tibetan Government in Exile (Thetibetpost.com, March 28). The Nepalese government has been under great pressure to control Tibetan refugees in Nepal, and the chief district officer of Sindhupalchowk was quoted as saying “They [the Chinese] urged us not to allow anti-Chinese activities [on] our soil' (TIME, March 29). It is quite evident that China has been able to prevail upon the Nepalese government to ensure that anti-China activities by the Tibetan refugees are sternly dealt with.
….
First, Beijing has obtained assurances from the Nepalese leadership that the territory would not be used by the Tibetan refugees living in Nepal for anti-China activities. This issue is particularly significant when there is a ‘Free Tibet’ movement spreading across the globe and China has been under international scrutiny over human rights issues, particularly against the Tibetans.
Same source as above
When Chen Bingde, the Chinese army chief, and his 15-member delegation landed in Kathmandu on March 23, 2011, he brought him a loyalty-trust proposal for the pro-China ruling coalition of the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist Leninist) aka CPN-UML and the Unified Communist Party (Maoist) under Prime Minister Jhala Nath Khanal.
Bingde laid down a clear cut proposal: Deport Tibetan refugees to China to prevent the rise of a militant Tibetan émigré force. Nepal deporting Tibetans to China secretly
By Nidhi Bhardwaj
Issue: Net Edition | Date: 15 April, 2011 http://www.indiandefencereview.com/
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