MB Civic

By Richard Spencer in Beijing
The Telegraph (UK)
July 27, 2008

Monks with “attitude problems,” or who
refuse to change their thinking in line with
official demands, will be dismissed or jailed.

Abbots and other leaders who fail to carry
out government orders to “re-educate”
their charges will be replaced by the
regime’s appointees.

The orders are contained in an official
document posted only in Tibetan on the
government’s Tibet information website.
This refers to Kandze, a prefecture of
Sichuan Province populated largely by
Tibetans, where some of the most violent
clashes between monks and security forces
took place earlier this year. It provides the
most detailed picture yet of an official
crackdown against monks involved in the
protests that broke out in March.

The document, signed by Li Changping, the
prefecture head, records decisions made by
the local Communist Party cadres’
executive committee.

The targets are “monasteries, monks and
nuns who voice or distribute splittist
slogans and fliers, fly snow lion flags
[Tibetan national flags], and who take part
in illegal demonstration to incite splittism”.

Even monks who committed “minor
crimes” will be sent home for “re-education”, reads the document. More
serious offenders will be jailed until they
recant, while those with “serious crime and
attitude problem” will be dismissed from
their monasteries.

“Masterminds” of “splittist” activity will be
subjected to the full force of the law. If they
find shelter at another monastery, its
management committee, even if appointed
by the Party, “will be considered a
supporter and protector of splittists and
disruptive elements”. The inclusion of this
threat suggests the government may be
having difficulty controlling its own
appointees in monasteries.

The most drastic action is promised against
monasteries where a substantial
percentage of monks were involved in
protests – a figure ranging from ten to 30
per cent. “All religious activities at the
monastery will be halted,” it says,
“Movements of monks will be closely
monitored.”

All monks or nuns at these monasteries will
be required to “re-register”. Those who fail
loyalty tests will be dismissed and their
accommodation demolished, the document
warns.

Areas of Sichuan inhabited by Tibetans saw
some of the biggest protests against
Chinese rule this year.

A number of shootings of protesters and
monks were confirmed, though the two
sides vary widely in their estimates of how
many died.

The translation was verified to The Daily
Telegraph by Tsering Topgyal, a Tibetan
academic at the London School of
Economics.

“Other areas seem to have calmed down as
a result of the restrictions in place,” he
said. “This part has been very active. It
seems to indicate – as is quite obvious from
other reports – that there is a very heavy
clampdown.”

Zhang Qingli, the hardline official in charge
of Tibet policy, has made repeated
speeches attacking the Dalai Lama and
saying that “patriotic education
campaigns” will be imposed ever more
strictly in the wake of the protests.

The head of the Tibet provincial
propaganda campaign has already said it
was necessary to “clear out the
monasteries”.

Stephanie Brigden, director of the Free
Tibet Campaign, said she was writing to
Prime Minister Gordon Brown, demanding
he condemn the new measures.

“These measures represent a charter for
further repression. They also provide the
most damning proof yet that China has
launched its harshest crackdown on
religion in Tibet in decades,” she said.

“We are now faced with the ghastly
prospect of China’s leaders draping
themselves in the lofty Olympic ideals of
fair play at the Games whilst their security
forces conduct a brutal purge of Tibet’s
monasteries.”