Empty original: NOW: U.S. Ambassador Confirms Meeting with Tibetans in western China
PHOTO: Ambassador F. Gary Locke in a photograph with a Tibetan monk in China.
The New York Times
Compare Edward Wong
October17, 2012
BEIJING – The US ambassador to China made a recent visit to the mountainous region of western China where dozens of Tibetans dissatisfied with the Chinese government have burned themselves.. The visit took place last September, but the ambassador confirmed it only on Wednesday.
Ambassador Gary F. Locke, visited two Tibetan monasteries 26 September as part of a trip to western China. The monasteries, who have not been involved in the self-immolations, They are in Aba prefecture, of the province of Sichuan, where many of the Tibetans have been burned since 2009. It was the ambassador's first trip to a part of China where the majority of people are ethnic Tibetans..
Much of the Tibetan plateau has been shaken by protests against ethnic Han rule since 2008, when an uprising spread from Lhasa, The Tibetan capital, east of Tibet, to the Chinese provinces of Sichuan and Qinghai.
“I went to Aba Prefecture to see for myself” Locke said in a brief statement in response to questions from The New York Times.. “I was very impressed by the unique Tibetan culture and met many ethnic Tibetans to learn more about how they live and work, like a monk 88 years in one of the monasteries I visited. Ethnic diversity enriches a society. I hope others make the same visit.”.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry had no immediate comment on the trip.. Tibet is a particularly sensitive issue between the United States and China, which labels Tibet as of “essential interest” and has rebuked American presidents who have met with the Dalai Lama, the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader.
The publicity surrounding Locke's visit could be seen by China as a sign of future interference in what it considers a domestic matter.. But an embassy spokesman said Wednesday that the trip to Aba was not made in secret and was known to Chinese officials.. before going there, Locke, whose activities are of great interest to Chinese citizens because he is Chinese-American, had spent time meeting with officials and business leaders in Chongqing and Chengdu, two of the most important cities in the west.
The two monasteries Locke visited are in Songpan, an area about 100 miles east of Aba city, which is called Ngaba by the Tibetans and has been the epicenter of the 55 self-immolations. The first self-immolation of a Tibetan monk in modern history took place in 2009 in Aba. The monk was from Kirti Monastery, where Chinese security forces have been clamping down since officers killed some civilians in Aba during protests 2008. The second monk to set himself on fire, In March of 2011, He was also a monk of Kirti.
A security cordon has generally kept foreigners out of Aba town, and the Chinese government has restricted access to many other parts of the Tibetan Plateau. The foreigners, however, have had any access to Songpan, where horseback riding is popular with tourists.
Word of Locke's trip to Aba first emerged on Monday, when The Times obtained a photograph of the ambassador greeting the Tibetan monk of 88 years. A journalist posted the photograph on Twitter, but the embassy had no immediate comment. After being asked about the trip at a daily news conference in Washington, on tuesday, The State Department spokeswoman acknowledged that Locke had visited Aba.
“When he was in Aba, met with many local residents, among them ethnic Tibetans”, the spokesperson said, Victoria Nuland. “You saw the moving photo too. Some of them work in the travel industry. He also visited villages and monasteries to learn more about how the ethnic Tibetan people live and work., and had the opportunity to talk to them”.
Nuland added: “We are seriously concerned about the self-immolations in Tibet and the underlying grievances that the Tibetan people make”.
Locke issued his statement the day after the conference. Robert J.Barnett, a Tibet scholar from Columbia, He said the visit “suggests that the embassy is finding creative ways to communicate messages within China that are effective without being aggressive.”.
In the photograph (alluded to) Locke, in gray suit, He is bending down to shake the monk's hand, who is sitting, and Barnett said the Chinese would understand the symbolism, an “indication of respect for religion, the elderly and Tibetan culture.”-
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