Internal Communist party documents have revealed that China is planning a programme of harsh political repression in Tibet despite a public show of moderation to win over world opinion before the Olympic Games next month.
A campaign of “re-education” has been outlined in confidential speeches to meetings of Communist party members by Zhang Qingli, the hardline party secretary of Tibet.
Verbatim texts of the speeches have been kept out of the Chinese media but were printed in the April and May editions of the Xigang Tongxun (Tibet Communications) — a classified publication restricted to party officials. Translations were handed to The Sunday Times in Hong Kong.
Zhang has admitted behind closed doors that the Chinese authorities in Lhasa, the Tibetan capital, face “a tide of encirclement” and that anti-Chinese violence in March “destroyed social stability”. He has warned that “final victory” is far off.
Rioting broke out in Lhasa on March 14 after days of peaceful protests by Buddhist monks, which had been broken up by the security forces.
The violence was fuelled by ethnic hatred for Chinese migrants who owned shops and homes. China said 18 people died, some beaten to death and several burnt alive.
Disorder spread across the Himalayan region “liberated” by the People’s Liberation Army in 1950. Monks and civilians confronted Chinese security forces in towns and villages, some hurling stones and wielding primitive weapons.
The internal publication stated that 242 soldiers and police were killed or wounded but did not break down the figures. It said 120 homes and 908 businesses in Lhasa were destroyed.
There are no independently verified numbers for Tibetan casualties but the Tibetan government in exile has spoken of about 200 dead.
Zhang has now outlined a Mao-era system of “administrative committees” to control the monasteries, revived officious “street committees” to watch over the city and co-ordinated an intensive military operation.
China agreed to talks with representatives of the Dalai Lama, Tibet’s exiled spiritual leader, to defuse international criticism over its reaction to the uprising, which led to demonstrations in many countries. Protests in support of Tibet had plagued the Olympic torch relay in London, Paris and Greece, home of the Games.
Amid calls for a boycott of the Games, foreign governments and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) welcomed China’s decision to meet the Tibetan exiles as a sign of dialogue.
However, Zhang’s words make it plain the talks are a diplomatic mask to conceal China’s actual policy. His speeches, which are remarkably frank, show the government’s chosen response is a classic Marxist-Leninist propaganda and re-education campaign backed up by armed force.
The Tibet party leader retains the backing of China’s President Hu Jintao who crushed a Tibetan revolt in 1988 during his tenure as party secretary in Lhasa. He also has heavyweight support on the politburo in Beijing in the shape of his mentor Wang Lequan, a 64-year-old lifetime Communist functionary believed to be directing policy in both Tibet and the neighbouring region of Xinjiang. Wang has described himself as the number one terrorist target in China.
Some Chinese analysts believe there is disquiet among other leaders, which may come into the open after their façade of harmony for the Olympics is dropped.
In one speech Zhang admitted that the March 14 incident had “seriously destroyed social stability”.
“Afterwards, people were very scared. They even stopped going to the monasteries to spin prayer wheels and chant sutras, a fact that tells us that the Dalai Lama is the real criminal who is destroying Tibetan Buddhism.
“We must learn lessons from this issue and organise our masses to build up an impregnable fortress against the tide of encirclement to beat our enemy.”
Zhang has since proclaimed that conditions for schools, businesses and offices in Lhasa are “normal”.
“But we are far from final victory because the Dalai Lama group, which was exploited by western enemy forces, is making a new plan for separatism,” he said. “So you, the leaders of work units, must guard your gates and manage your people well. Let leaders of street committees be vigilant and keep watch on all outsiders.
“Propaganda and education are our party’s greatest advantages. These are the most useful weapons with which to defend ourselves against the Dalai Lama group. So let the propaganda department work more actively to expose its plots.”
The internal publication noted that the police, the government’s religious bureau and all party branches should earnestly implement Zhang’s instructions.
“Each department should make full use of those religious people who love the motherland and love religion, in order to make the administrative committees work with vigour.”
The “administrative committees” reproduce a standard Communist party method of installing trusted cadres who will ensure obedience to its policies inside any institution.
The head of propaganda in Tibet, Lie Que, was even more explicit in remarks published by the official Tibet Daily on June 2.
“We must clean out the monasteries and strengthen the administrative committees,” he said, “After that we will absolutely control them.”
China preserves the façade of an autonomous regional government in Lhasa and has paraded ethnic Tibetan figureheads in front of foreign journalists.
In reality, Tibet is governed by the party and the army. The outskirts of Lhasa are ringed by barracks. Every road in is blocked by checkpoints. Real power rests with Zhang and the military commander of Tibet, General Tong Guishan.
Zhang originally attracted international attention by characterising the Dalai Lama as “a wolf in monk’s clothes, a devil with a human face”. He rose up the hierarchy in Xinjiang, another remote and resource-rich region troubled by separatism. As a reward for his loyalty, he was transferred to the top job in Lhasa in 2005.
Since then he has accelerated campaigns against Tibetan culture and religion, brought in more settlers on the world’s highest railway and stepped up the exploitation of Tibet’s huge reserves of raw materials.
“The central government has used the whole country’s resources to help Tibet since its peaceful liberation and has allowed Tibet to achieve thousands of years of progress in just a few decades,” Zhang told a group of cadres.
He appears immune to embarrassment. Welcoming the Olympic torch on its heavily guarded tour through Lhasa on June 21, Zhang promised that he would “totally smash” the Dalai Lama “clique”.
The IOC regretted that “political statements” had been made at the event. But with top-level protection, Zhang appears supremely confident of his authority to run a campaign that sounds to many Chinese like an echo from history.
