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06 April 2000

Text: Representative Gilman Says China Uses Tibet to Encircle India

(House International Relations Chair April 6 on China/Tibet) (2000)
China continues its suppression of Tibet and during this past year
conditions inside Tibet have been the worst since the cultural
revolution, says Representative Benjamin Gilman, chairman of the House
International Relations Committee.
Worse, Gilman said in a prepared statement at the opening of an April
6 hearing of the House International Relations Committee on the status
of negotiations between China and Tibet, China's increased military
presence on India's northern border is part of an attempt to encircle
its democratic neighbor.
"Now that Beijing shares a long border with India, it attempts to keep
India off balance by transferring nuclear weapons to Pakistan," Gilman
charged.
While Pakistan causes problems on India's western border, Gilman said,
"China has been currying favor with the Burmese military government on
India's eastern border by selling them nearly $2 billion of arms."
At the southern tip of India, he added, "China overwhelmingly remains
Sri Lanka's main supplier of arms."
Quoting author Eric Margolis' recently published book, "War at the Top
of the World," Gilman said, India's chief worry is "is the steady
increase of Chinese military power on the Tibetan Plateau, which
confronts India with the specter of simultaneously facing serious
strategic threats on its western, northern and eastern borders."
Indian politicians, Gilman said, caution against India being
surrounded by a "hostile coalition of forces directed and armed by
China."
Of all China's military emplacements on the Tibetan plateau, Gilman
said, "the most alarming to India is an extensive series of missile
bases and nuclear installations.
"At least 25 medium-range ballistic missiles are based in Tibet, as
well as a sizeable number of shorter-range tactical missiles, all
carrying nuclear warheads. India's heartland and many of its major
cities are now in range of Chinese missiles," Gilman added.
"China's dangerous expansion in Tibet and meddling in South Asia has
brought the region to the brink of a nuclear catastrophe," the New
York Republican said.
"We have seen no indication by Administration policy makers that they
understand the significance of China's occupation of Tibet and how a
resolution of that problem could defuse the serious tensions in the
region," Gilman charged.
Turning to Beijing's attempts at restricting the religious freedom of
Tibetan followers of the Dalai Lama, and the communist regime's
rejection of an offer from the Dalai Lama of autonomy for Tibet within
China, Gilman said that from reports it appears that no progress has
been made "to ensure that China will contemplate negotiating with His
Holiness the Dalai Lama or his representatives."
Beijing's leaders, Gilman said, "believe that by manipulating the
enthronement of a few religious leaders and by waiting until His
Holiness grows old and dies, that they will eventually control Tibet
and end Tibet's international support."
Such a rationale, he said, "is illogical and ignores reality."
The International Relations Committee Chairman scoffed at what he
termed the "ridiculous image of atheists involving themselves in
appointing religious leaders."
Such efforts, he added, do not enhance peace, and furthermore are
"ludicrous and an embarrassment to the Chinese culture that for
centuries deeply respected Buddhist teachings."
It hurts China's efforts to be taken seriously as a partner in
"bringing about peace and stability in Asia or elsewhere," Gilman
said.
Following is the text of Gilman's prepared statement:
(begin text)
ADMINISTRATION LACKS "UNDERSTANDING" ON TIBET, SAYS GILMAN
Washington (April 6) -- U.S. Rep. Benjamin A. Gilman (20th-NY),
Chairman of the House International Relations Committee, released the
following statement today at a Full Committee hearing on "The Status
of Negotiations between China and Tibet":
During this past year conditions inside Tibet have been the worst
since the cultural revolution. Religious freedom has been increasingly
restrictive and political activity is met with swift, certain and
severe repercussions. Increased numbers of monks, nuns and lay people
are making the dangerous journey across the Himalayas to freedom in
India. Many of them die along the way or once they do arrive they have
had to have limbs amputated because of frost bite and gangrene. In
addition, many refugees have been captured by the Chinese military and
never resurface. Many are been beaten and robbed, tortured and
imprisoned by the PLA.
As conditions worsen inside Tibet, the government in Beijing fails to
recognize the opportunity that His Holiness the Dalai Lama represents
for a peaceful settlement to the problem.
Instead of accepting the fact he offers a simple, moderate and
workable solution to the status of Tibet by his willingness to accept
Tibetan autonomy within China, the Chinese government falsely accuses
him of seeking independence and being personally concerned about his
own future role in Tibet. Beijing refuses to negotiate with His
Holiness or his representatives even though he has made it perfectly
clear that he is not seeking the restoration of Tibet's rightful
independent status.
Although we believe that Tibet deserves nothing less than the complete
restoration of its full independence, we reluctantly support His
Holiness' efforts for autonomy in the hope that it will help the
Tibetan people and their culture to survive.
It is regrettable that the Chinese leaders believe that by
manipulating the enthronement of a few religious leaders and by
waiting until His Holiness grows old and dies, that they will
eventually control Tibet and end Tibet's international support. Such a
rationale is illogical and ignores reality.
The ridiculous image of atheists involving themselves in appointing
religious leaders does not enhance peace but it is ludicrous and an
embarrassment to the Chinese culture that for centuries deeply
respected Buddhist teachings. It is a detriment to China's efforts to
appear as legitimate world leaders and to be taken seriously as
partners in bringing about peace and stability in Asia or elsewhere.
Time is not on Beijing's side. Nation's around the world do not
support the Tibetan people because of one man.
The Tibetan cause enjoys the global support that it does because it is
a courageous attempt by a nation and a people who are trying to regain
what is rightfully theirs by throwing off the repression of
colonization. And it is in the interest of international stability to
have Tibet once again serve as it had for 2000 years as a buffer zone
strategically placed between India and China.
It is said that the greatest threat to peace in Asia are the tensions
between India and Pakistan. However, the source of that potentially
devastating nuclear war is China's gobbling up of Tibet, a vast nation
on India's northern border that is the size of western Europe and a
quarter of China's landmass. Now that Beijing shares a long border
with India, it attempts to keep India off balance by transferring
nuclear weapons to Pakistan. While Pakistan causes problems on India's
western border, China has been currying favor with the Burmese
military government on India's eastern border by selling them nearly
$2 billion of arms.
During the Second World War, Burma was called "the back door to India"
by both the British and the Japanese. For the past three decades,
China has steadily increased its political, military and economic
influence in Burma.
And on the southern tip of India, China overwhelmingly remains Sri
Lanka's main supplier of arms.
In a recently published book, "War at the Top of the World," author
Eric
Margolis points out:
"Most worrisome to India, though, is the steady increase of Chinese
military power on the Tibetan Plateau, which confronts India with the
specter of simultaneously facing serious strategic threats on its
western, northern and eastern borders. This fear has led Indian
strategists and politicians to warn that India was being "surrounded"
by a hostile coalition of forces directed and armed by China.
"By the early 1990s, China had deployed 500,000 soldiers, a quarter of
its standing army, on the Tibetan Plateau, half of them based on the
border between India and Tibet, half in central Tibet. Four additional
Chinese armies, each the equivalent of a 60,000-man army corps, were
based (in areas of China that are geographically suited to support)
operations from Tibet against India by delivering flanking attacks or
providing follow-on reinforcements.
"As a result of China's modernization program, China's armies in Tibet
are improving their firepower, communications and mobility. In
addition, China's western armies received, along with those facing
Taiwan, some of the newest and most advanced arms and equipment.
"Ever since occupying Tibet in 1950, the PLA has worked feverishly to
build networks of all-weather roads, crisscrossing ... Tibet. Two
other major roads lead to Pakistan and Nepal which border India. The
new road system allowed China to move large military formations
swiftly along the entire length of the Indian border, affording
Chinese generals the ability to concentrate mutually supporting armies
almost anywhere along the frontier. A chain of permanent bases, many
with huge underground storage sites and heavy fixed fortifications,
linked to rear echelons by good roads, has been extended like a new
Great Wall along the length of the border with India.
"The militarization of Tibet presented India with serious strategic
and tactical problems. China quite literally commands the high ground
from the 4,267-metre Tibetan Plateau. The PLA's forward positions are
located at the very crest of the plateau; Indian positions are
located, in many cases, below them. In the event of war, Indian troops
must advance uphill to attack Chinese positions firing down on them.
"This serious tactical disadvantage is compounded by the chain of
intelligence-gathering stations established by China along the
plateau's southern edge, which allow China to monitor Indian air
space, electronic communications and troop movements south of the
Himalayas.
"China has constructed 14 major air bases on the Tibetan Plateau, and
a score of tactical airstrips. These bases give the Chinese air force
unquestioned domination of Tibet's air space, the forward edge of
battle in the event of war, and the capability, for the first time, to
fly sustained combat operations over India's north and strike all
India's northern cities, including Delhi, Bombay and Calcutta. Chinese
electronic intelligence atop the plateau ... also confers an important
advantage of combat information and battle management in any, air war.
"But of all China's military emplacements on the plateau, by far the
most alarming to India is an extensive series of missile bases and
nuclear installations. At least 25 medium-range ballistic missiles are
based in Tibet, as well as a sizeable number of shorter-range tactical
missiles, all carrying nuclear warheads. India's heartland and many of
its major cities are now in range of Chinese missiles."
China's dangerous expansion in Tibet and meddling in South Asia has
brought the region to the brink of a nuclear catastrophe.
The State Department and the Administration have failed to understand
the dynamics behind all this tension and continues to focus on Kashmir
as if it is a localized and isolated phenomenon between Pakistan and
India. It refuses to sanction China for violating the Nuclear Non
Proliferation Treaty by transferring nuclear material to Pakistan and
instead asks India to forgo nuclear arms.
We have seen no indication by Administration policy makers that they
understand the significance of China's occupation of Tibet and how a
resolution of that problem could defuse the serious tensions in the
region.
We are told that there has been no progress made to ensure that China
will contemplate negotiating with His Holiness the Dalai Lama or his
representatives. Accordingly, we look forward to hearing from our
witnesses today to learn how this situation can be remedied so that a
disaster can be diverted and how to bring peace to the region.
Testifying at the hearing were: the Honorable Julia Taft, U.S. Special
Coordinator for Tibetan Issues, Assistant Secretary, Bureau of
Population, Refugees and Migration, U.S. Department of State, and Lodi
Gyari, Special Envoy for His Holiness The Dalai Lama.
(end text)
(Distributed by the Office of International Information Programs, U.S.
Department of State. Web site: usinfo.state.gov)