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Chinese repression forced Lama's flight, says US

The United States has said 'repression of religious activity' by China forced the 14-year-old Karmapa Lama to flee to India and called upon the Chinese government ''to enter into a dialogue'' with Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama.

''We are concerned about reports that the Tsurphu Monastery, from which the Karmapa Lama fled has been raided and that two monks have been arrested. We will be trying to confirm this report. We have long been deeply disturbed about the human rights situation in Tibet, and particularly the tight restrictions on Tibetan Buddhism,'' US State Department spokesman James Rubin told reporters at the daily press briefing in Washington on Tuesday.

''We call upon China to enter into a dialogue with the Dalai Lama and to preserve Tibet's unique religious, cultural and ethnic heritage,'' Rubin added.

The US has also decided to introduce a resolution criticising China at the United Nations Commission on Human Rights in Geneva later this year, citing its deteriorating human rights performance.

James Rubin said the US would back the resolution in March because of China's poor human rights practices referring to restrictions on freedom of speech, dissent and religion.

''The decision to go forward with this resolution at the Commission is based on the fact that the government of China's human rights record has continued to deteriorate,'' he stated.

''Over the past year, the government of China intensified its crackdown on political dissent, initiated a campaign to suppress the Falun Gong, and intensified controls on unregistered churches and on political and religious expression of ethnic minority groups, especially Tibetans. Controls on the media and the Internet have also been tightened,'' Rubin said.

When a reporter asked him whether he had informed China in advance, Rubin said, ''Well, China historically does not respond well to decisions like this. ... But the fact that China doesn't want us to go forward is not, in our view, an obstacle to our pursuing a matter of principle like this.''

Responding to another question whether the US would rescind its decision to introduce the resolution if China were to ratify the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, he replied that the convention is just one factor and ''unless there are concrete steps to improve human rights situation,'' the US would go ahead with its decision.

He said the US did not move the resolution in 1998 because China had taken significant steps to improve its human rights record by releasing Wang Dan and Wei Jingsheng and by signing of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

UNI

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