III

105TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. RES. 19

Expressing the sense of the Senate regarding United States opposition to

the prison sentence of Tibetan ethnomusicologist Ngawang Choephel by

the Government of the People’s Republic of China.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

JANUARY 21, 1997

Mr. MOYNIHAN (for himself, Mr. HELMS, Mr. LEAHY, Mr. JEFFORDS, Mr.

DODD, Mr. FEINGOLD, and Mr. WELLSTONE) submitted the following

resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations

RESOLUTION

Expressing the sense of the Senate regarding United States

opposition to the prison sentence of Tibetan

ethnomusicologist Ngawang Choephel by the Government

of the People’s Republic of China.

Whereas the Chinese Government sentenced Ngawang

Choephel to an 18 year prison term plus 4 years subsequent deprivation of his political rights on December 26,

1996, following a secret trial;

Whereas Mr. Choephel is a Tibetan national whose family

fled Chinese oppression to live in exile in India in 1968;

Whereas Mr. Choephel studied ethnomusicology at

Middlebury College in Vermont as a Fulbright Scholar,
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SRES 19 IS

and at the Tibetan Institute of Performing Arts in

Dharamsala, India;

Whereas Mr. Choephel returned to Tibet in July 1995 to prepare a documentary film about traditional Tibetan performing arts;

Whereas Mr. Choephel was detained in August 1995 by the

Chinese authorities and held incommunicado for over a

year before the Government of the People’s Republic of

China admitted to holding him, and finally charged him

with espionage in October 1996;

Whereas there is no evidence that Mr. Choephel’s activities

in Tibet involved anything other than purely academic research;

Whereas the Government of the People’s Republic of China

denies Tibetans their fundamental human rights, as reported in the State Department’s Country Reports on

Human Rights Practices, and by human rights organizations including Amnesty International and Human Rights

Watch, Asia;

Whereas the Government of the People’s Republic of China

is responsible for the destruction of much of Tibetan civilization since its invasion of Tibet in 1949;

Whereas the arrest of a Tibetan scholar, such as Mr.

Choephel who worked to preserve Tibetan culture, reflects the systematic attempt by the Government of the

People’s Republic of China to repress cultural expression

in Tibet;

Whereas the Government of the People’s Republic of China,

through direct and indirect incentives, has established

discriminatory development programs which have resulted

in an overwhelming flow of Chinese immigrants into
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Tibet, including those areas incorporated into the Chinese provinces of Sichuan, Yunnan, Gansu, and

Quinghai, and have excluded Tibetans from participation

in important policy decisions, which further threatens

traditional Tibetan life;

Whereas the Government of the People’s Republic of China

withholds meaningful participation in the governance of

Tibet from Tibetans and has failed to abide by its own

constitutional guarantee of autonomy for Tibetans;

Whereas the Dalai Lama of Tibet has stated his willingness

to enter into negotiations with the Chinese and has repeatedly accepted the framework Deng Xiaoping proposed for such negotiations in 1979;

Whereas the United States Government has not developed an

effective plan to win support in international fora, such

as the United Nations Commission on Human Rights, to

bring international pressure to bear on the Government

of the People’s Republic of China to improve human

rights and to negotiate with the Dalai Lama;

Whereas the Chinese have displayed provocative disregard for

American concerns by arresting and sentencing prominent dissidents around the time that senior United States

Government officials have visited China; and

Whereas United States Government policy seeks to foster negotiations between the Government of the People’s Republic of China and the Dalai Lama, and presses China

to respect Tibet’s unique religious, linguistic, and cultural

traditions: Now, therefore, be it

1 Resolved, That it is the sense of the Senate that—
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1 (1) Ngawang Choephel and other prisoners of

2 conscience in Tibet, as well as in China, should be

3 released immediately and unconditionally;

4 (2) to underscore the gravity of this matter, in

5 all official meetings with representatives of the Gov6 ernment of the People’s Republic of China, United

7 States officials should request Mr. Choephel’s imme8 diate and unconditional release;

9 (3) the United States Government should take

10 prompt action to sponsor and promote a resolution

11 at the United Nations Commission on Human

12 Rights regarding China and Tibet which specifically

13 addresses political prisoners and negotiations with

14 the Dalai Lama;

15 (4) an exchange program should be established

16 in honor of Ngawang Choephel, involving students of

17 the Tibetan Institute of Performing Arts and appro18 priate educational institutions in the United States;

19 and,

20 (5) the United States Government should seek

21 access for internationally recognized human rights

22 groups to monitor human rights in Tibet.

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