The U.S.-China human rights dialogue is shut down, although other countries continue to meet bilaterally to discuss human rights. The Washington Post reported yesterday that Beijing will not even accept our human rights demarches and, as a new protocol, insists that they must be delivered to the Embassy here in Washington. Appeals to Chinese leaders from heads of state the world over to begin dialogue with His Holiness the Dalai Lama are routinely answered with Chinese histrionics. In Tibet the use of prison labor in economic development is openly stated policy. Prisoners forced to work in prison greenhouses fall ill from pesticide exposure.
Torture is routine.
Popular resistance against hard-line policies on religion and against the Dalai Lama continues. In Lhasa in October, Tashi Tsering who attempted to raise the banned Tibetan national flag during the National Minority Games was severely beaten and died of his injuries in detention. According to the Tibetan Information Network in London, a female prisoner in Lhasa's notorius Drapchi prison, based on current information for records with adequate data, has a 1 in 20 chance of not surviving the consequences of imprisonment. China is silent to requests from U.N. officials and agencies and from numerous government, religious and humanitarian delegations to meet with the young Panchen Lama. Assistant Secretary Koh has requested to see him as part of the resumption of the bilateral human rights dialogue.