China Defends Tibet Labor Practices as U.S. Increases Scrutiny
Trump Administration Ups Tibet Scrutiny With New Appointment
(Bloomberg) -- Chinese officials defended their labor practices in Tibet, in the face of growing concerns about rights abuses in the region and the Trump administration’s appointment of a senior official to scrutinize Tibetan affairs.
Tibet Governor Qi Zhala told a briefing Thursday in Lhasa that forced labor transfer “does not exist,” maintaining that the local government was focused on “increasing the idle work force’s income through job-skills training.” Qi, who was speaking about poverty-alleviation efforts, maintained that the Tibetan government had provided travel subsidies for people to work in other regions, and that they were free to come and go at will.
The news conference came hours after U.S. Secretary of State Michael Pompeo named Robert Destro -- the assistant secretary of the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor -- as a special coordinator for Tibetan issues. Destro will be responsible for advancing dialogue between Beijing and the Dalai Lama and protecting the religious, cultural and linguistic identity of Tibetans, the State Department said.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian called the move to install Destro “political manipulation” meant to “interfere in China’s internal affairs and destabilize Tibet” at a daily briefing on Thursday.
Tibet and the neighboring region of Xinjiang have long endured intense social, security and religious controls, as China seeks to suppress what it calls terrorist and separatist elements. Last month, prominent Xinjiang researcher Adrian Zenz released a report alleging that the People’s Republic was instituting a mass labor system in Tibet similar to the one that has ensnared Muslim Uighurs.
“The United States remains concerned with the PRC’s repression of the Tibetan community, including the lack of meaningful autonomy, the deteriorating human rights situation in Tibetan areas, and severe restrictions on Tibetans’ religious freedom and cultural traditions within China,” Pompeo said in a statement announcing Destro’s appointment.
The Tibet revelations could feed U.S. efforts to expand punitive measures against China and restrict trade ties. The U.S. was exploring the possibility of seizing all cotton imports from China’s Xinjiang region, acting Homeland Security Deputy Secretary Ken Cuccinelli told Bloomberg TV last month.
China’s policies toward Tibet have long been a subject of international dispute, with support for the region’s autonomy and its exiled spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, often a bipartisan issue in Washington. The U.S. in July imposed travel restrictions on Chinese officials determined to be “substantially involved” in restricting access to Tibet.
The special coordinator post had been vacant since January 2017, according to the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom. The commission had urged the State Department to fill the job, saying the role was “crucial to raising the profile of religious freedom issues in Tibet and mobilizing government resources to address the issue.”
In response to Zenz’s research and additional reporting on the subject by Reuters, the Chinese Foreign Ministry last month issued a statement to the news organization denying that forced labor was being used and saying that workers participated voluntarily and were properly compensated.
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With assistance from Bloomberg