By Nicholas Kralev
The United States wants to open a consulate in Tibet in order to gain full access to developments in the Chinese province, which only one U.S. diplomat has been allowed to visit since protests began last month, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said today.
China’s crackdown on the Tibetan protesters has sparked demonstrations around the world targeting the Olympic torch relay as it makes its way from Greece to China, hosts of the 2004 and 2008 Summer Olympic Games, respectively.
“We are looking at the possibility of a consulate in Tibet,” Miss Rice told a Senate appropriations subcommittee hearing. “It’s on the internal list to take a look at when we could do it.”
It was not clear if Washington has discussed the issue with Beijing, but the secretary said she was not satisfied with the Chinese decision to let one American official go to Tibet as part of a group that had a government minder.
“We pressed for consular access for diplomats into Tibet,” she said. “We had some limited access. Frankly it wasn’t good enough.” The consulate would be in Tibet’s capital, Lhasa, where violence erupted on March 14 after days of peaceful protests against 57 years of Chinese rule. Exiled Tibetan leaders say 150 people have died, but Beijing has put the death toll at about 20.
The Bush administration has repeatedly urged China to open a dialogue with the Dalai Lama, Tibet’s spiritual leader who was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal last fall. He advocates expanded autonomy for the province but not independence.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi last month met with the Dalai Lama in India, where he has lived for decades.
During today’s hearing, Miss Rice did not endorse a proposal by Sen. Judd Gregg, New Hampshire Republican, not to allow China to open new consulates in the United States until it grants Washington permission to set up a U.S. consulate in Tibet.
“It just seems to me that, with all this going on there, it’s reasonable that we should open up a consulate office there,” Mr. Gregg said.
The United States currently has five consulates in mainland China, in addition to its embassy in Beijing. They are in Chengdu, Guangzhou, Shanghai, Shenyang and Wuhan.
As well as its embassy in Washington and U.N. mission in New York, China has five consulates in the United States in New York, Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Houston.
