In Snub to Beijing, U.S. Appoints Coordinator for Tibet

The U.S. administration, acting on a promise to Congress and ignoring Chinese opposition, named a special coordinator for Tibet on Friday.

The State Department announced the appointment one day after Chinese President Jiang Zemin ended a two-day state visit to Washington. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright had promised that she would name her choice by today.

Spokesman James Rubin said the coordinator, Gregory Craig, director of policy planning, has a mandate to help preserve Tibet’s distinct culture and promote dialogue between the Beijing government and the Dalai Lama, the exiled religious and former political leader of Tibet’s Buddhists.

The post is bound to upset China, which says that Tibet is an integral part of the country and that the notion of a U.S. special coordinator is interference in its internal affairs.

But Tibetan activists have widespread public support in the United States. Chinese repression in the Buddhist region was an element in the disagreement between Jiang and his U.S. hosts over human rights this week.

Jiang, at a news conference with President Clinton on Wednesday, said that China had emancipated a million Tibetan slaves and serfs, just as the United States freed black slaves.

“People there are living in happiness and contentment,” he added.

Rubin, asked to respond to this Friday, said: “Without getting into a historical debate with a president of another country, we obviously don’t see it that way.”

“Greg Craig will obviously have a lot of work to do in explaining the differences between the United States [and China], and what may or may not have gone on in Tibet in the past,” the spokesman added.

Sen. Jesse Helms (R-N.C.), who chairs the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, welcomed the appointment of Craig, his office said Friday.

Helms, a driving force behind the concept, had originally asked for a U.S. special representative with rank of ambassador. Albright objected, on the grounds that this would imply U.S. recognition of Tibetan independence.

The International Campaign for Tibet welcomed the appointment. “I believe this announcement . . . while President Jiang is still on American soil is an indication of the importance the Clinton administration gives the issue of Tibet,” said Lodi Gyari, the group’s president and envoy of the Dalai Lama.

The announcement “sends a powerful message to the people of Tibet that their plight has not been forgotten and that the path of nonviolence can bring about meaningful results,” the group added in a statement.