Contact is taking a holiday!

China has heightened security and imposed punitive measures on Tibetans in response to the spate of self-immolation protests in Tibetan areas, reports the United States based Congressional Executive Commission on China (CECC). The Commission has not observed any sign that Party and government leaders intend to respond to Tibetan grievances in a constructive manner or accept any accountability for Tibetan rejection of Chinese policies.

In its annual report on Tibet released this month, the Commission reports that the number of self-immolations has declined from 25 last year to eight this year in response to China’s policy of prosecuting and imprisoning Tibetans linked to a self-immolator. The Commission recommends that the Chinese government “refrain from using security and judicial institutions to intimidate Tibetan communities by prosecuting and imprisoning Tibetans with alleged links to a self-immolator or for sharing information on self-immolation.”

The report also documents the status of Tibetan economic development, language, culture and religious freedom for Tibetans, urging Chinese authorities to honour the Chinese constitution’s reference to freedoms of speech, association, assembly and religion and to refrain from using the security establishment, courts, and law to infringe upon and repress Tibetans’ exercise of such rights.

The Commission notes that it has not observed any indication of official Chinese interest in resuming a dialogue that takes into account Tibetan concerns in Tibetan autonomous areas, saying, “A Chinese government decision to engage in dialogue can result in a durable and mutually beneficial outcome for the government and Tibetans that will benefit local and regional security in coming decades”. Formal dialogue between the Dalai Lama’s representatives and Chinese Communist Party and government officials has been stalled since January 2010, the longest interval since such contacts resumed in 2002.

The report also questions the whereabouts of the Panchen Lama Gedun Choekyi Nyima, who went missing with his family after his recognition by His Holiness the Dalai Lama in 1995.

The CECC was set up by the US Congress in 2000, with the legislative mandate to monitor human rights and the development of the rule of law inside China and submit annual reports to the President and the Congress.