U.S. consulate in Tibet sought

The United States wants to open a consulate in Tibet to gain full access to developments in the Chinese province, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said yesterday in an implicit acknowledgement of global criticism of China’s crackdown on dissent.

She did not directly connect events in Tibet to the upcoming Summer Olympics, but she expressed displeasure with China’s account of recent developments in the Himalayan region.

“We pressed for consular access for diplomats into Tibet,” Miss Rice told a Senate Appropriations subcommittee. “We had some limited access. Frankly it wasn’t good enough.”

Just one U.S. diplomat has been allowed to visit since protests began last month.

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 said. “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 is not satisfied with the Chinese decision to let one American official go to Tibet as part of a group that had a government handler.

During yesterday’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.

Wang Guangya, China’s ambassador to the United Nations, predicted a negative response from Beijing to a U.S. request to open a consulate in Tibet.

“I don’t think it will happen,” Mr. Wang is quoted as saying in New York by Bloomberg News. “I don’t think we will have any consulate there in the near future. The infrastructure is not there.”

Last week, Rep. Mark Steven Kirk, Illinois Republican and co-chairman of the congressional U.S.-China Working Group, said China was ready to consider allowing a U.S. diplomat to be posted in Tibet.

Mr. Kirk told The Washington Times he raised the issue with the Chinese ambassador to Washington, Zhou Wenzhong.

“He was open to the idea. The door’s open, and now we have to see what our government can do,” said Mr. Kirk, who also serves on the House Appropriations subcommittee overseeing the State Department budget.

A U.S. mission abroad with a single diplomat is called an American presence post and is often housed in a building with other occupants that lacks proper security measures. A consulate has at least several diplomats, other government representatives and up to dozens of local employees.

The consulate in question would be in the Tibetan capital, Lhasa, where violence erupted 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 broad autonomy for the region but not independence.

But Washington has resisted calls to boycott the Olympics, which Miss Rice told The Times last month would be an insult to the Chinese people. She insisted that President Bush will attend the games’ opening ceremony in August.

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. In addition to its embassy in Washington and its U.N. mission in New York, China has five consulates in the United States — in New York, Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Houston.