BEIJING – The release of the longest-held female Tibetan prisoner could signal a change in policy by the Chinese government and a new willingness to engage exiled spiritual leader the Dalai Lama in dialogue, a leading rights campaigner said.
Ngawang Sangdrol, a 25-year-old Tibetan Buddhist nun, arrived in the United States Friday accompanied by a Beijing-based US diplomat after being granted medical parole by the Chinese government, John Kamm, director of the Dui Hua Foundation told AFP.
“I think that this release is a signal that there will be additional dialogue and discussion on Tibet and with the Tibetan community in exile,” Kamm told AFP from his home in San Francisco.
“I’m more and more convinced of this, especially after the 10 or 12 releases in the last year and now letting someone go who is very, very committed and very, very vocal.”
The release of Ngawang is the first major release of a Chinese political prisoner since Hu Jintao became the chairman of China’s Communist Party in November and was named president earlier this month.
“In terms of the Tibetan community, her release was right at the top of their list, I’ve received a number of petitions with hundreds of signatures calling for her release,” Kamm said.
“This is the first major human rights gesture of the new Hu Jintao administration.”
Hu was formally the top official in Tibet and was responsible for a hardline crackdown on Buddhist and separatists elements in Tibet in 1989.
Kamm was allowed to meet with Ngawang in Lhasa last month as part of his ongoing efforts to seek the release of Chinese political prisoners. He has worked tirelessly with the Chinese and US governments for Ngawang’s release.
The young nun, first arrested at age 13, had been held in prison for some 12 years. She was paroled from Lhasa’s Drapchi Prison on October 18, nine years ahead of the end of her sentence. Since her release, she has basically been under house arrest, Kamm said.
US Ambassador to China Clark Randt has repeatedly raised the case of Ngawang with Chinese officials as did US Assistant Secretary of State for Human Rights Lorne Craner in a visit to Beijing earlier this month, Kamm said.
“Ngawang Sangdrol’s release was pretty touch and go, it was a very sensitive move,” Kamm said.
Besides the United States, the European Union and the European Parliament — as well as a wealth of international rights groups — have repeatedly urged Beijing to improve its rights record in Tibet and engage the Dalai Lama in dialogue on how to administer the Himalayan region.
Under the policies of former president Jiang Zemin, however, Beijing appeared willing to wait for the 67-year-old Dalai Lama, Tibet’s most revered spiritual leader, to pass away and then begin negotiations on Tibet’s autonomy with his reincarnated successor.
China’s communist leaders already have a track record of controlling Tibet’s sacred Buddhist reincarnation rituals, choosing the reincarnation of the 10th Panchen Lama, Tibet’s second highest spiritual leader in 1995, and ignoring a boy selected by the exiled Dalai Lama.
The Panchen Lama is of great importance in Tibetan Buddhism, because he traditionally leads the search for the succeeding reincarnated Dalai Lama.
The communist-chosen Panchen Lama is now being educated by the state and through Tibetan Buddhists loyal to Beijing.
The Dalai Lama fled Tibet in 1959 after a failed coup attempt and has established a government-in-exile in the Indian hill town of Dharamsala.
China, which has ruled Tibet since “liberating” the Himalayan region in 1951, has not enjoyed the popular support of the Tibetan people and has been accused of attempting to wipe out traditional Tibetan culture.
