Sir, - Conor O'Clery states in his report on the one-child policy in China (June 7th) that the law does not apply to Tibetans, "who can have as many children as they wish".
This may be the official policy promulgated in Beijing. However, there are well-documented cases of group forced sterilisations and abortions in Tibet. In May 1989 the Chinese authorities announced that 18,000 of the 600,000 women of childbearing age in the Tibetan Autonomous Region had "volunteered" to be sterilised!
Tibetans in exile have given eye-witness accounts of the screams and physical abuse that accompany these women as they are rounded up in the villages to be operated upon. Abortions often take place at very late stages in the pregnancy, and infanticide has also been reported. This is in a culture where Buddhist principles are tantamount and the sanctity of all life is valued above all else. The psychological effect on these women is devastatingly traumatic.
Tibetan women have also reported being fined for having more than two children, losing their ration cards, and not being allowed to have these extra children educated.
Unfortunately the "official policy" and the reality of the brutal Chinese occupation of Tibet bear little resemblance to each other. - Yours, etc.,
Newbridge, Co Kildare.