Li Zhaoxing
Chinese Ambassador to the United States
2300 Connecticut Ave., NW
Washington, D.C. 20008


Your Excellency,

In 1996, the Embassy of the People's Republic of China, in answer to Congressional inquiry, admitted to having detained Ngawang Choephel, a nationally-recognized Fulbright scholar who had been travelling in the region of Tibet for purposes of ethnomusicology research. His official charge was that of "espionage," although the 16 hours of videotape he had recorded showed nothing more than traditional song and dance of the Tibetan people.

It is the widely-held belief of the American people and the United States Congress that the act of sentencing Ngawang Choephel to 18 years imprisonment is an attack on his civil liberties, aimed at aborting an honest attempt to document and preserve Tibetan culture. It is for this reason that the American public sees the People's Republic of China as in violation of the United Nation's Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

As a concerned citizen of the United States of America, I feel it is my duty to express my outrage concerning this matter and to demand for Ngawang Choephel's safe and immediate release. I also must demand that Ngawang Choephel's mother, Sonam Dekyi, and various international organizations be allowed to visit him and continually monitor his condition during his incarceration.

I thank you for your time, and I urge you to realize that the world is watching.

Sincerely,