- By the admission of Chinese authorities, the Western Development Plan is a politically-motivated project designed to maintain control over Tibetans and their natural resources, as well as to further militarize the Tibetan plateau, and rapidly increase Chinese population transfer into Tibet.
- The Chinese government plans to accelerate mining in Tibet, robbing Tibet of its vast natural resources, in turn causing widespread environmental degradation and contaminating major waterways, with most of the economic benefits bypassing Tibetans.
- The Lhasa-Golmud railway will help in the exploitation of Tibet's natural resources for consumption in China, and will facilitate an increased influx of Chinese settlers into Tibet, along with an expected increase in HIV/AIDS and decrease in economic opportunities.
China’s western development plan is solidifying Beijing’s control and the sinocization of Tibet by driving economic growth in Tibetan areas with schemes developed by the central government and its technocrats. Beijing’s strategy aims to:Provide incentives for millions of Chinese economic migrants to settle in Tibet, while Tibetans are marginalized in their own land;
- Facilitate the movement of natural resources out of Tibet for use in China’s resource-starved eastern provinces;
- Ensure the rapid deployment of military personnel into Tibet;
- Bolster tourism as a key ‘pillar’ industry for Tibet; and
- Reduce reliance on Chinese government subsidies by creating wealth at any cost, without regard to the Tibetan environment, impact on the Tibetan culture or Tibetan development priorities.
Western Development Strategy
Beijing , in 1999, initiated a plan to develop the People’s Republic of China’s western regions, including Tibet, by improving infrastructure, encouraging urbanization, and further exploiting mineral and natural resources in the west. Western Development reflects the Party’s agenda to control Tibet and repress the Tibetan identity, representing the most severe threat so far to the survival of the Tibetan culture and religion.
Red Line Industries
Several types of infrastructure have been identified by the International Campaign for Tibet and others within the international Tibet movement as “red line” industries due to the long-term and devastating consequences they pose for the Tibetan people, their livelihood, culture and environment. These include:
- Extractive industries (mining, oil, gas)
- The China-Tibet Railway(s)
- Hydropower projects and other large dams
- South-North Water Transfer Project
- Nuclear Projects
- The Military and Arms
The Issues
The Chinese government projects that Western Development will reduce the economic disparity between the prosperous eastern provinces of China and poorer western provinces, including Tibet, and will improve infrastructure, strengthen environmental protection and develop science, technology and education in the west.
However, China’s fast track economic development policies in Tibet are based on a stated political agenda and are the most serious threat so far to the survival of Tibet’s unique religious, cultural and linguistic identity. These policies imposed from Beijing fail to address the local needs of Tibetans, which include combating environmental degradation, increasing poverty, rural-urban inequality, the worst education indicators in the PRC, and little or no health care provision in most areas.
Development polices in Tibet are resulting in an influx of Chinese who monopolize businesses and the economy, and who consume and export Tibet’s natural resources. Increasingly, Tibet’s unique identity and culture is being replaced with Chinese customs, pop culture, education, and language. The transformation of Tibetan urban areas into Chinese urban areas, in turn, poses a dire threat to the religious, cultural, and economic lives of Tibetans. Repression in Tibet has intensified in attempts to quash all forms of dissent as economic development accelerates.
The PRC justifies bringing in migrant Chinese laborers for their development projects by stating that local Tibetans are unqualified for most of the jobs. Yet, Tibetans are routinely discriminated against based on their Tibetan ethnicity rather than their qualifications, as was the case in the construction of the Gormo-Lhasa railway line.
Responsible Development
Tibetans in Tibet and in exile welcome development projects that provide:
- Free, prior, and informed consent given by communities who would be impacted by the proposed development—before commencing operations;
- Consultation, on a short and long-term basis, with the Tibetan exile government as the legitimate representative of the Tibetan people;
- Continued environmental, social, and cultural integrity of the area affected by tourist (or other) operations on both a short and long-term basis.
The Tibetan Government-in-Exile's Position
The Tibetan Government-in-Exile has stated it is not intrinsically opposed to development in Tibet but would firmly oppose development projects that promote or result in:
- Violence – offending any living being, directly or indirectly, due to hatred, greed, or ignorance.
- Environmental destruction – projects should help restore the degraded environment, not cause further degradation.
- Social exclusion and economic marginalization of Tibetans
- Direct or indirect population transfer of non-Tibetans to Tibet
- Violations of basic human rights, including involuntary displacement, confinement and eviction.
Further, development projects must encourage sustainable practices, must be accountable to those at the grassroots level, and must encourage genuine self-governance.
Above all, Tibetans have the internationally recognized right to decide if and how their resources will be used. Yet, under the Chinese occupation, this is not the case for the Tibetan people.
Read More: Tibetan Government-in-Exile's Guidelines for Development in Tibet.
The Lhasa-Gormo Railway
In 2006, China completed construction of a major railway link between China and Tibet, a politically motivated project that is already facilitating vast economic and natural resource exploitation, environmental damage, and demographic upheaval, increasing the numbers of Chinese commercial migrants into Tibet. The railway will increase China's ability to project military power over the Himalayas, and promotes a key political aim of assimilating Tibet into the Chinese state.
Mining
Mining poses devastating social, economic, and ecological consequences for local Tibetan communities and for the major waters of Tibet. Gold and copper mining uses harsh chemicals in the processing stage, particularly dangerous given the likelihood of water contamination from the heaps of waste rock discarded at mine sites. Several proposed mining sites are in close proximity to Tibet’s main river systems. Others will destroy grazing lands and force entire villages to be relocated as many of the Tibetan communities located near proposed mining sites, especially those in central Tibet and near the Sino-Tibetan border, rely on an agricultural based economy.
There is a growing presence of foreign mining companies in Tibet (currently eight Canadian and two UK mining companies are known to be drilling in Tibet) who have both the capital and expertise needed to mine in Tibet’s inaccessible and often hostile environment. According to Chinese and foreign news reports in early 2007, the Chinese government plans to accelerate the exploitation of Tibet’s vast deposits of copper, iron, lead, zinc and other minerals, some of which are used in steel production and the auto industry. This secret seven-year Chinese government survey of the Qinghai Tibet plateau that preceded the railways construction documents the discovery of over 16 major mineral deposits, containing minerals worth an estimated $128 billion. Tibet’s natural resources are the new solution for China’s economic dependency on raw materials, the vast majority of which China currently imports from abroad.
Read More: "Stop Mining Tibet" by the International Tibet Support Network
Tourism
The railway will facilitate increased population transfer of Chinese settlers into Tibet and is expected to bring over 4000 tourists to Tibet per day, helping to double tourism revenues by 2010. In the first six days after the railway was opened, Tibet received 78,000 tourists, 46 % more than the year before. By the end of 2006, Tibet had received 2.45 million tourists, 93% of whom were from China, according to Chinese state news. Some observers predict tourist visits to reach 10 million by 2020 ( Tibet’s population is 2.7 million). The great majority of the beneficiaries of tourism infrastructure are Chinese, the benefits of bypassing local Tibetans.
Hydropower Projects
Tibet is the watershed area for ten of the world’s great rivers; China’s hydro-electric dams in Tibet have ramifications for half the world’s population that lives downstream in South and South East Asia.
