Introductory
Message from Thubten Samphel
Information
Secretary
Office
of Tibet
There
are a number of issues which are of grave
concern to us. All the
issues
which are of great concern to us are issued
in the form of press
releases.
Please visit www.tibet.net and particularly
the news flash
segment
which archive all our current releases.
This will give you an idea
of
the range of issues of immense concern
to us and on which we certainly
like the international
attention and discussion.
However,
one issue which we are particularly concerned
about is the Chinese
government
decision to link Lhasa, the Tibetan capital,
with Golmud by a
railway line.
The construction of the Lhasa-Golmud railway
line has already
started.
You can read the press release on this
in the archive of the news
flash
segment of www.tibet.net.
The
reasons for our concern on the railway
line are many but several
factors
stand out.
1)
The railway line once successfully laid
out will quicken the ability of
China
to speed up the pace of its population
transfer onto the Tibetan
plateau. Till
now because of bad roads and scarce air
traffic have
prevented
China from tranforming Tibet into another
Inner Mongolia or
manchuria.
The new railway will greatly enhance China's
ability to dump its
excess population,
those laid off or generally un-employed,
into Tibet.
This
will have incalcuable consequences on
the diminishing ability of the
Tibetans
to cling on to their culture.
2)
The new railway line will also increase
Chinese ability to exploit
Tibet's natural
resources and transport them to China,
without Tibet
getting
anything in return and with serious consquences
for the ecology.
3)
The military and strategic implications
for neighbours are so glaringly
obvious.
This would vastly improve China's ability
to rapidly move troops
across the
plateau.
4)
The agenda behind the construction of
the railway line is improving
stability
and integrating Tibet more deeply with
China.
These
are some points of concern to us. However,
one weakness is that it
will
prove extremely difficult for the authorities
to complete the railway
line because
China does not have the high mountain
technology and because
of
permafrost problems. We are told that
China will obtain the assistance
of
Italian, japanese, Swiss companies for
the construction of the railway
line. Perhaps
these potential companies, once we have
identified, could be
approached
with Tibetan concerns. Just a thought.
Anyway
we are preparing a detailed examination
of the implications of the
new
railway line. We will forward this to
you once we have completed it.
Meanwhile
please look up our website and that website
of Tibet Information
Network
for more details on this issue.
This
is one issue of concern to us and I will
inform you of others at a
later
stage.
Anyway
i would like to thank you for your concern
and interest. It is an
encouragement
to all of us working in the Tibet movement.
Your
sincerely
Thubten
Samphel
Information
Secretary