MB Civic

1. China to open world’s highest railway to Tibet on July 1
———————-BEIJING, Jun 26 (AFP) – China’s Qinghai-Tibet railway, already extolled as a
triumph for Beijing and a symbol of colonization by exiled Tibetans, will
become the world’s highest railway when it opens on Saturday.

While exiled Tibetans fear the railway will result in a flood of Han Chinese
into the region, the central government sees it as a project to tap natural
resources on the vast Tibetan plateau and bring the region out of poverty.

Over the past weeks, thousands of workers have put the finishing touches on
the railway line which will be inaugurated on the 85th anniversary of the
founding of the Chinese Communist Party.

Chinese President  Hu Jintao, who was Tibet’s top leader during a crackdown
on Tibet’s fervent independence movement from 1988 to 1992, is reportedly
preparing to commemorate the opening in Golmud, in Qinghai province, 1,972
kilometers (1,220 miles) from the line’s terminus in Lhasa.

Work on the line actually began in 1950 but was suspended after the section
from the Qinghai provincial capital of Xining to Golmud was finished. Work
resumed in 2001 with the government pouring some 20 billion yuan (2.5
billion dollars) into the project.

As of Saturday, travellers departing Beijing will be able to reach Lhasa
about 4,561 kilometers away in two days.

“The project is symbolic of China’s development of the western regions,”
said foreign ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu.

“The railway will fundamentally change the backward situation of the
region’s infrastructure, it will raise the living standards of all ethnic
minorities and will strengthen the rapid development of the tourist
industry.”

With a third Tibetan airport slated to open also in July, regional
authorities estimate that by 2010 the number of tourist arrivals to the
“Roof of the World” will double from this year’s 2.5 million.

By 2010, tourist revenues in the region will rise to 5.8 billion yuan a
year, they said.

For exiled Tibetans, plans are already in the works to protest the railway
line on Saturday at Chinese embassies and consulates worldwide. Protesters
have been urged to wear black arm bands of mourning during the protests.

“The railway will have devastating consequences for our people as Beijing
wants to submerge our population, dilute our culture and exploit our lands,”
said Ngawang Woeber, a former Tibetan political prisoner who is organizing
the protests from Dharamsala, India.

Dharamsala is where the Dalai Lama’s exiled government has been based after
the Tibetan Buddhist spiritual leader sought refuge in the northern Indian
hill town following an aborted 1959 uprising in Lhasa.

Although Tibetans fear that the influx of more Chinese into Tibet will erode
the region’s unique Buddhist traditions, Chinese tourist agents are touting
the railway as the world’s highest with much of the line 4,000 meters
(13,200 feet) above sea level and its highest point reaching 5,072 meters.

“A trip to Tibet is considered by many Chinese as a trip to heaven and is a
dream of many,” Zhao Hongyu, an agent at the China Youth Travel Service,
said.

“The railway allows us to diversify our products because it is less
expensive than an airplane by between 1,000 to 3,000 yuan and it is easier
for travellers to acclimatize to the altitude.”

At present, one-way air tickets to Lhasa cost more than 2,000 yuan.

With China’s economy booming, the railway is also key to plans to exploit
Tibet’s rich natural resources, especially copper.

“I’m sure that the railway will push ahead the development of this region.
For years a lack of transport has been a huge problem blocking progress,”
said Zhang Xiaode, an economist specializing in China’s western regions.

However Zhang, like many environmentalists, fears that rampant exploitation
could harm the fragile ecosystem in the Himalayan region that has largely
remained untouched by man.

To this end, the government has pledged to spend 1.54 billion yuan on
protecting Tibet’s environment and its rare species such as the Tibetan
antelope