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| [WTN-L World Tibet Network News. Published by The Canada Tibet Committee. Issue ID: 02/08/11; August 11, 2002.] Carole Samdup Despite China's increasing prosperity, poverty continues to plague themajority of Tibetans living under its authority. According to the UNDevelopment Program, Tibet is the poorest and least developed region ofChina with a human development index of only 0.39 placing it within thebottom 12 of a list of the world's 49 officially recognized "least developedcountries", between Rwanda and Mali. This compares with China's HDIcurrently listed by the UNDP as .718 and belies claims that economicdevelopment and poverty alleviation programs on the plateau have producedsignificant results for the Tibetan people. This disparity between Tibet and China is reflected between Tibetan andChinese populations living within Tibet itself. Financial incentives forChinese workers and entrepreneurs have encouraged increased in-migration toTibet, while political repression and discriminatory social and fiscalpolicies have entrenched a two-class economic and social system basedprimarily on race. In China's reformed economy, the Tibetan people havevery few alternatives and little hope.
It was in this context that on June 17, 1999, while addressing the NationalForum on the Reform of State-owned Enterprises, Chinese President JiangZemin first announced a vague new program entitled China's "WesternDevelopment Strategy" (WDS), describing it as a means to "strengthennational unity, safeguard social stability and consolidate border defence".Western governments and the private sector were quick to jump on theprogram, which framed its objectives within an attractive discourse ofmodernization and reform. For Tibetans, however, the WDS meant somethingquite different. It threatened further political repression, economicmarginalization and the exploitation of Tibet's natural resources. China's western region comprises 23 % of its population and 56 percent ofits land area, including the Tibet, Xinjiang (East Turkestan) and NingxiaHui Autonomous Regions, Qinghai, Gansu, Sichuan, Yunnan, Shaanxi and Guizhouprovinces and Chongqing municipality. To be successful, the WDS requires anambitious plan of infrastructure development and foreign investment. Havinghad little past success with international development assistance projectsin Tibet (during the 1990's, the World Food Program, the European Union andWorld Bank each cancelled proposed projects due to human rights concerns andcharges of mismanagement and corruption), China has renewed efforts toattract private foreign investment in light of its new accountability asmember of the World Trade Organisation (WTO). In October 2000, Tibet'sDepartment of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation hosted an internationaltrade fair in Hong Kong specifically to encourage foreign investment inTibet. The fair offered over 100 projects in a variety of sectors,including transportation, energy, mining, agriculture, military/defence,environmental services, health services and education.
In its Declaration on the Right to Development, the United Nationsre-affirmed the importance of the right to self-determination as anunderlying principle of development (art.8). The right toself-determination is protected by law in both the International Covenant onCivil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic,Social and Cultural Rights, which state that "All peoples have the right toself-determination. By virtue of that right they freely determine theirpolitical status and freely pursue their economic, social and culturaldevelopment" (art.1)[ii]. Article 5 of the Declaration on the Right toDevelopment preconditions development on the elimination of human rightsviolations resulting from racial discrimination, foreign domination oroccupation. With foreign capital set to stake a claim in Tibet in spite of its politicalsituation, the Tibetan Government in Exile has issued a series of guidelinesaimed at making the best of a bad situation. These Guidelines forInternational Development Projects and Sustainable Development in Tibet (thefull text is available at In conjunction with the 2000 Hong Kong trade fair, the Government of theTibet Autonomous Region published its own set of recommendations, entitledGuidelines for Investment in Tibet (Xu Minyang, ed). These guidelines arepreoccupied with incentives for investment and contain no protection forlocal people or their culture. Instead they set out the range andlimitations of preferential policies for foreign investment in Tibet. China's guidelines for investors in Tibet include land give-aways that violate anumber of human rights principles. Perhaps most significant among these isarticle 1.2 of both the International Covenant on Economic, Social andCultural Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and PoliticalRights, which states that "All peoples may, for their own ends, freely dispose of their natural wealthand resources without prejudice to any obligations arising out ofinternational economic co-operation, based upon the principle of mutualbenefit, and international law. In no case may a people be deprived of itsown means of subsistence." · special provisions for investors in Ngachu (a key stop on thecontroversial Golmud-Lhasa rail line) including the use of local "farmland,forests, grasslands"; · first priority authorization to develop land and undergroundresources for those investors involved in construction of railways or railstations: · "free funds" to purchase land at 50% of its value with associatedfees waived for high-tech and infrastructure investors; · fee waivers for investment above USD 10 million; · special treatment of investor requests for long-term or residentvisa applications; · exemption of income and operating taxes for projects such asinfrastructure, transportation and energy development. A secret report written in the 1970's by the US Central Intelligence Agencyand released n 1993, The Integration of Tibet: China Progress and Problems,cited the lack of a railway as the primary reason why Beijing had so farfailed to fully assimilate Tibet into China. As part of China's WDS programfor Tibet, that railway is now becoming a reality. The railway from Golmud in Amdo (Qinghai) province to Lhasa was originallyconceived during the 1950's but its three primary purposes have not changed.First it will facilitate the movement of military troops. Second, it willfacilitate the in-migration of ever-increasing numbers of Chineseentrepreneurs and workers taking advantage of the various incentivesoutlined above and further marginalizing the Tibetan people. Third it willprovide the means to export Tibet's natural heritage - its resource riches -to the industrialised eastern regions of China. The China Peoples Daily reported on March 7, 2001 that the Government ofChina is "technically and financially capable" of constructing the railwaywithout foreign assistance despite the special needs associated withbuilding rail over permafrost. Nevertheless, observers have pointed outthat building and operating the railway in Tibet will require skills,technology and equipment in related project areas such as control systems,communications and signalling systems, mechanized maintenance of tracks,urban planning, engineering and environmental impact assessment services.Most of these are likely to require foreign involvement. The China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), already notorious for itspartnership with Talisman in Sudan, has begun construction of acontroversial gas pipeline originating in Tibet's Tsaidam Basin. Each year,the pipeline will move 3 -5 billion cubic meters of gas 2500 km from Sebeiin eastern Tibet to Lanzhou in Gansu province. Tsaidam's estimated reservescould supply China's current gas needs for up to seven years. The Tibetan Government in Exile has voiced strong concerns about theproject, warning that it threatens the delicate ecosytems in the region andwill deplete local resources for the sole benefit of China's industrializedbut energy-starved eastern regions. As a state-owned monopoly, the CNPCholds exclusive rights to all of Tibet's oil and gas in what Tibetans sayamounts to appropriation of their natural heritage. Despite such problems, western corporations have poured billions of dollarsinto China's oil sector. BP/Amoco and the Italian company, Agip, have beentargeted by a coalition of non-governmental organizations for theirparticipation in CNPC's plans for the Tibet pipeline while Canadian groupshave pointed to CIDA, which has provided the CNPC an astounding $29 millionin public funds for provision of "training and practical demonstration insuch specialized fields as natural gas and oil exploration and development.pipeline and transportation technology, environmental protection andmanagement and enhanced oil recovery"[iii].Conclusion China's WDS and its recent WTO accession have opened Tibet's fragile economyto the world. The Tibetan people did not participate in these two processesthat now form the framework for Tibet's development. While increased foreignpresence in Tibet could be a positive force for change, there is littleevidence that western governments or transnational corporations haveconsidered the human rights implications of their involvement in the restiveregion. Will economic reform result in democracy and human rights for theTibetan people? Or will it facilitate the violation of their rights andbecome China's final solution for its Tibetan problem? Unless arights-based development strategy forms the base of economic and socialpolicy in Tibet, the Tibetan people stand to gain little from China's newreforms. Carole Samdup is a founding member of the Canada Tibet Committee(www.tibet.ca), a membership organization with offices across Canada. Shehas represented the CTC at several international events including the 4thWorld Conference on Women in Beijing. Between 1970 and 1980, she lived andworked with Tibetan refugees in Dharmsala, India. In 1999, she participatedin the establishment of the International Tibet Support Network and servedas Co-Chair of its first Steering Committee. [i] For an excellent review of China' western development strategy, seeChina's Great Leap West, Tibet Information Network, UK, 2000,www.tibetinfo.net. See also Government of Canada descriptor atwww.dfait-maeci.gc.ca/china/business/westerndev-e.asp [ii] The United Nations General Assembly has passed three resolutionssupporting Tibet, citing various violations to the fundamental rights of theTibetan people, including their right to self-determination. China ratifiedthe International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in 2001. [iii]http://www.acdi-cida.gc.ca/cida_ind.nsf/eff12ba4cbb097c1852566ce00644c8a/b91 |
