An open letter to Hu Jintao
19 Jan 2011
The Asian Age
Dear Hu Jintao,
As the Chinese leader most closely associated with Tibet, you have declared Tibet to be one of the most sensitive “core issues” in the US-China relationship. We expect that it will be high on the agenda of your discussions with President Obama this week.
Mr Hu, you began your rise to power as Party chief in Tibet (although you didn’t enjoy the altitude in Lhasa), and you have been instrumental in setting and implementing policy on Tibet. As the succession process begins in the Chinese Communist Party, what will be your legacy on Tibet?
Tibetans have not forgotten that you presided over that terrifying time of martial law in Lhasa in 1989 – and you were one of the first regional leaders to congratulate those who ordered the troops to open fire on Tiananmen Square three months later.
Today, there is a deepening crackdown in Tibet. Tibetans have risked their lives to express their loyalty to their leader the Dalai Lama and their anguish as a result of more than 50 years of suppression. Your response has been to strengthen the very measures that caused the largely peaceful wave of protests that swept across Tibetan areas of the PRC from March, 2008 onwards. You have tightened control to suffocation point, imposing new measures that weaken the institutions of Tibetan Buddhism and undermine Tibetan language, bedrock of its culture. Although you are leader of a Communist state that promotes atheism, you have even declared that Tibetan lamas cannot be reincarnated without
government permission.
Your actions point to profound contradictions in China’s leadership today. While you demonstrate increasing strength and aggressive authority in your assertions towards global leadership, you regard peaceful disagreement with the juggernaut top-down policies of the Communist Party as a threat to your nation’s “security”. The latter is not the approach of a strong state. As Tibetans, we are not alone in believing that the measure of greatness of a nation is not only based on turbo-charged mercantilism. We believe that ultimately if China is to achieve greatness you must lead with a moral authority and take into account the wishes and genuine grievances of the Chinese and Tibetan people.
The need for change is urgent. Your government and Party have engaged in a systematic attack on the rule of law and civil society. You characterise two of the most progressive and important voices for peace on the world stage today – our leader His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Chinese scholar Liu Xiaobo – as “criminals”. Tibet is under virtual lockdown, with ever longer prison sentences being imposed as ultimately futile attempts to silence the peaceful expression of views. Do you want the leitmotif of your legacy to be a hellish, constricting fear?
Mr Hu, you can no longer say that what happens in Tibet is simply a matter of China’s “internal affairs”. Tibet is a “core issue” for the world, not just for China. Tibet is the earth’s ‘Third Pole’ with the world’s largest reserves of freshwater outside the Arctic and Antarctic. The fragile ecology of the Tibetan plateau, the source of most of Asia’s major rivers including the Yangtze, is of critical importance to the water-dependent societies in downstream nations. And yet you have developed and are pursuing fast-track economic strategies and damning projects that are known to contribute to the adverse effects of global warming and risk devastation in downstream communities, including India.
Twenty-first century thinking requires us to move beyond 19th century nation-building based on the exploitation of natural resources. There is an increasing consensus among Chinese, Tibetan and Western scholars that your policy of settling nomads in Tibet is leading to environmental degradation and increasing poverty. Scientists say that the traditional ecosystem knowledge of Tibetan nomads protects the land and livelihoods and helps restore areas already degraded. The involvement of Tibetans is essential to sustaining the long-term health of the land and water resources that China and the rest of Asia depends upon.
Mr Hu, a new generation of leaders has a responsibility to listen to voices for change from Tibet and China, and to deal responsibly with Tibet policy.
It is not too late for you to take an important and historic step before the succession runs its course, with regard to another important succession.
The Dalai Lama is recognised by the world as the pre-eminent representative of the Tibetan people. The potential for instability increases, not decreases, after he passes away. Now is the time for a far-sighted Chinese leadership to engage with this moderate, influential leader – who is revered by thousands of Chinese, too – before it is too late.
We hope that your visit to Washington is fruitful.
Tencho Gyatso, Tsering Jampa, and Pema Wangyal are from the International Campaign for Tibet

Hu Pushed on Tibet Dialogue
2011-01-19 RFA
The U.S. president calls on his counterpart to restart talks with the Dalai Lama for greater Tibetan autonomy.
U.S. President Barack Obama raised the plight of the Tibetan people directly with visiting Chinese leader Hu Jintao on Wednesday, calling on Beijing to resume talks with the Dalai Lama on greater autonomy for the Himalayan region.
As Obama and his counterpart sparred over human rights at a rare press conference, the U.S. leader said Beijing should make better efforts to reconcile differences with the Tibetans, who complain their rights are being eroded under Chinese rule.
“Even as we, the United States, recognize that Tibet is part of the People’s Republic of China, the United States continues to support further dialogue between the government of China and the representatives of the Dalai Lama to resolve concerns and differences, including the reservation of the religious and cultural identity of the Tibetan people,” Obama said.
Some see Obama’s move to publicly raise the Tibet issue as an attempt to make amends for what was widely considered to be a snub of the Dalai Lama during the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader’s visit to Washington last year.
Obama finally met with the Dalai Lama at the White House in February 2010 after declining to meet with him during his previous visit to Washington in October 2009.
But some advisers had argued against the delay, which was widely panned at home as an appeasement of China. At the meeting that was finally held, the president agreed only to a brief meeting with the Dalai Lama that was closed to the press and held in the White House basement Map Room.
Little progress
The Dalai Lama’s representatives have met with Chinese officials a total of nine times to discuss Chinese rule in Tibet, but little progress has been made in the talks. The last time the envoys sat down with Chinese officials was in January last year, when the two sides met in Beijing.
Hu did not respond directly to Obama’s comment about Tibet, but did admit later that as a developing country with a large population and in the midst of reform, China could do better to protect the rights of its people.
“China still faces many challenges in economic and social development. And a lot still needs to be done in China, in terms of human rights,” he said.
He added that China would be willing to engage in dialogue and exchanges with the United States “on the basis of mutual respect and the principle of non-interference in each other’s internal affairs.”
‘Make change happen’
Mary Beth Markey, president of the International Campaign for Tibet, said that while it was atypical of Obama to make such a strong statement about Tibet on the public stage, his message was “nothing new.”
“That is what the president has been saying to the Chinese privately. And yes, it’s enormously gratifying to have him say it publicly. But again, it’s not new … and it’s something that Hu Jintao would have heard many times before,” Markey said.
“It is Hu, and it is only President Hu, who has the authority to make change happen in Tibet. So it would have been much more gratifying to then have President Hu say something and … he was pretty dodgy on those human rights issues,” she said.
“[But] the Chinese do not like to appear to be acting at the behest of U.S. concerns for Tibet.”
Many Tibetans have chafed for years under Chinese rule, which they say has eroded their national culture and curbed their freedom to practice Buddhism.
The Dalai Lama has accused China of perpetrating “cultural genocide” in Tibet, and is regarded by Beijing as a dangerous separatist.
Call for concern
As Obama and Hu fielded questions at the joint press conference, hundreds of Tibetan and other demonstrators converged on Lafayette Park outside the White House, protesting against what they called China’s human rights abuses.
Some chanted “Who is a liar? Hu Jintao is a liar” and “Killer, killer, Hu Jintao.”
Two actors wearing 12-foot-tall skeleton costumes played out an attack on others portraying a Chinese dragon in front of a banner that read, “Hu has Tibetan skeletons in his closet.”
“We’re here to urge President Obama to raise the issue of human rights and freedom for the Tibetan people during his talk with President Hu Jintao, publicly and vigorously, because these are universal values and especially ones that us Americans … cherish,” said Tenzin Dolkar of Students for a Free Tibet.
Written by Joshua Lipes.

Transcript of Video-Conference with His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Chinese Activists
TibetNet[Thursday, January 20, 2011 17:53]
Questions put forward to His Holiness the Dalai Lama by Chinese people from various cities in Mainland China.
1. Your Holiness, what is your view about Ngabo Ngawang Jigme? He was the representative delegated by you to negotiate with the People’s Republic of China and also the one who signed the 17-Point Agreement [in 1951]. Even if you had not granted him [plenipotentiary] powers [to sign the Agreement], you had later accepted that agreement. Eventually, most of the time, he stood against you and acted like the spokesperson of the Chinese government on the Tibet issue.
His Holiness the Dalai Lama: I knew Ngabo even before 1950. People who knew Ngabo at that time viewed him as an honest person, someone of integrity. I also viewed Ngabo as progressive and trusted him. He was then one of the main people who had my trust and confidence. After the signing of the Agreement, when I met Ngabo in Lhasa, he told me that they were compelled to sign that Agreement because, had they refused to sign, it would have resulted in an ‘armed liberation’ of Tibet. Thus, he felt that a ‘peaceful liberation’ was better than an ‘armed liberation’. He, however, also said that when they signed the Agreement, even though they were carrying the Chamdo governor’s official seal, they did not use it. They instead had to use a forged seal provided by the Chinese government.
Similarly, in 1979, after Deng Xiaoping displayed significant flexibility, I dispatched fact-finding delegations to Tibet. At that time, when my delegates met Ngabo, he told them to be aware about the fact that whether in times of the Qing dynasty, or for that matter, the rule of Guomingtang, places within the territory of Ganden Phodrang [Government of Tibet] never paid taxes to them. Ngabo thus gave a clear indication of his patriotism.
Similarly, in 1989, during a session of Tibet Autonomous Region People’s Congress, Ngabo refuted as factually incorrect the official Chinese paper claiming that the Nanjing government (of Guomingtang) made all the decisions regarding the enthronement of the 14th Dalai Lama, as well as on matters relating to the identification and recognition of the Dalai Lama. Ngabo said that the reincarnation of the Dalai Lama was recognized by the regent of Tibet in accordance with religious tradition and that there was no foreign presider at the enthronement ceremony. The aforesaid claims, Ngabo said, were not true as asserted by the Guomintang officials. Even though I was a minor at the time of the enthronement, I still vividly remember that there were representatives of British India, China, Nepal and Bhutan uniformly seated in one row. Thus, in these matters, Ngabo had done his best in clarifying the actual facts. Following his demise, we organized a memorial service. In fact, some of our friends criticized our memorial service for him as inappropriate. We all know it is a fact that people under fear are forced to speak diplomatically according to the given circumstances. This is the reason why I always had complete trust in him. Even though he has now passed away, I always pray for him.
2. Your Holiness, are you losing control over the behaviour of a few Tibetans in exile? What do you think if that happens and how are you going to work on this?
His Holiness the Dalai Lama: There are over 150,000 Tibetans living in exile, out of which perhaps 99 percent share common concern and sincerity on the issue of Tibet. Of course, there will be difference of opinions and it should exist since here we are following the path of democracy. I tell my people that they have the right to freedom of speech and freedom of thought, and they should express themselves freely. So there will be different opinions. Take the example of the Tibetan Youth Congress. They struggle for independence and criticize our Middle-Way policy. During my occasional meetings with them, I tell them ‘the Chinese government expects that I should arrest some of you’, but we cannot do such things here in a free country and I would never do such a thing.
3. My question to you, my teacher, is the struggle of non-violence and truth (non- cooperation) effective in confronting communist China? If yes, in what ways the Tibetan people are benefited by non-violence and truth?
His Holiness the Dalai Lama: I always tell the same thing to Tibetans. And I want to mention here that even though our consistent stand of middle-way policy based on the foundation of non-violence has not yielded tangible result through dialogue with the Chinese government, it has helped us in getting strong support from the Chinese intellectuals, students and those who are interested in and aware of the reality. This is the result of my efforts.It is difficult to deal with the Chinese government, but I think despite our inability to maintain extensive contacts with the Chinese intellectuals and public, our stand will win their support and it will continue to grow. It was some months after the Tiananmen event, I met some Chinese friends at Harvard University as I happened to be at that time in the US. After I explained to them our position, they said the entire Chinese people would support the stand of the Dalai Lama if they know about it.
4. Your Holiness, please explain how reforming the system of reincarnating lamas is permissible? Does such a reform contravene the Buddha’s teachings?
His Holiness the Dalai Lama: From the outset, I want to ask the questioner to read a little of the Buddha’s teachings as contained in Kagyur (teachings of the Buddha) and Tengyur (Commentaries by Buddhist masters). The custom of recognizing reincarnate lamas did not develop in India. Similarly, the tradition of reincarnation of lamas did not develop in many Buddhist countries such as Thailand, Burma and China. There is a system of recognizing someone as a reincarnation of an enlightened being, but the system of recognizing someone as Tulku or Lama does not exist. In Tibet, the first ever reincarnation was recognized after a little child who clearly remembered his past life and which was proved to be true. Later on, this system slowly and gradually nearly became a class structure in society. Because of this I have made it well known that there is a difference between Tulku and Lama. A Lama need not be a Tulku and a Tulku need not be a Lama or one could be both Lama and Tulku. The one who is qualified as a result of one’s own study and practice is known as Lama. A Tulku, even without such a standard of education, enjoys status in society in the name of the former Lama. And there are many who lack the Lama’s qualification and even bring disgrace. So I used to say since some forty years ago that there needs to be some system to regulate the recognition of Tulku. Otherwise it is not good to have many unqualified ones.I consider my interest in the system of reincarnation as a service to the Buddha’s teachings. In the case of the Dalai Lama’s reincarnation, the four hundred year old tradition of the Dalai Lama as both spiritual and temporal leader ended with the direct election of political leadership by the Tibetans in exile in 2001. In 1969, I made it well known in my official statement that whether the institution of the Dalai Lama should continue or not would be decided by the Tibetan people. In future, to decide whether to have the Dalai Lama’s reincarnation and if there is a need, it is not necessary to always follow the past precedence but we can act in accordance with the given circumstances. This conforms to the teachings of the Buddha and do not go against them. When I explain about the possibility of reincarnation of Lamas in general and that of the Dalai Lama in particular, some Tibetans from inside Tibet and as well as Chinese friends wonder if this is in line with our religious tradition.
5. At present there are a lot of people in China who have a deep-seated anger and animosity to you. What do you have to say to them?
His Holiness the Dalai Lama: At one point the Dalai Lama was called a demon. On a few occasions I was asked what I thought on the Dalai Lama being called a demon and I told them in good humor, “I am a demon. I have horns on my head”.
This is understandable since the Chinese people have access only to one-sided and distorted information. For example during the Olympic torch relay, I especially requested the concerned people that the Olympic Games were a matter of pride for the 1.3 billion Chinese people and that we must never create any problem. Moreover, even before the right of hosting the Olympic Games was awarded to China, when I was visiting the US capital city of Washington, D.C., some journalists asked me about my viewpoint. I told them that China being the most populous country with a rich cultural heritage and history was worthy of hosting the Games. This is a factual account.But still the Chinese government greatly publicized that we were creating obstacles for the Olympic Games. Because of such propaganda, the Chinese people are not aware of the entire situation and thus we cannot blame them.While on the other side, there are many people around the world who respect me. Therefore, I want to urge my Chinese brothers and sisters to examine the minute details and thoroughly research the information you receive from all sources. When I meet Chinese students, I tell them that being in a free country they should fully utilize both eyes and ears.
6. As far as we know, the central government of the Republic of China participated in the selection process and enthronement ceremony of the reincarnation of the Dalai Lama. So, Your Holiness, do you recognize the Taiwan-based Republic of China and how much of an influence do you think the Taiwan government will again have in the reincarnation process?
His Holiness the Dalai Lama: It is similar to my earlier account of Ngabo’s story. Generally, when I am in Taiwan, I have supported the call for ‘One China’. But eventually it is up to the people of mainland China and Taiwan to decide whether they want to be united in the future. What is more important is that Taiwan’s democracy, its robust economy and Taiwan’s good standard of education should be properly safeguarded. This is what I usually say.Wang Lixiong: We have virtually seen the Dalai Lama, just that, as Your Holiness said we could not smell each other. Using the Internet in the 21st century, we consider this opportunity of interacting with Your Holiness as of fundamental importance. Thus, if interactions like these are deemed constructive for Sino-Tibetan relations and understanding each other further, then in the future I think and I hope that many Chinese scholars and concerned people will take part. Tashi Delek.His Holiness the Dalai Lama: Very good. If it is convenient for you, I am always available and fully prepared to interact using modern technology and clear the doubts of Chinese friends. I always say, “Han zang da tuan jie” (Friendly relations between Chinese and Tibetans).If we get the opportunity of frequently holding similar meetings and interactions, it will help build genuine trust and understanding amongst us. We will not be able to build trust by standing far apart. The clearer we discuss our issues the more trust we will gain in each other. If there is trust then there will be cordial relations and with cordial relations, even if there is a problem, we can solve it.
Can you see my face clearly? Can see my grey eyebrows? See you later.
Tashi Delek. Thank You.

25-yr-old first Tibetan to be Indian citizen
Anand Bodh, TNN, Jan 20, 2011, 01.32am IST
CHANDIGARH: Thousands of Tibetans born in India between 1950 and 1986 may have a reason to cheer. They can now become Indian citizens under the Citizenship (Amendment) Act 1986. These Tibetans have 25-year-old Namgyal Dolkar to thank, who although born in India was declined citizenship and termed ‘stateless’.
Dolkar became the first Tibetan to get Indian citizenship after Delhi High Court ruled in her favour last month. ”I am a Tibetan at heart, but now I am an Indian citizen. I believe one should be aware of one’s rights, and I got my rights due to my awareness,” she told TOI.
Dolkar is no ordinary Tibetan. She is the oldest of four siblings who claim descent from Tibet’s 33rd King Songtsen Gampo, ruler of Tibet in the 7th century. In June 2004, during a coronation ceremony presided over by the Dalai Lama, her younger brother, Namgyal Wangchuk Trichen Lhagyari, was ordained descendent of the first dharma King Songtsen Gampo.
Dolkar said she hoped her case would help others Tibetans struggling for an identity in India. ”For one year, Dolkar’s queries went unheard. We sent a legal notice, but after it failed to get a response, we approached the Delhi High Court,” said Roxna S Swamy, Dolkar’s lawyer.
”I found that Tibetans, who are eligible for citizenship as per the amended 1986 Citizenship Act, were not aware of it,” she said. ”According to the Citizenship (Amendment) Act 1986, any person born in India on or after January 26, 1950, but prior to the commencement of the 1986 Act on July 1, 1987, is citizen of India by birth.”
Born in Kangra, Himachal Pradesh, on April 13, 1986, and brought up in Dehradun, Dolkar never thought her quest for national identity would lead to a legal battle that would turn out to be a milestone for her exiled community.
The battle began after she applied for an Indian passport in March 2008 in Delhi. The passport office rejected her application, saying her parents were Tibetans. In response to her application, the passport office wrote back on September 1, 2009 that the ministry of external affairs had decided that she could not get a passport and be treated as an Indian.
Dolkar then approached the high court. Justice S Muralidhar on December 22, ruled Dolkar was entitled to citizenship. The court had also ordered MEA to pay her a compensation of Rs 5,000, and give her a passport within two months.

A new era for Tibet’s rivers
? 11-1-17 ?? ChinaDialogue Latest Articles ???Jiang Yannan, He Haining
Construction of a massive dam on the Yarlung Zangbo marks a turning point for Tibet, write He Haining and Jiang Yannan. A development boom is coming.
The rushing waters of the Yarlung Zangbo, the last of China’s great rivers to remain undammed, will soon be history. On November 12 last year, the builders of the Zangmu Hydropower Station announced the successful damming of the river – the first public announcement on a matter that, until now, has been kept under wraps.The Zangmu hydroelectric power station is being built on the middle reaches of the Yarlung Zangbo (known as the Brahmaputra when it reaches India) between the counties of Sangri andGyaca. Around 7.9 billion yuan (US$1.2 billion) is being invested in the project, located in a V-shaped valley 3,200 metres above sea level. At 510 megawatts, the plant is much smaller than China’s 18,000-megawatt Three Gorges Dam, but still equivalent to the entire existing hydropower-generating capacity of Tibet.The construction workers have now reached the centre of the river. The water is being diverted into sluiceways and rows of grouting machines and stone crushers are working at full pace, while trucks come and go. One worker said that the winter here is mild, so there’ll be no need to stop work. Geologist Yang Yong said the activity represents the start of a new age: “Hydropower development on the Yarlung has begun, marking the start of a hydropower era for Tibet’s rivers.”A series of hydropower stations is proposed for the Yarlung Zangbo. If they are all built, Zangmu will be the fourth in a row of five on the Sangri to Gyaca stretch of the river, between the Gyaca and Jiexu plants. There has been no official confirmation that the construction of these will go ahead. But Yan Zhiyong, general manager of China Hydropower Engineering Consulting, said in a recent media interview: “By about 2020 most of China’s hydropower projects outside of Tibet will have been completed, and the industry’s focus will shift to the Jinsha, Lancang, the upper reaches of the Nu River and the Yarlung.”Several well-known Chinese hydropower firms have already made their way into Tibet. The backer of the Zangmu project, the Tibet Generating Company, has already built a residential area on the open spaces alongside the river at Zangmu and a flourishing town is taking shape, with a supermarket better-stocked than those in the county’s main town. The boss, from Zhejiang, moved here from the Xiaowan dam in Yunnan, south-west China, two months ago and is positive about the future: “There’ll be loads of workers next year, business will be great.”The Zangmu dam is located in the southern Tibetan county of Gyaca, which has a population of around 17,000. “The economy here is going to be among the fastest-growing in Tibet,” said businessman Li Hua, who has already invested in a three-star hotel here – a five-storey building that is now the tallest in the area.Work on a highway to the administrative centre of Lhoka prefecture is to start in 2011, cutting travel time in half. “Hydropower development will very quickly spur mining, and there’ll also be very rapid growth in road and railways. The Tibetan hinterland will see a new development boom,” predicted Yang Yong. Guan Zhihua is a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research. In 1972 the academy established a survey team to study the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau, and Guan – now in his seventies – was the head of the group charged with calculating the hydropower potential of the Yarlung Zangbo, China’s highest river. As if describing a family heirloom, he said: “The river flows for 2,057 kilometres within China’s borders, and its hydropower potential is second only to the Yangtze. It has more power-generating potential per unit of length than any other river in China.”
Guan’s was the first comprehensive and systematic study of the plateau – a four year field project carried out by more than 400 people across 50 different disciplines. But the study of the Yarlung Zangbo and its tributaries was only a part of the survey, and at the time nobody had any idea of the extent of the river’s potential. The entire basin was found to have hydropower potential of 114 gigawatts – 79 of which was on the main river. And this potential was highly concentrated, with the possibility of a 38-gigawatt hydropower facility at the Great Bend in Medog county, equal in power to the Three Gorges Dam.In 1980, a nationwide survey of hydropower resources was carried out and 12 possible dam locations identified on the Yarlung Zangbo. “This would have been the first hydropower plan for the Yarlung,” recalled Guan. In the 1980s, Tibet twice planned to dam the Yarlung Zangbo, but in neither case did the project get off the groundZhang Jinling, a 76-year old retiree from the Tibet Surveying Institute, recalled the first bid to build a dam here: “In the 1980s, Shigatse [a city in southern Tibet] wanted to build a hydropower station at Jiangdang and that would have been the first attempt to dam the river.” But there were concerns: this part of the river carries a lot of silt and the project would have required swaths of land to be inundated and many people to be relocated – and the dam would only generate 50 megawatts of power. The plan was submitted to Beijing, but was not approved.
On another occasion, plans were drawn up to dam the river outside Lhasa. Zhang’s team carried out preliminary surveys, drilling rock samples out of the mountainsides to acquire geological data. But a large reshuffle of officials in both 1981 and 1982 saw the team lose two-thirds of its manpower. Plans were shelved.Those plans were spurred by a shortage of electricity in Tibet. Zhang recalled that the Tibetan government was seeking a quick way of providing power by any means – diesel-fired and geothermal power generation were also used.During the 1980s, Lhasa, with 120,000 residents, only had 20 or 30 megawatts of power-generating capacity, mostly provided by several hydropower stations each providing a few megawatts. In winter there was no choice but to rotate power supplies to different areas of the city, with those cut off using kerosene for heating.When Zhang retired in 1995, the electricity grid in eastern Tibet was just beginning to take shape, but it has remained isolated from the national grid. A connection between Tibet and Qinghai is due to be completed in 2012, which will relieve the electricity shortages Tibet suffers in winter and spring.”It wouldn’t have been possible to build a large dam on the Yarlung before the Qinghai-Tibet railway was completed – you need a rail line to move the building materials,” said He Xiwu, who was head of the survey team’s water-resources group at the time.In 1994, work started on the Three Gorges Dam, but plans for the Yarlung Zangbo were kept quiet. The low-key approach was unusual given the river’s huge potential. Even recently, a water-resources official with the Tibetan government stressed that developing hydropower in Tibet was mostly about self-sufficiency.
Since the early 1990s, Tibet has built a series of medium-sized hydropower stations, of about 10 megawatts each, such as the pumped-storage hydropower station at Yamdrok Lake and the dam at Zhikong. These are intended to relieve electricity shortages in the Lhasa area. Although government work reports mention it every year, hydropower development on the Yarlung Zangbo was never made a priority. But in the final years of the 11th Five Year Plan, things changed. “The current proposal is an appropriate degree of industrialisation, with a process of capacity building, then focusing on priorities, and then overall development,” said He Gang,research fellow at the Tibet Academy of Social Sciences’ Institute of Economic Strategy. “The priorities most often proposed are mining and hydropower.”Behind the scenes, preparations for hydropower development on the Yarlung Zangbo have been constant. In a recent media interview, Zhi Xiaoqian, head of the Chengdu Surveying Institute, said that plans had been drawn up for all of Tibet’s major rivers, including the middle reaches of the Yarlung Zangbo. But a lack of clear policy direction has meant approval for those plans has been slow and the projects have not commenced. “Now the time and conditions are ripe. China’s energy supply is becoming ever more pressured, and there’s an urgent need to develop the rich hydropower resources of Tibet,” Zhi said.Currently less than 0.6% of Tibet’s hydropower resources have been developed. In comparison with the rest of China, this is virgin territory.The Zangmu Hydropower Station is only the start. The huge potential of the Yarlung Zangbo is concentrated at the Great Bend in Medog county, where two or more dams the size of the Three Gorges could be built. This is also the most spectacular section of the river, where it falls steeply as it makes a u-turn, and is regarded as one of the world’s most striking river sections.
As early as 1998, Chen Chuanyou of the Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research at the Chinese Academy of Sciences published an article in Guangming Daily entitled “Could the world’s biggest hydropower station be built in Tibet?” He proposed building a reservoir on the middle reaches of the Yarlung Zangbo to raise the water level, and then drilling a 16-kilometre tunnel to carry the water to its tributary, the Duoxiong – a drop of 2,300 metres that would allow for three hydropower stations. For the sake of safety and the environment, they could be built underground, he said.In 2002, Chen published another paper in Engineering Sciences, looking at the positive impact that a hydropower station at the Great Bend would have on electricity generation in south-east Asia, and pointing out that, if there were financial issues, funds could be raised both domestically and abroad, and that electricity could be exported to south-east Asia.He Xiwu said: “I’ve heard there is still no plan for the Great Bend. The state should spend a bit every year on long-term research. There’s 38-gigawatts of potential there, but the geology is complicated and construction would be difficult. It has to be done carefully.””Hydropower development in Tibet has come late, but it is on the agenda now,” said Fan Xiao, chief engineer for the regional geological survey team at the Sichuan Bureau of Geological Exploration. What worries Fan, however, is this: “Tibet’s ecology is extremely vulnerable, and would be very hard to restore if damaged. This kind of full-river development can’t just see the Yarlung Zangbo as a hydropower resource – everything needs to be taken into consideration.”
This article was first published by Southern Weekend.He Haining is a reporter and Jiang Yannan an intern at Southern Weekend. Feng Jie, also a reporter, contributed to this article.

Nepal’s king traded Tibetan refugees for US support
WikiLeaks
Economic Times: Jan 15, 2011
KATHMANDU: After ordering the closure of the Dalai Lama’s envoy’s office in Kathmandu and taking over absolute power with a military-backed bloodless coup in 2005, Nepal’s King Gyanendra dangled Tibetan refugees as bait before the US in a bid to get American support, whistle-blowing web site WikiLeaks said in its latest revelation.
Ramesh Nath Pandey, the man appointed foreign minister by the king, met the then American ambassador to Nepal, James Moriarty, saying the royal regime wanted a long-term relationship with the US and would respond better to “engagement” rather than pressure.
The American ambassador emphasised that the Congress was considerably concerned about the Tibetan refugees escaping to Nepal from China-held Tibet and urged the royal minister to ensure the refugees’ transit was proceeded without hindrance.
At time, there were about 1,000 Tibetan refugees at the Tibetan Refugee Reception Center, that facilitates the forward journey of the refugees to India and other countries, and the envoy said Nepal needed to make sure that the process of transiting refugees to India resumed.
The US had earlier proposed it would resettle the Tibetan refugees in Nepal in American cities but the proposal remains stuck officially after Nepal declined, due to Chinese pressure.
The ambassador also pushed for an NGO, the Tibetan Welfare Society , to be given registration. The society, believed to be a new form for the office of the Dalai Lama’s representative in Nepal, was shut down in January 2005. The leaked cables said the Nepal minister’s response was ambiguous.
He first said Nepal needed to have a close relationship with the US and then indicated that given the Chinese support, Nepal might not act on the issues raised by the ambassador unless Washington changed its Nepal policy.
The king’s messenger reportedly said Nepal’s long-term interest was in a relationship with the US, not China or India. He also claimed that though India and the US had stopped providing military assistance to Nepal after the coup, “Nepal would not be short of arms” and that “a plane of material from one of your best friends” would arrive.
The American ambassador advised the king, who was waging a war on the Maoists with little result, to declare a cease-fire with international monitoring and to reconcile with the political parties.
The royal minister countered that saying the party leaders were a major problem and the king should bypass them and ally with middle-tier leaders. He also said the Maoists would exploit the parties against the king and dump them when they had their way. The ambassador noted that Pandey’s proposal meant “essentially… decapitating the parties and was
unacceptable”.
The ambassador also emphasised that Tibetan refugee issues were one of the administration’s and Congress’s key concerns regarding Nepal, and if there were no progress, Nepal could put at risk other parts of the relationship, including development assistance.
The new revelation comes even as the controversial memoir of a former military secretary to the palace claimed China wanted Nepal to deploy its army to prevent Tibetan refugees from escaping and proposed the army should be strengthened for that.

Nepal’s king traded Tibetan refugees for US support
WikiLeaks
Economic Times: Jan 15, 2011
KATHMANDU: After ordering the closure of the Dalai Lama’s envoy’s office in Kathmandu and taking over absolute power with a military-backed bloodless coup in 2005, Nepal’s King Gyanendra dangled Tibetan refugees as bait before the US in a bid to get American support, whistle-blowing web site WikiLeaks said in its latest revelation.
Ramesh Nath Pandey, the man appointed foreign minister by the king, met the then American ambassador to Nepal, James Moriarty, saying the royal regime wanted a long-term relationship with the US and would respond better to “engagement” rather than pressure.
The American ambassador emphasised that the Congress was considerably concerned about the Tibetan refugees escaping to Nepal from China-held Tibet and urged the royal minister to ensure the refugees’ transit was proceeded without hindrance.
At time, there were about 1,000 Tibetan refugees at the Tibetan Refugee Reception Center, that facilitates the forward journey of the refugees to India and other countries, and the envoy said Nepal needed to make sure that the process of transiting refugees to India resumed.
The US had earlier proposed it would resettle the Tibetan refugees in Nepal in American cities but the proposal remains stuck officially after Nepal declined, due to Chinese pressure.
The ambassador also pushed for an NGO, the Tibetan Welfare Society , to be given registration. The society, believed to be a new form for the office of the Dalai Lama’s representative in Nepal, was shut down in January 2005. The leaked cables said the Nepal minister’s response was ambiguous.
He first said Nepal needed to have a close relationship with the US and then indicated that given the Chinese support, Nepal might not act on the issues raised by the ambassador unless Washington changed its Nepal policy.
The king’s messenger reportedly said Nepal’s long-term interest was in a relationship with the US, not China or India. He also claimed that though India and the US had stopped providing military assistance to Nepal after the coup, “Nepal would not be short of arms” and that “a plane of material from one of your best friends” would arrive.
The American ambassador advised the king, who was waging a war on the Maoists with little result, to declare a cease-fire with international monitoring and to reconcile with the political parties.
The royal minister countered that saying the party leaders were a major problem and the king should bypass them and ally with middle-tier leaders. He also said the Maoists would exploit the parties against the king and dump them when they had their way. The ambassador noted that Pandey’s proposal meant “essentially… decapitating the parties and was
unacceptable”.
The ambassador also emphasised that Tibetan refugee issues were one of the administration’s and Congress’s key concerns regarding Nepal, and if there were no progress, Nepal could put at risk other parts of the relationship, including development assistance.
The new revelation comes even as the controversial memoir of a former military secretary to the palace claimed China wanted Nepal to deploy its army to prevent Tibetan refugees from escaping and proposed the army should be strengthened for that.

His Holiness the Dalai Lama Urged Not to Retire from Leader of Tibet
Wednesday, 05 January 2011 20:53 YC. Dhardhowa, The Tibet Post International
Dharamsala: Tibetan parliament in exile here Dharamshala Wednesday urged the Tibet’s spiritual and political leader His Holiness the Dalai Lama not to consider retirement or even semi-retirement from his position as the leader of Tibet and the Tibetan people. “Tibetans, both in Tibet and in exile, have been greatly concerned about your intention to retire
completely from governmental roles,” a memorandum submitted to His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama said.
The following is a memorandum issued on Wednesday by the members of the Standing Committee of the Tibetan Parliament-in-Exile. “During the conclusion ceremony of the First Tibetan National General Meeting held in 2010 at the Bylakuppe Tibetan settlements, South India; in your response to questions asked during a meeting with the Chinese public in Toronto; at the founding anniversary of the Tibetan Children’s Village at Upper Dharamshala; and in your answer to questions asked at a press conference in New Delhi, Your Holiness expressed an intention to retire completely from governmental roles. Tibetans both in Tibet and in exile have been greatly concerned and grieved by this and have been continuing to petition Your Holiness, beseeching that you never entertain any thought about carrying out a plan for such a decision. We, the members of the Standing Committee of the Tibetan Parliament-in-Exile, too have, likewise, been holding successive meetings with extremely grave concern over Your Holiness’s wish to take complete retirement from governmental roles.
Out of a feeling of great kindness for us, Your Holiness led the Tibetan people to the fine path of democracy, beginning with the introduction of reforms in the functioning of the Tibetan government the moment you assumed spiritual and temporal powers in Tibet. And as soon as you stepped foot on Indian soil after escaping into exile, Your Holiness introduced election to allow the Tibetan people to vote for their own representatives, and in 1963, Your Holiness also promulgated a Tibetan constitution. In 1991, Your Holiness approved to us the Charter of the Tibetans in Exile, under which you expanded the Tibetan Parliament-in-Exile and made it into a lawmaking body which was in full conformity with the definition of a modern national legislature. In particular, Your Holiness, in 2001, introduced the system of direct election of the Kalon Tripa, thereby ensuring that the Tibetan people themselves vote for the head of their government.
To state it simply, no amount of offerings of precious materials can make up for even a fraction of the gratitude the Tibetan people owe for what they have received solely as a result of Your Holiness’s enormously great wishes and deeds. Besides, it does not bear mention that Your Holiness’s successive speeches of the recent times were, no doubt, motivated by your very kind desire to ensure the well being of the entire Tibetan people both for the present and in the longer term future. Nevertheless, it remains a fact that all of us of the Snowland of Tibet have been sustained thus far by Your Holiness’s kindness and generosity. On the basis of the Buddha’s sacred prediction, Your Holiness has been firm in abiding by the oath you had been moved to take over your chosen realm of religious teaching or temporal rule especially in these apposite times for fulfilling it.
Thus, it is inconceivable that for as long as this aeon endures, there can ever be a moment at which the people of Tibet can at all be separated from your excellent religious and temporal leadership. The very first point in each of the reports and resolutions adopted in a series of recent relevant meetings have made this point clear. They included the report adopted at the end of the First Special General Meeting of Tibetans held in 2008 in accordance with the provisions of Article 59 of the Charter of the Tibetans in Exile; during successive sessions of the Tibetan Parliament-in-Exile; and, in particular, Document Number of 63 of 2010, which was a unanimous resolution adopted during the ninth session of the fourteenth Tibetan Parliament-in-Exile.
Also, at the conclusion of the First Tibetan National General Meeting, which was held at the Tibetan settlements at Bylakuppe, in south India, a report was compiled which brought together the opinions and suggestions of all the delegates who attended it. The very first point of the political section of the report stated: “His Holiness the Dalai Lama has thus far assumed responsibility as the leader of the great Tibetan nation and as the head of the Tibetan government. On behalf of the Tibetan people both in Tibet and in exile, we offer immense gratitude to His Holiness. At the same time, His Holiness the Dalai Lama remarked in his speech that he was already in semi-retirement. This has plunged the entire people of Tibet, both those in the county and outside it, to such depth of despair that they are no longer able to digest their food or to go to sleep in peace. In view of this development, this general meeting appeals to His Holiness the Dalai Lama never to carry out any plan for such a decision.” This was unanimously adopted by the entire meeting.
Giving due consideration to the above series of pleas, we beseech and pray with heartfelt devotion that Your Holiness never ever contemplate going into either semi-retirement or full retirement.”

“How I Met His Holiness the Dalai Lama Without a Passport”
By Woeser
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 12, 2011
http://www.highpeakspureearth.com/2011/01/how-i-met-his-holiness-dalai-lama.html
High Peaks Pure Earth has translated a blogpost by Woeser that was originally written for broadcast on Radio Free Asia on January 5, 2011 and posted on her blog on January 10, 2011.
As reported on the Dalai Lama’s official website, the Dalai Lama participated in a video conference with Chinese human rights lawyers Jiang Tianyong and Teng Biao on January 4, 2011. Organised by Woeser’s husband Wang Lixiong, this video conference followed on from a series of Twitter conversations between the Dalai Lama and Chinese netizens that Wang Lixiong organised in 2010.
High Peaks Pure Earth has used the translation by Ragged Banner of Woeser’s poem “On the Road” that appeared in the volume “Tibet’s True Heart” and that she quotes in her article below, it is a poem that she wrote in Lhasa in May 1995. Follow this link to read the whole poem: http://raggedbanner.com/pOTR.html
It all started with a video conversation in cyberspace. On January 4, 2011, His Holiness was in Dharamsala engaging in a video conversation with the two human rights lawyers, Teng Biao and Jiang Tianyong, as well as the author Wang Lixiong. And I, I was standing behind Wang Lixiong, attentively listening to every word. When the Dalai Lama appeared on screen, I could hardly believe it, tears started streaming down my face.
“How I Met His Holiness the Dalai Lama Without a Passport”By Woeser??
Seven years ago, in my essay collection “Notes on Tibet”, I wrote this about a group photo showing a father with his son quietly making their way from Lhasa to Dharamsala: “he who conveys an air of humility and modesty on both sides but embraces the centre, is the most illustrious of all devout Tibetan people, the most affectionate, eager person – the Dalai Lama.” Because of this sentence and because of a few articles that touch on the truth, the local authorities labelled my work as “containing severe political errors”, “praising the 14th Dalai Lama and 17th Karmapa, and promoting serious political and religious opinions are wrong. Some essays already to some extent contain political errors.” After this, I was removed from my public position, this is when I left Lhasa.
Even earlier than that, already 16 years ago, I composed a poem implicitly conveying: “On the road, I clutch a flower not of this world, Hurrying before it dies, searching in all directions, That I may present it to an old man in a deep red robe. A wish fulfilling jewel, A wisp of a smile: These bind the generations tight.” Later on, I turned this poem into lyrics, openly saying that “old man in a deep red robe”, “is our Yeshe Norbu, our Kundun, our Gongsachog, our Gyalwa Rinpoche …” all of which are Tibetan terms of respect for the Dalai Lama.
Just like so many Tibetans, hoping to be able to see His Holiness, to respectfully listen to his teachings, to be granted an audience, this has also been my innermost wish; from a very young age, I have always longed for this moment to come true. But, I cannot get a passport, just like many other Tibetans, it is almost unthinkable that this regime that controls us will ever grant us a passport, which should, in actual fact, be a fundamental right that every citizen enjoys. Last year, Lhasa gave out passports to anyone above 60 years of age, albeit only for the period of one week. As a result the office in charge of passports was full of the grey-haired, limping elderly; and it was clear that they were all heading for the foothills of the Himalayas to visit relatives, pay homage to the holy land of Buddhism, as well as to fulfil that dream that no one speaks of but everyone knows. I am sorrowfully thinking that I may have to wait until I am 60 years old until I get hold of a passport.
However, the internet gave my passport-less self a pass to travel; in the New Year, it helped me to make my dream come true – through the internet I met, as if in a dream but still very vivid and real, His Holiness the Dalai Lama!
It all started with a video conversation in cyberspace. On January 4, 2011, His Holiness was in Dharamsala engaging in a video conversation with the two human rights lawyers, Teng Biao and Jiang Tianyong as well as the writer Wang Lixiong. And I, I was standing behind Wang Lixiong, attentively listening to every word that was spoken. When the Dalai Lama appeared on screen, I could hardly believe it, tears started streaming down my face. This miracle facilitated by the technological revolution, making it possible to overcome geographical distances and man-made barriers and building a bridge that enables the Dalai Lama to speak with Chinese intellectuals, is unquestionably of tremendous magnitude. I heard His Holiness saying to the three Han Chinese intellectuals: “it’s just as if we were together, we only can’t smell each other’s breath”. At the end of the 70-minute long conversation, His Holiness asked in a concerned voice: “Can you see me clearly?” When all three of them said that they could, he light-heartedly pointed at his eyebrows and laughed: “so, did you also see my grey eyebrows?”
I cried and I cried. When I, as Tibetans do, prostrated three times, silently reciting some prayers, holding a khata in my hands and kneeling in front of the computer with tear-dimmed eyes, I saw His Holiness reaching out both of his hands as if he was going to take the Khata, as if he was going to give me his blessings. I am unable to describe with words how I felt…I am really such a fortunate person; in Tibet, many people get into trouble simply for owning a photo of the Dalai Lama.
In fact, today, many people from all over China have met with His Holiness and they have not at all lost their freedom, since we are all citizens of this country, Tibetans should also not be punished for having an audience with His Holiness.
Facing the image of me on the screen, the Dalai Lama instructed me in an earnest and tireless way: “Do not give up, keep going, it is of the utmost importance that Han Chinese intellectuals and we Tibetans always tell each other about the real situation, that we communicate with and understand each other; you have to internalise this. Over the past 60 years, the courage and faith of those of us Tibetans living in Tibet has been as strong as a rock. The international community is paying close attention to the real situation in Tibet, people from all over the world see that there is a truth in Tibet, Chinese intellectuals are increasingly aware of this, looking at it from a broad perspective, big and powerful China is in the process of transforming. Hence, you must remain confident and work even harder, do you understand?”
By then, I had already calmed down and kept the words spoken by His Holiness in my heart.
Beijing, January 5, 2011

Mining and the new colonization of Tibet
Vancouver-based mining companies implicit in government repression of villagers
by STEPHANIE LAW, DOMINION STORIES
http://vancouver.mediacoop.ca/story/mining-and-new-colonization-tibet/5523
In the next five to 10 years, there might be a change in what comes to mind when thinking about Tibet.
The 2008 Olympics in Beijing saw an international outcry against the Chinese government’s oppressive policies and practices in Tibet. Mass riots within Tibet and rallies across the globe informed the general public of human rights violations in the disputed area, Tibetans’ loss of culture and identity, and their desire for independence from China.
But the 2010 WikiLeaks have exposed something different.
A leaked U.S. Embassy cable showed that the Dalai Lama is urging the international community to focus on environmental issues in Tibet instead of political ones, for at least the next half-decade. He specifically referred to increasingly polluted water from mining projects in Tibet as a major problem that “cannot wait.”
Tsering Woeser, a Tibetan poet/blogger and recipient of the International Women’s Media Foundation’s Courage in Journalism award this year, said the number of mines in Tibet has increased dramatically since 2006.
“For the past few years, Tibetan villagers have been protesting against the mines and writing letters to the Chinese government asking for their concerns to be addressed,” Woeser said. “But the government never cared.”
In 2006, only one-percent of discovered mines in Tibet were prospected due to limited infrastructure and investment. But mining operations boomed after the opening of the Qinghai-Tibet railway, which connects all 72 counties in Tibet to the rest of China. There are now over 90 mining sites, with at least one in each county.
The impact of mining operations
The Chinese government announced plans in March to develop Tibet by exploiting over 3,000 mineral reserves, potentially worth more than USD 125 billion.
Dorje, director of the region’s Bureau of Geology and Mineral Exploration and Development, told state-run China Daily that exploitation of the mineral resources would boost Tibet’s development.
“We must make sure the exploitation serves the interests of the Tibetan people, and minimize its impact on the environment,” Dorje said.
The plan aims to boost the mining industry’s contribution to Tibet’s GDP from three to 30 percent by 2020. At the same time, the state government will continue to pour investment into the region to further develop it and provide over 1,400 new jobs for locals via mining operations.
But Woeser said compared to the few thousand Tibetan miners, migrant Han workers have flocked to Tibet on the railroad and have taken up over 10,000 mining jobs.
“This has caused a lot of resentment among locals, widespread discrimination against Tibetans, and a loss of cultural identity among locals,” she said.
Pempa Dondrup, a villager in Nanggarze County of Shannan Prefecture, told China Daily that the government must respect local customs and religious beliefs. “For example, they must not excavate into our holy mountains.”
But likely to the Dondrup’s dismay, there are at least six mining operations in the great Tibetan emperor Songtsan Gampo’s hometown, Gyama. It now has the highest daily output among all mining pits in the Qinghai-Tibet plateau.
In Han Chinese culture, the hometown of any emperor is sacred and carries the ‘dragon’s pulse’ (lóng mài). It brings fortune and happiness to the nation, and warrants ritual sacrifices.
“According to this, Gyama should be protected from environmental destruction by the mining taking place today,” Woeser said. “But it’s not. And protests so far have been silenced by Chinese troops.”
Woeser added that local Tibetans have lost much more than they have gained from the wealth the government claims mining would bring. They have also received little to no financial compensation.
“There has been damage to both the environment and the lifestyles of Tibetan villagers, farmers and nomads,” Woeser said. “Now there are diseases that are new and untreatable for the villagers. The livestock, like lamb and cows, are also getting diseases and dying at alarming rates.”
Almost 20 years of mining in the Gyama valley has led to elevated concentrations of various minerals – including copper, lead, iron and aluminium – in the surface water and streambed, according to a study published in the September issue of Science of the Total Environment.
The Gyama stream water drains into the Lhasa River, which flows into the great Yarlong Tsangpo. Over a third of the world population lives downstream of the rivers flowing from the Plateau.
“Uptake of heavy metal into local agricultural products from
contaminated irrigation water may therefore pose a health risk to the
local population,” the authors of the study wrote.
Over 3,500 local inhabitants live in this valley just east of Lhasa city. There are also nomads who frequent the semi-agricultural area, which is used for growing crops and animal husbandry. But nearly 182,000 residents live in Lhasa city just downstream from the valley. The main drinking water source for the city is from wells located in the banks of the Lhasa River.
The authors of the study warned that large-scale mining activities in the valley “pose a great future risk for the regional and downstream environment.”
Tibetans have limited opposition power
Contaminated water, loss of lands and the heavy influx of Han migrants into Tibet caused by the mining industry boom have led to numerous conflicts and riots in the region in past 20 years.
Huatailong, China’s largest mining project in Gyama, used the villagers’ water during a drought in June 2010. This led to riots in the village to which a great number of military police, including special police forces, were allegedly sent from Lhasa, according to witness reports. The police arrested many villagers and three of them, including the village head, are still in jail.
Woeser said military forces and police always quickly crush any local dissent against mines.
“The problem is most mines are state-owned and backed by the government,” Woeser said. “So when the conflict erupted, it got politicized. The government decided the villagers weren’t protesting against the mine but were rioting for Tibetan independence.”
More recently, about 100 protesters carried Chinese flags outside government offices in a protest between Aug. 15 and 17 against the expansion of a gold mine in the Kham region of Tibet, administratively in China’s Sichuan province. They were upset about the heavy equipment being brought in and damaging their farmlands, according to U.S.-funded Radio Free Asia.
“The farmers were scared, so they carried Chinese flags to show that they weren’t protesting for political reasons or independence,” Woeser said. “They just wanted to point out that the mines were impacting their life.”
But despite taking extra precaution, the government still sent troops to quell their protest. According to various reports, at least three protesters were fatally shot, over 30 injured and more than 35 were arrested. Two police officers were also injured.
Almost two weeks after the incident, conflicting news reports appeared in China Daily, Xinhua News Agency and Reuters. They reported only one death from the incident and cited a different reason for the protests.
“The protest was sparked after police detained a businessman from the Sichuan city of Mianyang “for illegally exploiting gold mines with some villagers in Jiaxu village and damaging the grassland in the county,” according to Reuters.
Exerting pressure outside of Tibet
It is evident that local Tibetans are left powerless against large-scale mining operations. If they protest, they face disproportionate force from the military and police as well as imprisonment. Many face jail terms of seven to eight years, partly due to the politicization of their dissent.
Woeser said the conflict in August was one of very few protests covered in state and international media, albeit inconsistently.
“I think this really needs outside help and requires outsiders to understand the mining situation in Tibet,” she said. “Only through the outside, like international environmental agencies and human right organizations, and through international investigations might there be a positive impact on Tibetans’ lives that are affected by mining.”
In the recent years, there has been a growing presence of foreign-owned mining companies in Tibet.
“These operations have also faced local protests, but not to the same extent as Chinese-owned mines,” Woeser said. “This is in part due to minor improvement in environmental impact, but largely due to higher financial compensation offered by foreign firms to silence dissent.”
In addition to protests in Tibet, some companies have faced opposition from activists in their own countries. Pressure from the Australia Tibet Council and the Central Tibetan Administration, also known as the Tibetan government-in-exile, allegedly caused Australia-based Sino Gold to pull out of an exploratory gold mine in eastern Tibet in 2003.
Sino Gold was later acquired by Canadian-based Eldorado Gold in December 2009. Eldorado Gold is now the largest foreign gold producer in China and owns a mine in Tanjianshan, which is located in northern Tibet.
There are six Canadian-based mining companies currently or soon to be operating in Tibet: China Gold International Resources Corp Ltd, Inter-Citic Minerals Inc, Silk Road Resources Ltd., Eldorado Gold Corp, Maxy Gold Corp, Silvercorp Metals Inc., and Sterling Group Ventures Inc.
Vancouver-based China Gold International announced on Dec. 1 it completed the acquisition of Skyland Mining Ltd., formerly owned by Rapid Result Investments Ltd. and China National Gold Group Honk Kong Ltd., a subsidiary of China National Gold Group Corp. It is now the sole owner of the Jiama Mine, one of the largest copper poly-metallic mines in China, according to its website.
The acquisition of the Jiama mine in Gyama completed in spite of protests staged in Toronto,Vancouver and Hong Kong.
Frank Lagiglia, investor relations spokesperson for China Gold International, said he does not share the concerns of the protesters. He said the company’s technical report shows the mine has full support of the local people, and that it is on track to becoming the most environmentally friendly mine in the world.
“They talk about contamination of water; we use a recycling water program so there is no contamination,” Lagiglia said. “I don’t know the issues that they’re talking about, when we were there, we went with Tibetan officials and we were talking to the Tibetan people there, and really everyone is glad to be working.”
But Raymond Yee, a Vancouver activist and member of the Canada Tibet Committee, said their worries go beyond environmental damages endured by local villagers.
“Our main concern is that the Chinese don’t seem at all concerned with the needs and the wants of the Tibetans,” Yee said. “And the Canadian firms will refuse, even though we know they know better, to get their heads wrapped around the whole concept of free, prior, informed consent
of the local Tibet people about what’s happening.”
Although China Gold International is based in Vancouver, the Chinese-owned China National Gold Group owns a 39 percent stake, according to a Bloomberg news report.
“We’re against this kind of activity that exploits people that are occupied,” Yee said. “It’s occupied land in an environment where there’s a real climate of fear because most people are pretty privy to how the Chinese government cracks down on dissent.”
Tibet enjoyed de facto independence between 1912 and 1951, before China annexed the region. Annexation became official when the Chinese government and delegates from the Tibetan administration signed the 17-point agreement.
But the agreement has been widely disputed and the annexation is widely viewed as an occupation. A report published by The International Commission of Jurists in 1959 supported claims that the agreement was signed under military pressure and significant duress.
Large mining companies such as Rio Tinto have reportedly ruled out mining in Tibet because it is too politically sensitive.
“We’d be more open to it if they, for example, had consultations with the Tibetan government-in-exile to talk about mining and to see what it would have to say,” Yee said. “We’re just against mining under these kinds of conditions.”
Looking to the future
The future of Canadian-based mining companies operating in Tibet might have been different if Bill C-300, known as the Corporate Accountability Act or Responsible Mining Bill, had passed the House of Commons vote on October 27. But the bill was defeated 140 to 134.
If passed, the Bill would have enforced financial and political sanctions against mining companies operating in foreign countries without free, prior and informed consultation from local indigenous peoples.
Catherine Coumans, a research coordinator at MiningWatch Canada, said that under the bill there could have been a strong case made against mining companies, like China Gold International, even if they claim to have support from local Tibetans.
“The free part is the part that we would be really addressing,” Coumans said. “How free were the people they talked to? Given the political realities in Tibet, it would be very difficult [to have free consultation].”
Since the bill was defeated, there is no legal or formal mechanism for complaints against foreign practices by mining companies. However, Coumans said the Canadian Network for Corporate Accountability, of which MiningWatch is a member, is currently discussing other options.
One alternative is private member’s Bill C-354, which was tabled by NDP MP Peter Julian and passed first reading on March 3. The bill had remained dormant after its first reading, but resurfaced on Oct. 21 when Julian submitted a petition in support of the bill to the house.
The Bill seeks to amend the Federal Courts Act to permit non-Canadians to initiate lawsuits against Canadian companies based on violations – in foreign countries – of international law or treaties to which Canada has ratified.
“The bill would ensure corporate accountability for Canadian firms operating abroad,” Julian told the house on April 1, 2009.
But regardless of what happens in the future, Coumans argues that the mining industry as a whole generally accepts International Finance Corporation’s performance standards as de facto international standards. These standards include having free, prior and informed consultation with local peoples.
“Based on these standards, one can definitely make the argument that a company cannot call itself a responsible mining company and mine in Tibet,” Coumans said, “because it cannot possibly poll the community in a free way.”
Given the recent acquisition of the copper mine in Gyama by China Gold International, as well as the leaked U.S. embassy cable regarding the Dalai Lama’s concerns with widespread environmental destruction caused by mining project, there is hope of increased international and Canadian pressure against mining in Chinese-occupied Tibetan land.
But if the discussion around Tibet sees no change in the next five to 10 years, then the imagery one usually conjures when thinking of Tibet will change. What is often known as Shangri-La and rooftop of the world will be extensively mined away, and a culture with thousands of years of history will fade away along with the land.
“Tibet is the earth’s highest ecosystem and is extremely vulnerable: its rivers flow and are connected to many other areas and countries,” Woeser said. “But the mining companies are operating for their own profits and are blatantly neglecting any environmental concerns. Over time, the local area won’t be the only region affected; but a vast area of the world will be too.”