The Turnaround In China’s Tibet Policy: Will Tourism Boost Benefit Tibetans?

The recent announcement by the Chinese government to set up a $30 billion tourism project in Tibet came as a surprise for ardent Tibet watchers. The turnaround in China’s policy to open Tibet to tourists and thereby to the world is a major departure from its policy of keeping Tibet ‘in closed doors’. In fact, even today Tibet is closed to foreigners and diplomats stationed in China. This ban has been necessitated by the need to keep a lid on simmering discontent in Tibet after as many as 45 self immolations have brought Tibet into world focus. The immolations, largely by Tibetan monks and nuns, are aimed at drawing attention to religious persecution and denial of religious and cultural freedom by Chinese to Tibetans in and around Tibet. What has caused this dramatic turnaround in China’s Tibet policy? Why has China decided to ‘open up’ Tibet?

 

The Tourism Project

The CNY 30 billion tourism project aims at creating a ‘living museum’ of Tibetan culture, a theme park, a commercial district and a residential area covering 800 hectares, barely 2 kilometers from the heart of Lhasa. The project is expected to be completed in 3-5 years in phases. The theme park is dedicated to the historical wedding of Princess Wencheng, the 16 year old daughter of Emperor Li Shinmin of the Tang Dynasty, to King Songsten Gampo, the ruler of Tibet in the 7th century. Visitors will be offered outdoor performances of “Princess Wencheng” and other educational and entertainment facilities. In addition, the project includes the construction of an ‘Art city’ for Tibetan art and handicraft and a ‘Folk city’ where tourists will get a glimpse of local life and buy folk goods.1
Coming on the heels of another announcement of increasing passenger train services to Lhasa from other Chinese cities, the policy has given a boost to the famed Qinghai-Tibet Railway (QTR) Company. A spokesman of the company announced daily train services from Guangzhou to Lhasa from 9 July 2012, making this the seventh city that runs daily train services to Lhasa. The QTR is a major tourist attraction itself and a popular means of transportation to Tibet. Since 2006, it has ferried 52.76 million tourists to Tibet, a number that is increasing annually at the rate of 10 per cent. The first quarter of 2012 alone has seen a year on year surge of 23.7 per cent tourist arrivals, mostly domestic tourists, as Tibet continues to be out of bounds for foreigners.2 In 2011, 8.7 million tourists visited Tibet generating revenue of USD 1.5 billion. With five commercial airports and three highways in Tibet, China sees a vast opportunity in developing tourism in Tibet. This year China expects to generate CNY 12 billion from 10 million tourists in Tibet.3

England exposure: China in Tibet, a big move! India panic!

China will invest 400 million yuan to develop tourism in Tibet

official Chinese media, Guangdong Province, the Tibet tourism development partner, has been ready billion yuan investment to develop tourism in the southeast region of Tibet. The Guangdong provincial government has selected the four counties of Nyingchi region to develop tourism, and plans to Nyingchi County areas Lu Lang town into an international tourist town.

In addition to the international tourist town in the region the next three years will be built 22 well-off model village, to assist local residents to provide family accommodation services, increase their incomes.
Beijing authorities have been through the development of Tibet’s economy, to win the support of the Tibetans.

[India]: China plans to build a tourist center near the disputed region of Arunachal Pradesh

China will be the border in India, Arunachal Qiaer Bang (my southern Tibet — this note) that the disputed area near Tibet Nyingchi to build a “gold” tourist city. This action is bound to affect the border talks between India and China because Beijing’s claim to Arunachal Pradesh belongs to Nyingchi.
sources said Beijing may include plans to attract China’s wealthy to travel in the border region in order to strengthen its claim to sovereignty over Arunachal Pradesh.

before the announcement, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao also “Rio +20″ summit gap, held talks.
southern China’s Guangdong Province will invest 400 million yuan, which is obviously the orders of the central government command. Guangdong Province, officials said, Nyingchi developed into a tourist destination, is expected there will be 2 billion yuan investment will flow to the ground from different companies.

China reports another Tibetan self-immolation death

Chinese authorities said on Friday they were investigating the death of a person by self-immolation in a Tibetan area of northwestern Qinghai province, where several Tibetans have in the past year set themselves on fire in protest.

The State-run Xinhua news agency reported a person died on Friday morning in Jianzha county of the Huangnan Tibetan autonomous prefecture. Prefecture authorities were investigating the person’s identity and cause of death, the report said. Overseas groups said the protester was a middle-aged man who set himself on fire outside a military compound.

More than three dozen Tibetans have been reported as setting themselves on fire in Tibetan areas of northwestern China, mainly in the provinces of Sichuan, Qinghai and Gansu. The self-immolation protests have brought a tight security clampdown, with restrictions imposed on travel for Tibetans and many Tibetan areas now deemed out of bounds to journalists.

Last month, the protests spread to the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR), with two Tibetan monks from Gansu and Sichuan setting themselves on fire at the heart of Lhasa near the famous Jokhang temple.

In the 38 self-immolation protests reported by monks and exiled groups – the government has only confirmed some of the protests – at least 29 people have died. Only three protests have been reported inside TAR, where around half of China's six million Tibetans live, with the rest taking place in the three neighbouring provinces of Sichuan, Gansu and Qinghai. At least 25 self-immolations were reported in Tibetan areas in Sichuan province alone, where Chinese authorities have accused exiled monks in India of stirring unrest in monasteries.

Among the 38 protesters were six nuns, a high-school student in Gansu and a farmer in Qinghai. Qinghai, where the latest protest was reported, is a northwestern province that is home to several important Tibetan monasteries. At least five self-immolations have been reported in the province.

Chinese authorities have accused exiled Tibetan religious leader the Dalai Lama of instigating the protests, labelling the acts as separatist. The Dalai Lama has denied encouraging the protests, blaming restrictive Chinese policies for triggering the events. The exiled religious leader has expressed sympathy with the monks and stopped short of calling on Tibetans to stop the protests, declining to answer a question last month when asked if he thought the self-immolations should end.

The acts have divided opinion among monks and the Tibetan community, which has expressed sympathy for the monks, viewing their acts as sacrifices, but also voiced concern about the trend bringing a strong security response from the authorities and having a negative bearing on the future of the Tibetan movement.

Tibetan poets Woeser and Gade Tsering, who both reside in China, in an appeal called on monks, intellectuals and officials to help prevent more immolations. “Staying alive allows us to gather the strength as drops of water to form a great ocean,” the appeal said.

The Chinese government has responded to the protests by increasing security deployments in Sichuan and Gansu and also rolling out a slew of welfare measures for monks and nuns and initiating “patriotic education” campaigns.

On Tuesday, the government-run All-China Women’s Federation (ACWF) said it had “trained” 127 practicing Tibetan Buddhist nuns from TAR, Qinghai and Gansu by organising tours to Beijing, health camps and “briefings on China’s current situation, the country’s laws and policies on religious affairs”.

Chen Xiurong, Vice President of the ACWF, told the Xinhua news agency that “such training offers Buddhist nuns new knowledge and experiences on the changes happening in this country.”

Tibetian burn Chinese flag against illegal occupation of China

China blames overseas Tibetan groups for Sichuan unrest

China has blamed overseas Tibetan groups for orchestrating recent unrest in Sichuan province and has accused exiled Tibetan religious leader the Dalai Lama of lending his backing to the 16 self-immolation protests that have taken place in the past year.

Foreign Ministry spokesperson Liu Weimin said on Tuesday pro-Tibet independence groups had “masterminded and incited” the protests and two clashes between Tibetans and police in Sichuan last month, which left at least two people dead and dozens injured.

“We believe the series of incidents are obviously masterminded and incited by someone from behind the scenes,” he said, claiming that “mobs” involved in clashes on January 23 and January 24 “shouted slogans of Tibet independence”.

He accused the Dharamsala-based Tibetan Youth Congress of “initiating a signing campaign among domestic religious believers calling upon Tibetans to self-immolate to protest and asking the signatories to self-immolate at different places at different times.”

“Some overseas organisations and Tibet independence groups”, he said, “issued information distorting the facts quite immediately following incidents, which is quite surprising. They also made remarks attacking the Chinese government’s religious and ethnic policies.”

He hit out at the exiled Tibetan religious leader the Dalai Lama, who China accuses of being a “splittist”, for encouraging the violence.

“During a sermon ritual, the Dalai Lama received religious believers from inside China and preached that actions are more important than praying,” he said, referring to the immolations.

The Dalai Lama, however, has said he only wants “genuine autonomy” in Tibet – and not independence. He has also said he did not encourage self-immolation protests, which he, however, blamed on a “cultural genocide”.

Mr. Liu blamed a "handful of criminals" for clashes which took place in the two Sichuan counties of Luhuo and Seda on January 23 and 24. Exiled Tibetan groups, however, said police had fired upon a crowd of Tibetans, who were protesting the detention of locals who had circulated leaflets calling on Tibetans to not celebrate the Chinese New Year, which fell on January 23.

Mr. Liu said “criminals stormed some civilian facilities” and “attacked police on duty leading to several police injuries”. “I think in any country,” he added, “attacking police is a serious crime and should be punished by law.”

Dalai Lama says China may have plotted to poison him

LONDON: Tibet’s Buddhist leader, the Dalai Lama, fears China may have plotted to kill him by training female agents with poison in their hair and on their clothing, he told Britain’s Sunday Telegraph newspaper.

China has ruled Tibet since 1950, and the Chinese government has repeatedly accused exiled Tibetans, including the Dalai Lama, of stoking dissent against its rule. The spiritual leader fled to India in 1959 after a failed uprising. Last year he was warned that Chinese agents had trained Tibetan women to kill him, the Sunday Telegraph reported.

Asked about the assassination plot, the Dalai Lama said: “Oh yes. In the hair poisoned and scarf poisoned. So they say they’re sick, supposed to seek blessing from me. And my hand touch. That kind of information we received.” “I don’t know whether 100 percent correct or not. There is no possibility to cross-check,” he added, speaking in broken English in a video posted on the Telegraph’s website. reuters