It is hard to establish a clear picture of development in Tibet because China's "open door policy" is a reality only on paper. The country remains tightly closed to information. The only effective "open door" is the one on transferring Chinese citizens into Tibet.

The Chinese Government has adopted various means to encourage the immigration of Chinese into Tibet; their policy has been systematic. In the 1980s, Chinese were forced to immigrate through a programme called, "Giving Help To Tibet". This was later revised and many refinements were added to encourage Chinese to settle in Tibet . Generous incentives were awarded ranging from double rates of pay to free housing and three months' paid holiday for every 18 months of work.

Today, in addition to incentives, China has created another channel to transfer Chinese into Tibet. Internationally-funded development projects are the new vehicles for Chinese migration. These focus largely on U-Tsang (central Tibet) where there are more Tibetans than Chinese, as opposed to Amdo and Kham provinces in eastern Tibet where Chinese already dominate. It is estimated that more than 75 million Chinese are settled in Tibet. Recently, Chinese PLA soldiers transferred to Tibet were told to take their residence registration cards with them since they would be settled there after discharge. In addition, hundreds of thousands of Chinese settlers in Tibet do not figure in China's national census because they are not registered as being residents in Tibet.

Development - A Costly Show

In 1984 China announced the setting up of 43 development projects to boost the celebrations in 1985 of the 20th anniversary of the so-called Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR). Funds and attention were focused on erecting huge buildings for hotels, theaters and commercial ventures, while the most basic needs of Tibetans -such as clean drinking water, proper sewage, sanitation and medical facilities were neglected.

In 1994, prior to the 30th anniversary of the founding of the TAR in September 1995, China declared that it would launch 62 development projects in the TAR as an anniversary "gift to the Tibetan people". However, most of the 62 development projects, valued at US $29 billion had already started before this announcement and were designed to encourage foreign investment in Tibet for the benefit of Chinese settlers.

It has been reported that Beijing spent $13 million to spruce up Lhasa for celebrations of the 30th anniversary of the TAR. Construction teams worked round the clock to complete showcase buildings to impress international and overseas Chinese investors.

Among the so called 62 development projects, fifteen are energy related; they mostly entail building hydro-power stations to provide energy needed to exploit the rich natural resources of Tibet. Chinese industrial enterprises are the beneficiaries and are directly responsible for the unsustainable exploitation of Tibet's natural resources.

It is also very clear that these hydro-power stations are destined to benefit the People's Liberation Army (PLA) and Chinese settlers in Tibet. In large towns both Chinese and Tibetan areas have electricity, but for Tibetan consumers it is often rationed. In smaller Tibetan towns and villages there is generally no electricity at all, unless they lie along a major highway and contain a Chinese compound. Most towns where the majority of settlers are Chinese have electricity and running water for 24 hours. Tibetan residential quarters often lack running water or reasonable sanitation.

China has so far built many power stations- hydro-power as well as geo-thermal- in Tibet using the so-called "skilled" Chinese as laborers. Unfortunately most of these power stations today are either malfunctioning or unproductive. Today Tibetan villagers still rely on candles or oil lamps to light their houses, while nearby military barracks and Chinese official residences enjoy electricity.

The current Chinese development policy for Tibet is claimed to improve infrastructure, invest in industries, encourage township and private enterprises, facilitate Chinese immigration in the form of private business households, integrate the rural population in the Chinese market economy and rationalizing agriculture, and reclaim land through construction of irrigation ditches these development schemes are intended to encourage Chinese immigrants from urban areas and thus benefit the Chinese, not the poor local Tibetan.

According to Chinese Government figures. Tibet's GDP grew a record 8.6 percent in 1994 as against to 8.1 percent in 1993. Construction sites have sprung up across the cities, foreign vehicles are increasing, people are apparently more healthy. But for the country as a whole, this picture of prosperity is far from accurate. More than 60 percent of Tibetans are living in the same way they have always been-sowing crops and tending yaks. Their average per capita income is among the lowest in the world at less than US $100. Rural areas have been totally forgotten by the economy planners in Lhasa and Beijing; there is serious poverty and malnutrition in rural areas. Strange new diseases are also flourishing, which were unknown in the history of Tibet.

Food For China

Out of the so called sixty two development projects, 13 concentrate on agriculture and water conservation. International investors are well aware of the mismanagement of funds and facilities by the Chinese in Tibet in the past.

The two most controversial agricultural development projects, the UN World Food Programme's project #3357 and the European Union's Panam, are stark evidence of how far local Tibetans have been neglected. The US $17.5 million WFP-funded irrigation project #3357 in the Lhasa valley was designed to increase agricultural productivity. China promised to abide by the understanding that the official food bureau would procure surplus wheat from farmers in the project area, and thus reduce imports from other Chinese provinces. But today Tibetan farmers involved in this scheme are being excessively taxed and are then forced to buy grain themselves at inflated prices from the government. It is estimated that Project #3357 alone has attracted more than 130,000 Chinese to immigrate to Central Tibet and today most of them are permanently settled.

The case of the Panam Rural Agricultural Development project is also similar. Initially the aim of the European Union-funded project was to boost agricultural yields in Panam as part of a Chinese plan to turn the 18 counties between Shigatse and Lhasa into "the bread-basket of Tibet". The Chinese at first forced Tibetans to grow wheat instead of barley, the traditional Tibetan staple. Chinese cuisine relies more upon wheat than Tibetan.

Panam was already self-sufficient in grain and has always had a relatively advanced infrastructure and irrigation systems. 1991 statistics say that only 10% of the grain consumed in the Panam was wheat. The truth of China's choice offer fertile Panam for the cultivation of wheat is to help feed 1.2 billion Chinese mouths.

Unlike the so called 43 developments projects launched in 1984, which were mostly concentrated in major cities and towns in the TAR, the current 62 development projects are said to cover all counties in the TAR. However, most of them are situated around PLA bases and Chinese Government official settlements. Chinese watchers and experts have analyzed the locations and exposed China's duplicity in terming these new projects "development for Tibetans".

Some of the current projects are audacious in their intention; their sole role is spreading communist propaganda and reinforcing Chinese rule. Three such developments are:

Project No. 40. Communist Party of China's (CPC) Party School and Administrative College Buildingof Tibet Autonomous Region;

Project No. 54. Office Building for Tibet Autonomous Region Party committee and government;

Project No. 44. Solar energy powered radio and TV reception station at township level etc.

These projects do not pretend to have any bearing on the welfare of the Tibetan populace and their intention is to provide infrastructure for China's colonial and repressive regime.

If China sincerely wanted to develop Tibet she would have encouraged and introduced small-scale industries, schools and health facilities in rural areas, where people have barely enough to eat and wear. Tibetans are in desperate need of good education and health facilities. Instead of spending millions of US dollars to build show-cases and renovate cultural landmarks which were destroyed by themselves during the Cultural Revolution madness, China should be giving Tibetans the opportunity to participate in development decision-making- most importantly in the fields of education and health. The development projects being introduced in Tibet are said to be a "gift" from the Central Government, so why not let Tibetans have the say in WHAT and WHERE the development projects are needed?

The development model designed by China and imposed on Tibet is not working- either in the Tibetan eyes, nor in the eyes of any Chinese other than the most blindly optimistic propaganda officials. Therefore, the biggest fear of Tibetans inside Tibet and in exile is that the increasing foreign investment in Tibet is only fueling the demise of their unique identity.

If international investors don't monitor their on going projects in Tibet- and their consequences- Tibetans, one of the endangered races in the world, will not be identifiable at all by the next decade. And who will be responsible? The answer is clear- international investors, hand-in-hand with the current Chinese regime.

*Ngawang Gyaltsen Tsona did his graduation from Government College, Darjeeling. He is currently working at the Environment and Development Desk.

(Green Tibet - Annual Newsletter 1996)

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Last updated: 14-Aug-96