China’s Tibet railway arrives under heavy security

The inaugural run of China’s Tibet railway has arrived in Lhasa. Despite China’s claims of modernization and economic improvement in Tibet, the first trip was marked by the stark visibility of China’s military occupation of Tibet and the environmental damage the railway has already caused. Geoffrey York of the Globe and Mail documents the tragedy well.

The first train from Beijing to Tibet, speeding past thousands of soldiers and policemen in camps and convoys, gave a rare glimpse into China’s massive program of military control over the Tibetan plateau.

Green-uniformed soldiers of the People’s Liberation Army, along with police and other agents, were posted at intervals along the high-altitude railway yesterday, sometimes only a few hundred metres apart. They stood at attention intending to intimidate anyone who wanted to disrupt the train.

Huge convoys of military vehicles were visible from the train as it passed through Tibet and the neighbouring province of Qinghai yesterday. One convoy included about 100 troop-carrying trucks, another had 84. A third convoy, with dozens more vehicles, was spotted on the final approach to Lhasa.

Military camps and bases could be seen along the railway tracks, and soldiers stood in rows at the main stations as the train passed.

The train, the first to travel from Beijing to Lhasa on the $4.2-billion (U.S.) line that opened on Saturday, carried large numbers of police and security agents among the 300 “working staff” aboard.

I’m an American and I grew up sitting in the back of my family’s minivan on long road trips around my country’s eastern seaboard. One of my favorite sightings along the way were the small military conveys of jeeps and camo-covered trucks. America has the largest military in the world and I think the largest convoy I ever saw as a child at the tail end of the Cold War was about thirty vehicles long. York witness three convoys each many times bigger than that inside Tibet, a stark reminder of the difference between living in a free nation and traveling inside a colony that is controlled by military occupation.

The railway is a tool of China’s colonization. It’s a part of their policy of social and political repression of Tibetans and it will allow a massive influx of Han Chinese settlers that will marginalize Tibetans within their own country.

Officially, the Chinese government says the railway is intended to develop Western China and bring economic benefits to Tibetans and others. But an announcement on the train’s speaker system says the railway is also aimed at “maintaining social stability” — a catch phrase for preventing protests.

Some Chinese newspapers have reported that 3,000 to 5,000 soldiers will be stationed along the railway route to keep it secure. [emphasis added]

Some may use the railway to explore “exotic” Tibet, but the Westerners and Chinese tourists who ride the railway are an incidental part of a service designed to create an ever-greater squeeze on Tibetans and their longing for freedom. The presence of thousands of more Chinese soldiers is already assured as a daily reality, but the rail will also help move thousands more at a moments notice to enforce a crackdown on Tibet. Only the most naive observers would look at the colonial policies surrounding this railway and see a tool for tourism.

As expected, the railway has not been without its share of environmental disasters and shortcomings. The rail cars were designed with windows that cannot be opened to prevent tourists and colonists from throwing litter onto Tibet’s landscape. Apparently the construction crews didn’t get the memo.

Discarded supplies and junked equipment were conspicuous along the railway line. Rubber tires, scrap metal, chunks of cement, leftover tubes, plastic bags and bottles were among the garbage left beside the tracks.

This was a clear violation of the government’s own policy for the line. “We have to ensure that no waste is left along the track,” a senior railway official told reporters on board the train on Saturday before the train entered Tibet.

Chinese authorities have built tunnels below the railway to allow animals to cross safely. But yesterday, the train caused panic among yaks that belong to Tibetan herdsman. Terrified yaks raced away from the train as it passed.

Unfortunately none of this is a surprise to those of us who thought construction through remote plains and nomadic lands was a good idea. The idea of using tunnels as an escape route for frightened animals is an idea so absurd it’s laughable. I don’t know what the effect the train has on yaks, but I can’t imagine stampedes are safe or useful to Tibetan herdsmen.

This railway has succeeded in providing China with a rapid means for troop movements to Tibet, while allowing a network for cheap population transfers and the division, reduction, and desecration of land that is vital to the survival of Tibetan nomads. It’s a disgrace that Western corporations like Bombardier and Nortel have played a crucial role in the construction and operation of this project.



3 Responsesto “China’s Tibet railway arrives under heavy security”

1. wiliiam says:

   July 10, 2006 at 2:27 pm

   Hi, Your point is wierd. Why railway can not be
   built on tibet? As far as I know, the western countries ruined the enviorment freely several decades before. Now being developed, they always pretend to protect the enviorment. It is a joke. If you want to protect the enviorment, you’d better live like an ape. It is a shame tring to
   stop other country’s development while enjoying the
   modern life by yourself. Tibet is a part of China, why China can’t build a rainway or move troop in its own land? Your country can’t?
2. Isidoro says:

   July 22, 2006 at 4:27 pm

   You Forget Tibet Was full of SLaves, ruled by A Ascolute king so called dalai-lama & the chinese communists saved tibt from That Outrageous regime, The arrested & killed ones were servants of the old dalai lama, & therefore tritors of the Peoples Republic, and should be exterminated as fats as possible!
3. Don Lapre Watcher says:

   November 6, 2006 at 6:22 pm

   OK!!! If you say so!!! I know ignorance is bliss and you may be a hedonist but you know what is right and wrong. Oppression is never right! Slaughter.. I believe falls under the same category. Correct me if I’m wrong..

   Ken
   http://www.j-ams.org
   ken@j-ams.org