CHINA’S EXPLOITATION OF TIBET’S MINERAL RESOURCES Radio Free Asia is broadcasting in Tibetan a series of talks on China’s exploitation of the mineral wealth of the Tibetan Plateau. Below is the English text on which the Tibetan broadcasts are based, written by Warren Smith, as a condensation of the 2013 book Spoiling Tibet: China and […]
FORGING THE CHAGLAM IRON PATH ACROSS EASTERN TIBET First of two blogs In 2006, when the single track rail line across the permafrost of northern Tibet to Lhasa began operation, China congratulated itself, long and loud, for its engineering accomplishment. The sky train across the roof of the world was a world first, the highest […]
a case study in the meanings of dependence #2 of 2 blogs ENGINEERING PRECIPITOUS KHAM From Chengdu and the Sichuan basin the new railway climbs to the Tibetan Plateau from Chaksam (in Chinese Luding), at the crossing of the Dadu River at the foot of the high plateau. Chaksam in Tibetan means iron bridge, after […]
WHY NATIONAL PARKS IN TIBET? #1 of 2 blogposts “China is considering establishing a national park in the Sanjiangyuan (Sources of Three Rivers) Area to protect the headwaters of the Yangtze, Yellow and Lancang (Mekong) rivers. A meeting of the Central Leading Group for Reform at the end of 2015 decided to upgrade the Sanjiangyuan […]
#2 of 2 blogposts GROWING MORE GRASS IN TIBET: INTEGRAL TO CHINA’S GLOBAL CLIMATE DIPLOMACY Western China, especially the Tibetan Plateau , has become China’s primary contribution to the global effort to mitigate or at least adapt to inevitable climate change, until China’s promises of actual emissions reductions become effective. Officially, that is to happen […]