At the end of 2024 an intensive scenario planning exercise on the future of Tibet was published. A hundred young exiled Tibetans gathered in several sessions to plot a wide range of scenarios for the year 2040, ahead far enough to be different, close enough to be imaginable. The scenarios ranged widely from the […]
This blog series reflects on where Tibet is headed, propelled to its’ destination, not only by China’s coercions but increasingly by China’s money and urban comforts. Reflecting back on the past 45 years, since communism, revolution and Cultural Revolution crashed, and ahead to the momentum China imposes. Those 45 years are also the years I […]
TECHNOLOGIES OF MAKING TIBET CHINA’S Blog 1 of 4 overviewing China’s long term strategies Almost all of China’s interventions in Tibet share a common purpose, very seldom named. How can we sum up what China does, in the name of development, What is the common thread, over decades, shaping what China does, in the name […]
THIRD CCP PLENUM 2024 OPTS FOR BUSINESS AS USUAL To be Premier of China is a thankless task. Nominally the head of the entire state apparatus, in charge of the executive that plans and implements all policies, the Premier would seem to be one of the most powerful people on the planet. Yet his […]
MATERIAL WORLD A blog series on China’s lust for lithium from Tibet, blog 1 of 3 A concise version of this blog was published by Turquoise Roof. If you have read that report, do read on for further insights into China’s long term strategy for global dominance of all new industries, and in-depth analysis of […]
A blog series on China’s lust for lithium from Tibet, blog 2 of 3 BOOMING LITHIUM: FEAR OF MISSING OUT Mining has always been prone to booms and busts, since the interval between demand and supply is several years of careful investigation to find and confirm a mineral deposit, draw up a sound business case, […]
A blog series on China’s lust for lithium from Tibet, blog 3 of 3 SAVING OUR PLANET, THROUGH MORE MINING THAN EVER Lithium extraction by any means, at whatever financial and environmental cost, makes sense only if decarbonising a world addicted to fossil fuels is the sole goal, and nothing else matters. Getting lithium out […]
HOW TIBET HELPS CHINA WIN THE NEXT INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION Many fates have loomed for Tibet in the seven decades this vast plateau has been forced into Chinese modernity. Initially, in the proclamations of revolutionary communism, Tibet was to become a new heaven on earth, to be accomplished by first destroying all that is old. […]
Blog 1 of 3 on a big new hydro dam in Tibet RED GENE PRINCELINGS MAKING TIBET CHINA’S In May 2023 the first big new hydro dam in several years in Tibet was announced. It will not be on the Yarlung Tsangpo but the Za Chu, the uppermost Mekong. The announcement came not as official […]
Blog 2 of 3 on a big new hydro dam in Tibet Migrating China’s massive energy extraction infrastructure industry far upstream into Tibet has long been signalled by party-state planners. Potential dam locations have been mapped by engineers for decades, and listed as potential dams in official plan decrees. Yet most of the big dams […]