Tibet News

The economy of Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) will grow by at least 14 percent this year and may outpace the PRC’s for a decade as a result of boosts in Beijing’s spending there after the Jan 18-20 fifth Tibet work Forum Meeting of the Politburo in Beijing, reported Bloomberg Feb 8, citing China International Capital Corp.

China may boast that Tibet is socially and politically stable and developing economically, with obvious suggestion that the local Tibetans accept and support its rule.

China said Feb 4 that it had recorded 3,004 cultural relics found during the third systematic survey of cultural relics in the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR), reported its online Tibet news service eng.tibet.cn Feb 5.

The average temperature in the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) was 5.9 degrees Celsius last year, 1.5 degrees Celsius higher than normal and a record high in almost four decades, reported China’s official Xinhua news agency Feb 4, citing latest figures released by the regional climate center.

In an apparent move to boost his public profile, China on Feb 3 made Gyaltsen Norbu, the boy controversially appointed by it as the 11th Panchen Lama back in 1995, the vice-president of the Buddhist Association of China.

The paramilitary People’s Armed Police Force (PAPF) had taken into custody on Dec 7, 2009 two Tibetan brothers from Gartok town of Markham County, Chamdo Prefecture, for allegedly possessing arms, sharing politically sensitive information with outsiders, and hosting a well-known lama visiting from India, reported Radio Free Asia (RFA, Washington) online Jan 27.

The Chinese government-appointed Panchen Lama Gyaltsen Norbu made a rare media appearance on Feb 1.

The Tibet Autonomous Region will handle 850,000 passengers during the Spring Festival (the Chinese New Year) travel rush, which began in late Jan and end in early Mar, reported China’s official Xinhuanet news service Jan 29, citing the Tibet Autonomous Regional Transportation Administration.

A court in Sogpo (also known as Yulgan, Chinese: Henan) County of Malho (Chinese: Huangnan) Prefecture, Qinghai Province, has sentenced a popular young Tibetan singer to one year and seven months in jail.

Thanks to China’s projects and plans to build more roads in Tibet than ever before, Tibet Tianlu Co., Ltd, a company that is a major road builder there, was likely to see a whopping 850 percent increase in its profits in 2009, according to China’s official Xinhua news agency Jan 29.

With more preferential policies, better environment for investors and a more effective, one-stop services, the government of Tibet Autonomous Region hopes to attract investments totally 7 billion yuan (US $1.03 billion) from China and other countries in 2010, reported China’s official Xinhua news agency Jan 29.

Four Tibetans have been sentenced to jail terms of one to three years by the Sog County court in Nagchu Prefecture of Tibet Autonomous Region, reported Phayul.com Jan 28, citing an exile man from the area.

China is spending almost $20m to build just a 17-km (10.5 miles) stretch of road from the Tibetan border town of Kyirong to the Nepalese town of Syabrubesi, reported BBC New online Jan 27.

China is to significantly boost domestic and international air traffic in the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) with more national and international flight services and more news airports, apparently as part of move to implement the guidelines of the Politburo’s Jan 18-20 Fifth Tibet Work Forum meeting.

Rampant exploitation of coal resources is destroying wetlands and posing grave threats to key tributaries that feed into Qinghai Lake, the PRC’s largest saltwater lake, reported China’s official CRI online Jan 26.