June 27, 2006
Memo to Tibetans in Midwest regions by Regional Tibetan Youth Congress, Minnesota
Qinghai-Tibet Railway: China’s Mightiest Colonizing Project starts July 1st , 2006.
The final solution to fully absorb Tibet into China is the Qinghai-Tibet Railway. Its grand opening will begin the ultimate demise of indigenous Tibetans in Tibet as Han Chinese hegemony over Tibetan ethnics by mass population transfer will dilute Tibetan population and overpopulate the region with ethnic Han Chinese migrants. According to Mathew Akester, “the railway represents the physical erasure of all the notions of autonomy which have haunted Sino-Tibetan relations since 1951.” Historically, China’s belligerent attempt to gain full control over Tibet had not succeeded till present times as they could not integrate Tibet into China like the colonizing successes of Inner Mongolia and Xinjiang regions. Colonization of Inner Mongolia and Xinjiang where the indigenous population is greatly outnumbered by Han migration was skillfully carried out by the use of railways.
So can we in our right mind believe that this Railway project is simply to bring economic progress to Tibet and lift the region into further modernization?
China’s claims of the railway being a development that will accelerate economic progress in the region is the widely publicized excuse given to hide their real motives for accelerating population transfer and not economic progress. Given the facts, the railway will lead to a more constructive way to rapidly plunder and loot Tibet’s natural resources out of Tibet into China and the international market, as Tibetans in Tibet face more hardships in living conditions by increasing migration of ethinic Han Chinese. The economic progress brought to Tibet until now is far less than what China has profited from Tibet’s natural resources like Uranium, Lead, Coal, Oil, Timber, etc.
The final hold over Tibet will also mean that China has successfully gained strategic advantage over South Asia in the case of war. A People’s Liberation Army officer once stated, “Tibet is the roof of the world. If we build rocket-launching sites there and install missiles, does it not mean that we can easily strike where they point? Control over Tibet enables us to gain the strategic initiative.” China’s growing military which now is one of the largest in the world, and their hunger for more advanced weapons that they await to purchase if the European Union lifts the Arms Embargo, is increasingly threatening to creating a more peaceful region in South Asia.
We urge all Tibetans from the Midwest region attending the Midwest Picnic in Chicago to participate in the rally to protest the Qinghai-Tibet Railway. This demonstration will explicitly show our contempt for the railway’s real political motive.
What: Rally in Protest of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway
When: June 30th, 2006 Friday at 12AM.
Where: Chinese Counsulate Office
100 West Erie Street
Chicago, IL 60610
Procession will start at: Water Tower, 800 North Michigan Avenue, Chicago, IL
Parking assistance is available at 950 West Carmen Avenue, Chicago if arriving before 11AM. For further questions, contact Pipin in Chicago (773) 507-1777, or Penpa in Minnesota (952) 406-1550.
