The Environment and the Military

* Estimates of deforestation vary, but most reckon that at least half of Tibet’s natural forest cover has gone since the Chinese occupation. An extensive road-building program has been opening up the previously inaccessible areas of forest. Tourists have seen up to 60 trucks per hour loaded with timber leaving Tibet — proof of deforestation on a large scale, in contravention of UN Resolution 1803 (XVII) 1962, which establishes the right of people to permanent sovereignty over their natural resources.

* The Indian Government reports that three nuclear missile sites, and an estimated 300,000 troops are stationed on Tibetan territory.

* China has admitted to dumping nuclear waste on the Tibetan plateau. There is a 20 km dump for radioactive pollutants near Lake Kokonor, the largest lake on the Tibetan plateau.

Chinese Immigrants Flood Tibet

* Beijing has admitted a policy of deliberately encouraging Chinese to settle on a long-term basis in Tibet.

* The influx of Chinese nationals has destabilized the economy. Forced agricultural modernizations led to extensive crop failures and Tibet’s first recorded famine (1960-1962), in which 340,000 Tibetans died. Tibetan farms and grazing lands have been confiscated and incorporated into collective and communal farms.

* Resettlement of Chinese migrants has placed Tibetans in the minority in many areas, including Lhasa, causing chronic unemployment among Tibetans.

* Official figures put the number of non-Tibetans in the TAR at 79,000. Independent research puts the figure at 250,000 to 300,000, and, for the whole of Tibet, 5 to 5.5 million Chinese to 4.5 million Tibetans. In Kham and Amdo the Chinese outnumber Tibetans many times over.

Economic Development Plans

* Beijing wants to see 10% economic growth per year from the Tibetan region. New wealth is being channelled into Chinese hands as shown by the 1994 announcement of a railway for Tibet. The rail project will speed both the influx of Chinese migrants as well as the extraction of Tibet’s mineral reserves.

* According to the TAR Economic Planning Commission’s plan, the main thrust of China’s economic activities in Tibet in the 1990s will be “the exploitation of mineral resources.” Mining and other mineral extraction is the largest economic activity in both U’Tsang and Amdo.

* Chinese traders are favoured by lower tax assessments and the dominant position of Chinese in government administration. Chinese officials are paid various bonuses for working in Tibet.

* China is pushing to incorporate Tibet into its new market economy by boosting agricultural output. Traditional barley farming, suited to the climate, is diminishing as new crops are introduced (sometimes with foreign aid backing).

Control of Education

* Chinese replaced Tibetan as the official language. Despite official pronouncements, there has been no practical change in this policy. Without an adequate command of Chinese, Tibetans find it difficult to get work in the state sector.

* Secondary school children are taught all classes in Chinese. Although English is a requirement for most university courses, Tibetan school children cannot learn English unless they forfeit study of their own language. Many children are sent away to China for education, usually for a period of seven years.

* Since 1994, the Chinese have strengthened their drive to re-educate young Tibetans about their cultural past at all levels of Tibetan education. They use a distorted history program which omits reference to an independent Tibet.

* At school, no unrehearsed discussion of Tibetan cultural, religious and social issues is allowed. Party positions must actively be upheld. Chinese culture is emphatically promoted.

Invasion and Refugees

* China’s invasion with 40,000 troops in 1950 was an act of unprovoked aggression. There is no generally accepted legal basis for China’s claim of sovereignty.

* Ten years later 100,000 Tibetans fled with the Dalai Lama, Tibet’s spiritual and temporal ruler.

* To avoid detection many refugees, who are poorly clothed, are forced to use the 19,000 ft. Nangpa-La pass below Everest. The Nepalese authorities continue to turn refugees over to the Chinese.

Religious Intolerance

* Religious practice was forcibly suppressed until 1979, and up to 6,000 monasteries and shrines were destroyed.

* The 1982 Constitution of the People’s Republic of China guarantees freedom of religious belief, but China seeks to restrict the numbers of monks and nuns entering monasteries. The restrictions prevent children under 18 from joining monasteries.

* After serving arbitrary sentences imposed for pro-independence activities, nuns and monks released from prison are frequently banned from rejoining their nunneries.

* New guidelines drawn up in 1994 instigated a policy of renewed religious suppression and attempts to discredit the religious authority of the Dalai Lama.

* In 1995 the Chinese authorities rejected the child recognised by the Dalai Lama as the rebirth of the Panchen Lama, and installed their own candidate.

The Human Cost

* Some 1.2 million Tibetans are estimated to have been killed by the Chinese since 1950.

* Exile sources estimate that up to 260,000 people died in prisons and labor camps between 1950 and 1984.

* Unarmed demonstrators have been shot without warning by Chinese police on five occasions between 1987 and 1989. Amnesty International believes that “at least 200 civilians” were killed by the security forces during demonstrations in this period. There are also reports of detainees being summarily executed.