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17,000 Tibetans Endangered by Chinese Dam Project
For Immediate Release
Contact: Tashi Tsering, 510-486-0588
Berkeley, CA—New information from occupied Tibet reveals the plight of Tibetans threatened to be driven out of their land by the construction of a series of dams near Bharkham and Chuchen counties of Ngawa Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture. According to reports, the Chinese government has announced that more than 17,000 Tibetans will be forced from their homes within the next three years to make way for the dams. The main purpose of the project, scheduled for completion in 2006, is to meet demands for electricity in mainland Chinese cities.
Tibet Justice Center, a Berkeley-based human rights organization that monitors Tibetan water development issues closely, believes this to be another potential environmental and cultural disaster for Tibet’s occupied people. Center Board member D’Arcy Richardson commented, “This is not development that benefits Tibetans. This area contains important historic religious sites and a great deal of biodiversity. Tibetans have the right to control use of their natural resources, and the local Tibetans are saying ‘No.’ Since Tibetan concerns about the project submitted in writing to local authorities have been ignored, we will do whatever we can to ensure they have a real voice in this project.”
The dams are slated for construction along the main stem and tributaries of the Gyalmo Ngulchu river (Dadu He in Chinese) in Sichuan Province's Ngawa Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture. Local Communist Party officials have added to growing Tibetan resentment by pressuring them to help fund the dam construction that threatens their own livelihoods. At a meeting in April, Deputy General Secretary, Mr. Chen Sai Qi urged locals to contribute to the Da-Du He Development Office, the organization spearheading dam construction, through new committees at the prefecture and county levels.
Projects of this sort, many associated with China’s Western Development Programme, have fallen under heavy criticism by Tibetans and human rights activists, who maintain that these activities serve to consolidate Chinese control over occupied lands and deprive local people of their means of survival. “Electricity generated out of these dams will be supplied to Chinese cities, and depending on many factors, we fear some of this infrastructure might be used to export Tibet’s water into China in the future,” said Tashi Tsering, Environment and Development Project Director at Tibet Justice Center. “In reality, the Chinese use Tibet as a resource colony. The Tibetan people have no say in the matter—those who protest the exploitation are subject to imprisonment.” Nor do they reap the benefits of resource exploitation—“Jobs are given primarily to imported Chinese workers. Many more Chinese workers will arrive at Drakbar where the construction is soon to begin on the current project,” said Tsering.
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