NEW YORK, January 20 – China’s “Go West” campaign is taking its toll on the natural resource base of China’s Western region, which includes 2.5 million square kilometers of Tibetan landmass, said a report from the Environment and Development Desk of the Department of Information and International Relations, Central Tibetan Administration, Dharamsala, India.
Officially billed as a campaign to reduce the yawning chasm between the rich eastern coastal provinces and the western hinterlands, the priority of the “Go West” campaign is shift the mineral industry to western region.
To facilitate this, China is wooing foreign investment, the Tibetan environment watchdog reported.
In 2003 alone China reported the sale of 11,717 prospecting and mining rights through bids, auctions and other public means.
“In recent developments related to Tibet’s mineral resources, foreign-based junior mining companies, mainly from Canada and Australia, have announced their intentions and plans to explore and eventually mine gold and copper in Tibet,” the report said.
“Two Canada-based companies have entered into an “option agreement”, which according to our knowledge might not be recognized by the Chinese law,” environment desk said.
“It nevertheless highlights the keenness on part of minor mining companies to get a foothold in China in anticipation of the opening of the China’s mining industry.”
Of particular concern to the Tibetan Administration in exile are three projects that involve foreign investment and participation.
1. Nagartse (Ch: Nagarze) Gold mine, a joint venture between Orchid Capital Limited based in Australia (70%) and the China Tibet Institute of Geological Survey (30%).
2. Shethongmon (Xietongmen) Gold and copper mine, “option agreement” between China Net TV Holdings Inc. and Continental Minerals Corporation, both based in Vancouver, Canada.
3. Dachang Gold Mine, (located in Chumarleb county in Yushu Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture) a joint venture between Inter-Citic based in Canada (87%) and Qinghai Geological Survey Institute (17%).
The exile Administration is deeply concerned that the increased mineral extraction activities would have large adverse social and environmental impacts on the Tibetan Plateau and further beyond.
Apart from being the source of major rivers of China and rest of Asia, the Tibetan Plateau is regarded by many as having direct and indirect impacts on the local and global climatic changes.
As China faces a tough choice between economic growth and environmental protection, the Tibetan environment watchdog urges Beijing to listen to the warning given by a former director of Environmental Protection Bureau in Tibet Autonomous Region, who said, “In Tibet we can’t do what other provinces (of China) did, of first destroying the environment and then fixing it. Tibet’s environment is more fragile; we have to protect it from the start because it might not recover otherwise.”
