BEIJING – China will complete a controversial railway link across the snow-covered Qinghai-Tibet Plateau to Lhasa by the end of the year, Xinhua news agency said on Wednesday.
Vice Premier Zeng Peiyan, a member of the ruling Communist Party’s Politburo, said the railway would play a big role in promoting tourism to the predominantly Buddhist Himalayan region, Xinhua reported.
But it is a contentious issue. China argues the rail link will promote development and help raise living standards, while Tibet activists say it will speed up the pace of Chinese migration there and dilute Tibetan culture.
Construction of the first phase started in 1958, eight years after the Communist Party sent troops into the Himalayan region of Tibet to impose its rule.
A year later, Tibet’s spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, fled to India after a failed uprising against Chinese rule and he has lived there ever since.
The first phase of construction ended ended in 1984 and the second phase did not start until 2001, Xinhua said.
The railway will span 2,040 km from Xining, in Qinghai province, to Lhasa.
