With the trial operation of freight trains on the Qinghai-Tibet
railway line completed in March and the whole line was tested on
July 1, some experts predict that a Qinghai-Tibet Plateau Economic
Belt will be established along the line and become a driver of the
economy in the whole region.
The total area of Qinghai-Tibet Plateau is 2.9 million square
km. Of this 2.5 million square km is in Chinese territory and
accounts for one quarter of the whole land area of the country. It
covers Tibet Autonomous Region, Qinghai Province, part of Xinjiang
Uygur Autonomous Region and part of Gansu, Sichuan and Yunnan
provinces.
As the central focus of China's Western Development Strategy,
the plateau has abundant mineral resources, agricultural products,
livestock, Tibetan medicines and tourism.
The completion of Qinghai-Tibet Railway will expand western
transportation links and bring Tibet into the national railway
network. This would result in the establishment of an economic belt
on Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, suggested Wang Daiyuan, a researcher in
Economic Strategy Research Center of Social Sciences Academy of
Tibet Autonomous Region.
The magnificent scenery on the plateau and simply the views are
huge attractions for tourists from both home and abroad. With
Xining and Lhasa, the capital cities of Qinghai and Tibet
respectively at either end of the line, numerous famous spots of
historical and natural interest can be viewed from the train. These
include Ta'er Monastery, Mt. Sun and Moon, Qinghai Lake, Birds
Island, Mt. Kunlun, Hol Xil Nature Reserve and Potala Palace.
With the railway, the cost of getting to Tibet will be greatly
reduced. Experts are predicting that the train journey to Tibet
will become a new travel highlight in the later half of this year.
After 2007, it's estimated that 2.1 million tourists will visit
Tibet. And it seems likely the Qinghai-Tibet Railway will become
one of the world's top tourist attractions.
It's planned that the Dunhuang Railway which started operation
in December 2005 will connect with the Qinghai-Tibet Railway at
Golmud. Tourist industry insiders have observed that this will
connect Potala Palace with the Silk Road and has the potential to
become a new golden tourist route in west China.
According to Vice Governor of Qinghai Ma Peihua, developing the
tourist industry around the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau can enrich and
upgrade various types of tourism products and give fresh momentum
to China's development of the industry. Tourism was important in
promoting all-round development of local economies as well as
providing stability and prosperity in ethnic regions.
Moving away from tourism, the reserves of boron, lithium and
cesium in salt lakes on Qinghai-Tibet Plateau account for 10
percent, 12 percent and 26.7 percent respectively of world
reserves. Kalium reserves account for about 14 percent of the
national total. The potential value of mineral resources within
this "Resource corridor" in northern Tibet is estimated to be 6
trillion yuan (US$750 billion).
The Tibetan academic, Dorjee, of the Chinese Academy of
Engineering, has suggested that focus be given to mineral resource
exploration as well as protection of the environment on
Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. The level of environmental damage caused by
mineral resources exploration had to be kept to a minimum, he
said.?
(China.org.cn by Li Shen, July 5, 2006)