The newly opened railway that has linked Tibet with the rest of
China for the first time will not bring an influx of permanent
settlers to the plateau, the region's vice-chairman has said in
response to an Austrian reporter's question.
"Tibet's unique natural conditions make it impossible for the
Han people and other ethnic groups to settle down here," said Wu
Yingjie, also a top publicity official of the regional
government.
Wu made the remark in response to a question over whether
immigrants will flood in and destroy the plateau ecology after the
railway opens, raised by Burkhard Bischof, a reporter with the
Austrian newspaper Die Presse.
Bischof is among a group of Austrian reporters who are in Tibet
for a 10-day tour.
The Qinghai-Tibet Railway, the world's highest that opened on
July 1, has promised easier traffic, enhanced communication and
economic progress to the Tibet Autonomous Region. Yet some people
overseas have voiced concern over a "cultural genocide" by an
influx of the Han people, China's largest ethnic group.
"The Tibetans and the other 55 Chinese ethnic groups are members
of one big family," said Wu. "It's natural for them to conduct
exchanges freely."
He said there are some Han people and other nationals working in
Tibet. "They're helping with Tibet's construction. Their efforts in
medical, public health, education and other sectors are aimed at
bringing the Tibetans closer to modern civilization and improving
the quality of local people's life."
Fifty years back, Wu said Tibet was an isolated land with
960,000 people and almost negative population growth. "Today, its
population has expanded to 2.7 million, with Tibetans accounting
for 95 percent."
Tibet is a vast land of 1.2 million square kilometers, so
tourists won't overburden the local ecology in the short run, he
said. "But the regional government is aware of the environment
issue and has started to take measures to minimize the impact of
tourism."
(Xinhua News Agency July 12, 2006)