China is moving quickly to shift the demographics of the Tibetan area. In order to diminish Tibetan opposition, China is accelerating the urbanization of the disputed territory while simultaneously expanding the flow of Chinese laborers there.
The Haba Snow Mountain Railway Tunnel Project, which links Chengdu and Lhasa, was just completed in China. After nine years, the Lijiang-Shangri-La segment of the Yunnan-Tibet Railway project was finally finished last week.
Mandarin mouthpiece According to Global Times, it was “a significant milestone in the development of the strategic railway network.”
The Tibetan populace, however, thinks that the Chinese military would gain from the expansion of the infrastructure as well. According to the residents, the network would be used to deploy the Chinese troops in the area.
According to the Tibet Policy Institute, China wants to steadily reduce and weaken Tibetan resistance both within and outside of Tibet’s boundaries by combining rigorous control over Tibet with the repression of any kind of protest.
According to the institute, intermarriage between Tibetan and Chinese groups is on the increase as a result of the growing number of Chinese migrant workers and the fast urbanization of towns like Lhasa.
The cultures, traditions, and practices of the Tibetans and the Chinese have merged as a result of intermarriage. The traditional Tibetan cultural traditions and language, however, have been gradually eroding as the Chinese influence has become stronger.
Since the 1990s, the Communist Party of China government has made significant investments in Tibet’s infrastructure, notably in projects that would increase connectivity, such railroads, highways, and airports. The Chinese government has also invested in infrastructure for the military and the government, urbanization, mining, and hydropower electricity.
These massive infrastructure projects are seen as a way for China to exert more control over Tibet, which it believes to have been invaded and occupied without authorization.
