Forcible Confiscation Of Lands Of Local Tibetans By Chinese Authorities In Rebgong County, Qinghai

Chinese authorities are reportedly trying to forcibly seize lands of Tibetan villages to construct a hydropower dam in Lingya village of Rebgong county in Qinghai province of Tibet. Local authorities have issued instructions to impound lands and have also ordered the locals to co-operate. They have threatened that those who do not vacate their land will not be compensated for the same. Lingya hydropower dam construction is one of the key projects under China’s 13th Five Year Plan.  The total area of the hydropower dam is about 4.58 million square meters with an investment of about 245 million Yuan.  Rebgong, called Tongren in Chinese, is in Malho, or Huangnan, Tibet Autonomous Prefecture, a Tibetan populated area in China’s Qinghai province.

2.      Tibetan villages located in the area of the reservoir project include Shu-Ong-Kye, Shu-Ong-Nyi-tha, Langya, Malpa-Jam, Malpa-Kharnang-Kharshi, Malpa-Chauwo. The area of the reservoir project extends to the lower northeast of Malpa Khagya village from the upper northeast of Langya village. The construction of the reservoir is expected to start soon.  

3.      According to locals if the Rebgong County forcefully confiscates their lands as they do not have any other source of income, they would be compelled to find temporary jobs in Chinese towns and cities. China’s rural urbanization, forcible relocation of Tibetan nomads & farmers to urban areas and continuous migration of large numbers of Han Chinese in Tibet is evident of Beijing’s strategy to forcefully assimilate Tibetan minorities into the dominant Han-Chinese majority.

4.      Chinese infrastructure and development projects in these areas have led to frequent stand-offs with Tibetans who accuse Chinese firms and local officials of improperly seizing land and disrupting the lives of local people.

In 2022, Tibet was confirmed as one of the three areas with the least amount of freedom.

According to the most recent classification by the US-based human rights organization Freedom House, Tibet is one of the least free nations or areas in the world, tied for last place with South Sudan and Syria.

The organization stated in its yearly Freedom in the World 2023 report that the number of nations receiving a score of 0 for freedom of speech increased during the year from 14 to 33, and that during 2022, media freedom was under attack in at least 157 countries and regions.

Scores on a nation’s or region’s political rights and civil freedoms are part of Freedom House’s worldwide freedom exams.

Tibet received a score of minus 2 for political rights and minus 3 for civil freedoms out of a potential 40.

As a result, Tibet received a worldwide freedom ranking of just 1 out of 100. Tibet has fallen to the basement of the standings for a third year running.

The total result for South Sudan and Syria is the same, with each country receiving a score of -3 for political rights and -4 for civil freedoms.

While both Tibetans and people of Chinese ancestry were noted in the report to lack fundamental rights in Tibet, “the authorities are especially rigorous in suppressing any signs of dissent among Tibetans, including manifestations of Tibetan religious beliefs and cultural identity,” according to the report.

According to the report, key issues that dominated the rights situation in Tibet in 2022 included China using a Covid-19 outbreak to step up its repression of Tibetans and putting thousands of people in overcrowded, filthy facilities because the government wouldn’t separate the healthy from the sick. According to the story, the situation was so terrible that at least five Tibetans committed suicide by leaping off domestic structures or collective isolation locations.

The survey report also made reference to a Citizen Lab report, an interdisciplinary lab housed at the Munk School of Global Affairs at the University of Toronto in Canada, which claimed that China may have collected DNA samples from up to one-third of the population of the Tibet Autonomous Region, which encompasses most of western Tibet, over a six-year period.

Global liberties, according to Freedom House, decreased for the 17th year in a row in 2022 as the fight for democracy came to a breaking point and the right to free speech was restricted in nations like Russia and Iran.

Tibetan Nature Reserve

 Tibet’s ecology and natural resources have frequently been exploited. Since the Chinese government invaded Tibet illegally in the 1950s, the once-independent country’s peace and harmony have rapidly declined. In a world where the environment is currently the most dangerous problem, Tibet is also experiencing significant environmental problems, but instead of receiving the necessary attention, the problems are written off as a simple territorial dispute. The authoritarian rule of China in Tibet and their portrayal of Tibet as a part of themselves have caused the world to ignore the environmental degradation that has occurred there as well as the fact that Tibetans lack the rights to even speak out against issues affecting their own land and way of life. Tibet is currently on the verge of confronting significant environmental problems.

A Tibetan natural reserve that was controversially inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site five years ago is called for to have its status reviewed in the most recent World Heritage Watch Report by the International Campaign for Tibet.

The Hoh Xil (Achen Gangyap) nature reserve, which the Chinese government wrongly claimed to be a “no-land” man’s despite Tibetan nomads using the area, was designated a World Heritage Site in 2017. Since then, the reserve’s status has not been reassessed. Hoh Xil is situated in the Yushu Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in the Qinghai Province. The October edition of the 2022 World Heritage Watch report has an analysis from ICT regarding the nature reserve and how, according to the new deadlines set for UNESCO’s Third Cycle of Periodic Reporting, China is not required to submit a periodic review of Hoh Xil until 2024.

The management of infrastructure projects, tourism, and climate change continue to raise severe problems, as does the displacement of local populations. Because of increased censorship of even environmental information coming from Tibet and increased surveillance, it is becoming more challenging to keep tabs on the situation there. A thorough evaluation of the site’s management is therefore necessary.

The historical and culturally Tibetan Hoh Xil Nature Reserve is a territory the size of Switzerland that is situated in Yushu County, Qinghai Province. Its extraordinary level of endemism and natural beauty earned the site recognition as a natural heritage site. All of the plant-eating mammals in Hoh Xil, along with more than one-third of the plant species, are unique to the plateau and cannot be found anywhere else on Earth.  The wild yak, Tibetan ass, Tibetan gazelle, and Tibetan antelope are just a few of the unusual creatures. The land is essential to the survival of up to 50% of the wild yak and 40% of the Tibetan antelope in the world. Additionally, the park preserves the habitats and biological cycles that make up the Tibetan antelope’s whole life cycle. The Changtang natural reserve and Sanjiangyuan (three rivers source) national park, two bigger and better-known protected areas, are wedged between the Hoh Xil nature reserve. China announced plans to create a new national park network in 2017 that would be run by the government.

A number of protected zones have also been established on the Tibetan Plateau. Although these territories have not been unified under the national government, it appears that plans exist to establish a so-called “Third Pole National Park” made up of initially five national parks that will turn Tibet into a protected location for conservation and tourism. At least a third of the Tibetan Plateau is currently covered by protected areas inside Tibet. The International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) highlighted climate change, infrastructure and tourism, fencing, and pest management as risks to the heritage site at the time of Hoh Xil’s inscription. The site’s universal importance is currently under serious threat, according to the advisory group’s most recent assessment of the site’s conservation outlook for 2020. Fencing, Pika species poisoning, and the effects of climate change on habitat were all mentioned in the IUCN evaluation’s assessment of current high-level risks. With increasing average temperatures and precipitation resulting in additional rivers, lakes, and marshlands, climate change is specifically changing the habitat. By obstructing migration routes and calving grounds, as well as by generating new types of dust and salt pollution, these environmental changes are having an impact on animals. Limiting traffic on the Qinghai-Tibet railway and highway corridor or evaluating alternate routes can also help to offset other concerns, such as infrastructure development and increased tourism along the

Tibetan antelope’s migration route. The IUCN experts have noted that the highway has more significant effects than previously thought and significantly alters the Tibetan antelope’s migration path to and from the calving grounds. Tourism, and the subsequent rise of traffic through the natural reserve, is a reasonable worry. It is not new for China to exploit tourism to commercialise Tibetan culture and marginalise Tibetans in their own country. In the ancient Town of Lhasa, where the UNESCO-listed Historical Ensemble of the Potala Palace has been updated and made to look more Chinese in order to serve political and commercial objectives, such tactics have been effectively used. The site’s cultural and global worth has been lost as a result of the absence of active engagement and dialogue from local Tibetans. Given that China presently has 60 sites on the provisional list of world heritage sites, of which four are in Tibet, this trend of leveraging UNESCO’s global reputation to boost tourism in Tibet is expected to continue.

The Chinese government provided assurances that “The Chinese government has not, is not, and will not in the future perform any forceful evictions in the Hoh Xil nominated area” in response to concerns expressed by civil society groups during the inscription of the Hoh Xil site. However, given data that suggests resettlement is a well-established practise in national parks throughout the Tibetan region, such assurances cannot be easily trusted. Pastoralists in the Hoh Xil site are gradually forced to leave their grazing lands by limiting their sources of income. The UNESCO historic designation must not be used to support environmental policies that take land from local communities, step up population control and monitoring, and obliterate local cultures in the name of politics and profit. China has previously promoted its concept of environmental dictatorship through the UNESCO heritage designation. This is risky since China’s authoritarian environmental governance system lacks participatory governance. Because there is minimal room for participation in policymaking, it forces individuals to accept judgments made by others and imposes uniformity over variation.

Tibet’s ecology and natural resources have frequently been exploited. Since the Chinese government invaded Tibet illegally in the 1950s, the once-independent country’s peace and harmony have rapidly declined. In a world where the environment is currently the most dangerous problem, Tibet is also experiencing significant environmental problems, but instead of receiving the necessary attention, the problems are written off as a simple territorial dispute. The authoritarian rule of China in Tibet and their portrayal of Tibet as a part of themselves have caused the world to ignore the environmental degradation that has occurred there as well as the fact that Tibetans lack the rights to even speak out against issues affecting their own land and way of life. Tibet is currently on the verge of confronting significant environmental problems. A Tibetan natural reserve that was controversially inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site five years ago is called for to have its status reviewed in the most recent World Heritage Watch Report by the International Campaign for Tibet. The Hoh Xil (Achen Gangyap) nature reserve, which the Chinese government wrongly claimed to be a “no-land” man’s despite Tibetan nomads using the area, was designated a World Heritage Site in 2017. Since then, the reserve’s status has not been reassessed. Hoh Xil is situated in the Yushu Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in the Qinghai Province. The October edition of the 2022 World Heritage Watch report has an analysis from ICT regarding the nature reserve and how, according to the new deadlines set for UNESCO’s Third Cycle of Periodic Reporting, China is not required to submit a periodic review of Hoh Xil until 2024. The management of infrastructure projects, tourism, and climate change continue to raise severe problems, as does the displacement of local populations.

Because of increased censorship of even environmental information coming from Tibet and increased surveillance, it is becoming more challenging to keep tabs on the situation there. A thorough evaluation of the site’s management is therefore necessary. The historical and culturally Tibetan Hoh Xil Nature Reserve is a territory the size of Switzerland that is situated in Yushu County, Qinghai Province. Its extraordinary level of endemism and natural beauty earned the site recognition as a natural heritage site. All of the plant-eating mammals in Hoh Xil, along with more than one-third of the plant species, are unique to the plateau and cannot be found anywhere else on Earth. The wild yak, Tibetan ass, Tibetan gazelle, and Tibetan antelope are just a few of the unusual creatures. The land is essential to the survival of up to 50% of the wild yak and 40% of the Tibetan antelope in the world. Additionally, the park preserves the habitats and biological cycles that make up the Tibetan antelope’s whole life cycle. The Changtang natural reserve and Sanjiangyuan (three rivers source) national park, two bigger and better-known protected areas, are wedged between the Hoh Xil nature reserve. China announced plans to create a new national park network in 2017 that would be run by the government. A number of protected zones have also been established on the Tibetan Plateau. Although these territories have not been unified under the national government, it appears that plans exist to establish a so-called “Third Pole National Park” made up of initially five national parks that will turn Tibet into a protected location for conservation and tourism. At least a third of the Tibetan Plateau is currently covered by protected areas inside Tibet.

The International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) highlighted climate change, infrastructure and tourism, fencing, and pest management as risks to the heritage site at the time of Hoh Xil’s inscription. The site’s universal importance is currently under serious threat, according to the advisory group’s most recent assessment of the site’s conservation outlook for 2020. Fencing, Pika species poisoning, and the effects of climate change on habitat were all mentioned in the IUCN evaluation’s assessment of current high-level risks. With increasing average temperatures and precipitation resulting in additional rivers, lakes, and marshlands, climate change is specifically changing the habitat. By obstructing migration routes and calving grounds, as well as by generating new types of dust and salt pollution, these environmental changes are having an impact on animals. Limiting traffic on the Qinghai-Tibet railway and highway corridor or evaluating alternate routes can also help to offset other concerns, such as infrastructure development and increased tourism along the Tibetan antelope’s migration route.

The IUCN experts have noted that the highway has more significant effects than previously thought and significantly alters the Tibetan antelope’s migration path to and from the calving grounds. Tourism, and the subsequent rise of traffic through the natural reserve, is a reasonable worry. It is not new for China to exploit tourism to commercialise Tibetan culture and marginalise Tibetans in their own country. In the ancient Town of Lhasa, where the UNESCO-listed Historical Ensemble of the Potala Palace has been updated and made to look more Chinese in order to serve political and commercial objectives, such tactics have been effectively used. The site’s cultural and global worth has been lost as a result of the absence of active engagement and dialogue from local Tibetans. Given that China presently has 60 sites on the provisional list of world heritage sites, of which four are in Tibet, this trend of leveraging UNESCO’s global reputation to boost tourism in Tibet is expected to continue. The Chinese government provided assurances that “The Chinese government has not, is not, and will not in the future perform any forceful evictions in the Hoh Xil nominated area” in response to concerns expressed by civil society groups during the inscription of the Hoh Xil site. However, given data that suggests resettlement is a well-established practise in national parks throughout the Tibetan region, such assurances cannot be easily trusted. Pastoralists in the Hoh Xil site are gradually forced to leave their grazing lands by limiting their sources of income. The UNESCO historic designation must not be used to support environmental policies that take land from local communities, step up population control and monitoring, and obliterate local cultures in the name of politics and profit. China has previously promoted its concept of environmental dictatorship through the UNESCO heritage designation. This is risky since China’s authoritarian environmental governance system lacks participatory governance. Because there is minimal room for participation in policymaking, it forces individuals to accept judgments made by others and imposes uniformity over variation.

Our Best Long Reads From 2021

At Foreign Policy, we work hard to keep you abreast of the news, but we also like to feature terrific longer-form writing that digs deep into an issue, uncovers the background behind a complex topic, or tells a compelling and powerful story.

At Foreign Policy, we work hard to keep you abreast of the news, but we also like to feature terrific longer-form writing that digs deep into an issue, uncovers the background behind a complex topic, or tells a compelling and powerful story.

Here are five of our best long reads from 2021.

by Hal Brands and Michael Beckley, Sept. 24

In 2021, some serious cracks appeared in the narrative of China’s meteoric rise and growing dominance. Beijing had to contend with an economic slowdown, cracked down on its own tech industry, and faced a global backlash against its aggressive diplomacy. But if China is weaker than it looks, it should give the rest of the world pause, argue Hal Brands and Michael Beckley. History, they write, has many examples of other powers that looked strong but feared imminent decline, which led them to strike out in desperation—think of Germany in 1914 and imperial Japan in 1941. The precedents are enlightening—and suggest some dangerous years ahead.

by Robbie Gramer and Anna Weber, Dec. 16

“It’s an open secret that Washington’s foreign-policy machine effectively runs on interns,” FP’s Robbie Gramer and Anna Weber write. Unpaid (or severely underpaid), they staff front desks, run administrative tasks, manage websites, organize events, and ghostwrite policy reports. Government, think tanks, and other institutions relying on interns for labor might talk a mouthful about inclusion, but the system is especially harsh on minorities and working-class people who, unlike their peers from wealthy families, can’t afford to work for free. Gramer and Weber dug deep to get the dirt on this nefarious system.

by Laila Rasekh, Aug. 28

Some of 2021’s most powerful and heartbreaking images reached us from the fall of Kabul. Thousands of Afghans, fearing for their lives as the Taliban entered the capital, struggled for spots on the last flights out of the city. The most indelible of these images showed a figure dropping from a plane high in the sky—a young man who’d clung on to the fuselage of the aircraft in a desperate, hopeless attempt to get wherever the plane was going. Laila Rasekh investigated and tells us the tragic story of Kabul’s falling man.

by Robert Barnett, July 28

Part of an ongoing collaboration with Tibetan and other researchers digging through the Chinese internet, Robert Barnett’s report describes, for the first time, Beijing’s secretive creation of a vast network of quasi-militarized settlements along the Himalayan border, including in neighboring Bhutan, as a previous part in this series revealed. In an effort reminiscent of its tactics in the South China Sea, Beijing has been asserting its territorial claims in the Himalayas by colonizing remote parts of a weaker neighboring country.

by Michael Hirsh, June 9

Some of his legislation may be stumbling on Capitol Hill, but U.S. President Joe Biden’s economic plans are nothing if not ambitious: vast spending on infrastructure and clean energy, subsidies and trade rules to return factory jobs to the United States, and other policies to shift wealth to the middle class. “If he is able to follow through on this plan—by no means a given—the president will cast onto history’s ash heap the ruling doctrine of the past 40 years,” FP’s Michael Hirsh writes. Biden’s revolutionary economic doctrine also has a dark side: an America-first nationalism that could close borders to trade, lower global growth, and create tensions abroad.

Our Most Read Stories of 2021

Foreign Policy readers were particularly drawn to stories about China’s shifting role in the world; the rise of cryptocurrencies; former U.S. President Donald Trump’s legacy and the challenges that remain for his successor, Joe Biden; and the state of global democracy. Here are 10 of our most read stories this year, as measured by website traffic.

2021 was the second year of the COVID-19 pandemic, but plenty of other shocking events grabbed the world’s attention: the mob that stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, power grabs from Myanmar to Mali, and the Taliban’s return to power in Kabul.

2021 was the second year of the COVID-19 pandemic, but plenty of other shocking events grabbed the world’s attention: the mob that stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, power grabs from Myanmar to Mali, and the Taliban’s return to power in Kabul.

Foreign Policy readers were particularly drawn to stories about China’s shifting role in the world; the rise of cryptocurrencies; former U.S. President Donald Trump’s legacy and the challenges that remain for his successor, Joe Biden; and the state of global democracy. Here are 10 of our most read stories this year, as measured by website traffic.

by Derek Grossman, July 21

On Aug. 15, Kabul fell to the Taliban—the conclusion of a military offensive that had begun in May amid the planned withdrawal of U.S. and coalition forces from Afghanistan. Weeks earlier, defense analyst Derek Grossman seemed to see the writing on the wall, arguing that China was “starting off on exactly the right foot with the Taliban should the group regain control over Afghanistan.”

Although Beijing has not yet recognized the Taliban government, it has stepped up its engagement with the regime—which Grossman argues could have consequences for the balance of power in the region. “[T]he nature of China-Taliban ties will be geostrategically significant,” he writes. “A sustained positive relationship may further enable Beijing to make broad economic and security inroads into Afghanistan and Central Asia.”

by Laurie Garrett, Feb. 18

The United States started off 2021 amid its worst COVID-19 wave since the pandemic began. Writing a month after President Joe Biden’s inauguration, FP’s Laurie Garrett argues that his predecessor Donald Trump is responsible for the “national horror” that at its peak saw more than 300,000 new cases in 24 hours, leveling the hypothetical charge of “pandemicide.”

“By the time the election took place, Trump had ignored the pandemic, not attending a single COVID-19 White House meeting for at least five months, since late May,” Garrett writes. “During a period when experts inside his government warned that holiday travel and interactions over Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s could lead to massive spread of the virus, and states clamored for aid to disseminate vaccines, Trump was mum.”

by Robert Barnett, May 7

In a Foreign Policy exclusive, Robert Barnett reports on Chinese encroachment in northern Bhutan, where Beijing has begun building villages in an effort to secure Tibet’s borderlands. It is planting settlers, security personnel, and military infrastructure—all unnoticed by the rest of the world. Barnett, an expert on modern Tibet, and four researchers mapped China’s claims and expansion in Bhutan based on a combination of official reports, media reports, and open-source data—documenting big changes in a sacred valley.

“It is hard to fathom China’s rationale for its shift from nibbling at a neighbor’s territory to swallowing portions of it wholesale,” he writes. “In the past, annexation has not worked well for China as a solution for territorial disputes, especially when deep-seated cultural and religious values are at stake.”

by David Gerard, Feb. 11

Investors and mainstream companies have taken an interest in cryptocurrency this year, raising questions about regulation in Washington and beyond. In February, as Bitcoin prices surged, David Gerard, the author of Attack of the 50 Foot Blockchain, focused on an odd beneficiary of the surge: Dogecoin, which was promoted heavily by Tesla CEO Elon Musk. “Dogecoin was originally a joke cryptocurrency,” Gerard writes—but as with other cryptocurrencies, people hoped for an opportunity to get rich with it.

Gerard uses Dogecoin to explain why cryptocurrencies are so prone to manipulation and price pumping. “The only way to make money from a cryptocurrency is to sell it to someone else for more money, and the only way they can make money is to sell it on for even more,” he writes. “It’s a hot potato with a price tag.”

by Hasan Ismaik, Aug. 16

On July 25, Tunisian President Kais Saied dismissed the country’s prime minister and suspended parliament for 30 days in what some observers described as a coup. But Saied said his actions were within the bounds of the constitution, which allows for such measures in the event of “imminent danger.” Hasan Ismaik, a Jordanian entrepreneur and writer, argues that Saied’s move wasn’t that of a power-hungry president but an attempt to protect Tunisia’s democracy from anti-reformists in parliament.

Tunisia’s pro-democracy revolution kicked off the Arab Spring more than a decade ago, and Ismaik argues that its democracy is still in progress. “[B]uilding democracies that survive the test of time … will be fruitless unless the people of the region understand democratic philosophy and how to safeguard their right to choose a government that truly represents them,” he writes.

by Paul Musgrave, Nov. 27

In a deep-dive feature story, political science professor Paul Musgrave gets to the bottom of an internet legend: the idea that PepsiCo Inc. once possessed the sixth-largest navy fleet in the world. Executive Donald Kendall oversaw the company’s acquisition of submarines, a cruiser, a frigate, and a destroyer from the Soviet Union in 1989—but Musgrave explains that the legend of its strength is largely false. “The Pepsi navy no more conferred military power than a rusting Model T could have been a Formula 1 contender,” he writes.

The winding story shows how interactions between governments make up just a small part of international relations; much of it is instead steered by business interests. “Had events unfolded the way Kendall hoped and [Soviet leader Mikhail] Gorbachev planned, the 1990s might have been a decade of democratization and economic growth for a strengthening Soviet Union,” Musgrave writes.

by Hal Brands and Michael Beckley, Sept. 24

As the U.S.-China rivalry appears to grow ever more intractable, political scientists Hal Brands and Michael Beckley argue that the “deadly trap” threatening to ensnare both great powers is not China’s rise—but its potential decline. “[G]reat powers that had been growing dramatically faster than the world average and then suffered a severe, prolonged slowdown … usually don’t fade away quietly,” they write. “Rather, they become brash and aggressive.”

What does this mean for the United States? China could act boldly or even erratically with respect to critical technologies, supply chains and infrastructure projects, and the issue of Taiwan. “Welcome to geopolitics in the age of a peaking China: a country that already has the ability to violently challenge the existing order and one that will probably run faster and push harder as it loses confidence that time is on its side,” Brands and Beckley write.

by Kelly Bjorklund, Jan. 11

Just before a mob inspired by then-President Donald Trump stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, writer and activist Kelly Bjorklund interviewed Trump’s first secretary of state, Rex Tillerson. The conversation spanned Trump’s foreign policy, the state of the world in 2021, and the challenges President-elect Joe Biden would face in office. Tillerson was frank about the difficulty of balancing national security objectives with Trump’s priorities: “His understanding of global events, his understanding of global history, his understanding of U.S. history was really limited,” he told Foreign Policy.

The former top U.S. diplomat ultimately took a dim view of Trump’s legacy on the eve of his departure from the White House. “Nothing worked out. We squandered the best opportunity we had on North Korea,” Tillerson said. “With Putin, we didn’t get anything done. We’re nowhere with China on national security. We’re in a worse place today than we were before he came in, and I didn’t think that was possible.”

by Elisabeth Braw, June 9

The saga of the Ever Given—the container ship that became stuck in the Suez Canal in March—briefly captured the world’s attention. But months later, the ship and its crew remained in limbo, seized by the Egyptian authorities until a deal could be reached on compensation demanded by the Suez Canal Authority. Their fate was not unusual for an abandoned freighter, FP’s Elisabeth Braw writes; ships and their crews have been stranded for years in situations that don’t generally make headlines.

Unfortunately, the COVID-19 pandemic has at times exacerbated seafarers’ struggles. “[W]hen the world’s shipping companies can no longer recruit enough seafarers, we’ll find out how absolutely vital they are to our daily lives,” Braw concludes.

by Richard Aboulafia, June 30

As China has risen on the world stage, many observers assumed that its growth as a combat air power would follow. But there’s just one problem, air industry expert Richard Aboulafia argues: Beijing hasn’t been able to expand sales of its fighter jets beyond a small core market. “This feeble sales record has nothing to do with the aircraft themselves,” he writes. “The best explanation of this failure is China’s foreign policy.”

Aboulafia argues that tensions with the Philippines in the South China Sea have gotten in the way of potential acquisitions, and similar patterns have played out with some of China’s other neighbors. The disconnect advantages the United States. “While Beijing struggles to find any takers, Washington’s military export standing is poised for further growth,” he writes.

Pentagon Worries About Chinese Buildup Near India

The senior defense official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive policy deliberations, said that the buildup fits the pattern of Chinese regional aggression seen elsewhere in the Indo-Pacific region, such as in the Philippines, where Chinese coast guard vessels moved to block Philippine supply boats in November. But there’s optimism among experts and officials that India will be able to stand its ground against the People’s Liberation Army. New Delhi has put up more diplomatic and military resistance than China’s antagonists in other territorial incursions, such as in the South China Sea, experts said.

The U.S. Defense Department is newly concerned about China’s further military buildup near the demarcation line across its Himalayan border with India, a senior defense official told Foreign Policy, after Beijing deployed long-range strategic bombers to the area last month in another apparent warning to New Delhi.

Update, Dec. 17, 2021: This story has been updated to provide additional satellite imagery of the Chinese military buildup near the Indian border.

The U.S. Defense Department is newly concerned about China’s further military buildup near the demarcation line across its Himalayan border with India, a senior defense official told Foreign Policy, after Beijing deployed long-range strategic bombers to the area last month in another apparent warning to New Delhi.

The senior defense official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive policy deliberations, said that the buildup fits the pattern of Chinese regional aggression seen elsewhere in the Indo-Pacific region, such as in the Philippines, where Chinese coast guard vessels moved to block Philippine supply boats in November. But there’s optimism among experts and officials that India will be able to stand its ground against the People’s Liberation Army. New Delhi has put up more diplomatic and military resistance than China’s antagonists in other territorial incursions, such as in the South China Sea, experts said.

“It’s just clear that [China has] become more assertive all across their territorial fault lines,” said Jeff Smith, a research fellow at the Heritage Foundation’s Asian Studies Center. “Arguably India is the one where they’ve met the most resistance. The Indians will not be cowed, coerced, or intimidated.”

Smith said that China has become more aggressive in the border region since armed Indian troops with bulldozers successfully forced a halt in the construction of a road near the Chinese-Indian-Bhutanese border at Doklam in 2017, a situation that embarrassed Chinese officials. “That has only further fed this sort of aggressive, nationalist inclination to double down and harden their positions,” Smith said.

In the last couple of months, Indian officials have noted that China has kept a large number of troops on its side of the border and held more exercises, creating concerns that Beijing could act again. Indian officials and experts also note that China has a significant advantage in infrastructure along the Line of Actual Control, as the de facto border is known, establishing small airports, landing strips, and heated accommodations in the area. Chinese leader Xi Jinping has also signaled his commitment to the area with a recent visit to Tibet, a move that New Delhi saw as a signal to the Tibetan government not to side with India.

But India has important practical advantages, officials said, including more experience fighting in high altitude. New Delhi has sought to use geography and acclimatization as an asymmetric counteradvantage to Beijing’s military might, taking peaks near lakes, while in certain instances the People’s Liberation Army has been forced to pull back ground units or bring in oxygen tents.

The buildup in and of itself creates a dilemma for the Biden administration, as does the timing, with Russia currently amassing as many as 115,000 troops on the border with Ukraine. While American officials have insisted that they will not provide more military aid to Kyiv unless the Russians launch an invasion, another flash point—on top of China’s pressure campaign on Taiwan—risks splitting the Biden’s administration’s attention.

The United States supported India “quickly and robustly” during a melee in May 2020, the senior defense official said, a moment that saw Chinese and Indian troops engaged in intense hand-to-hand combat after Beijing objected to Indian road construction near the disputed Aksai Chin region, a territory that both sides have contested dating back to the 1960s, when the two countries actually went to war.

American officials credited the standoff with drawing India closer to the United States, after years of courtship that spanned multiple U.S. administrations. It’s not clear whether the State Department or Pentagon are considering sending more weapons or equipment to India, but the senior defense official said that Washington is “engaging at all levels” with New Delhi. And the United States has become much more responsive at sharing intelligence detailing Chinese movements with India, an Indian official told Foreign Policy, speaking on condition of anonymity to detail China’s military buildup.

Even as they hope for diplomacy to resolve the situation, some in Congress see the crisis as another opportunity for the United States to deepen ties with India.

“The uptick in Chinese aggression in India’s Ladakh region underscores why security cooperation with India is so vital to both countries’ national interests,” Rep. Brad Sherman, a California Democrat who serves as a senior member of the foreign affairs committee and co-chairs the House India Caucus, told Foreign Policy in an emailed statement. “Given that India is a natural American partner with which we share a unique bond based on common democratic values, it is critical that we deepen our existing defense and security engagement with India as it faces escalating Chinese aggression. ​​In light of past, and possible future Chinese aggression in the Ladakh region, I know India appreciates U.S. support.”

India has traditionally turned its security focus toward Pakistan, but over the past two U.S. administrations, Indian officials have been increasingly aware of the threat posed by China—and experts see China’s position hardening in the border region.

“What is clear is that Beijing’s decisions must have been made at the highest levels for political and strategic, not just tactical, reasons,” former Indian National Security Advisor Shivshankar Menon wrote in Foreign Affairs earlier this month. “This makes the dispute harder to settle. China previously described the boundary disagreement as a product of history, leaving room for give, take, and negotiation. Sovereignty, by contrast, is sacred and inviolable.”

Bhutan, where China has been building roads into the border area, has also stopped speaking to India before consulting with China. Indian officials worry that China is trying to build more roads into the Siliguri corridor, known as the Chicken Neck, a connecting line between northeast India and the rest of the country.

Still, both sides are worried about losing perceived advantages along the border, the Defense Department reported last month, and diplomatic talks have mostly hit a standstill. India has demanded a return to the status quo ante as of April 2020, while China has gotten more aggressive with territorial claims, including in east Bhutan, as Foreign Policy first reported earlier this year. Satellite imagery detected China building a second village in Arunachal Pradesh, in November. Open-source intelligence accounts on social media have also detailed China’s construction of new runways and its rotation of helicopters and bombers through the disputed Aksai Chin region, which is also claimed by India.

Dense snows in the Himalayas during the winter would prove difficult terrain for launching another forward effort, especially in Ladakh, where Chinese and Indian troops sparred last year. But the violence along the Line of Actual Control last year has taught the Indian military never to let its guard down, the Indian official said, citing China’s protests of renewed Indian infrastructure and its ability to mobilize tanks in a matter of hours. The situation has left New Delhi in a Catch-22, the official said: It has to invest considerable attention on the border issue so as not to be seen as weak, but is also wary of escalating against superior Chinese military forces.

Chinese intentions in the region have been clouded by a lack of understanding of the military and political leadership driving deployments on the ground. In the last year alone, China’s Western Theater Command, which is responsible for the disputed border region, has undergone three leadership changes. But both Indian and Chinese officials seem to be coming to a consensus that the relationship, which was once characterized by informal summits between Xi and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who enjoyed strong personal chemistry, is never going to be the same.

“At least some in Chinese leadership have concluded that it is inevitable that India will move closer to the West,” said Smith, the Heritage Foundation’s Asia expert. “They think that they were handling India with kid gloves and being extra sensitive to its interests, and it acted against them anyway. So why even pretend to be friendly anymore?”

Tibetan NGO’s protest against the Beijing Winter Olympics in Dharamshala

Dharamshala, Himachal Pradesh, India:  Five Tibetan NGO’s gathered in Dharamshala to mark the one-month countdown of Beijing winter Olympics. The NGO’s protested against the atrocities of China in Xinjian region.

Tibet and other regions, five Tibetan NGOs in Dharamshala join the Global Day of Action to mark the one-month countdown of Winter Olympics hosted by Beijing next month.

The non-governmental organizations (NGOs) has joined rights activists representing Tibet, East Turkistan, Hong Kong, Southern Mongolia, China and Taiwan.


“Five major Tibetan NGOs in Dharamshala join the Global Day of Action to mark a one-month countdown of the Beijing Winter Olympics,” Sonam Tsering, the General Secretary of Tibetan Youth


He added while urging the international community to make China accountable by boycotting the game.


“Olympic is a game of glory and a personality for the sportsman to share the sportsmanship, love and peace. But this time, it is hosted by Beijing that is responsible for the death of millions of Tibetans and Uyghurs and others minorities. We urge the international community to make China accountable by boycotting Beijing winter Olympics,” Sonam Tsering also said.


The No Beijing 2022 Global Day of Action is a day of international solidarity among Chinese human rights defenders, Tibetans, Uyghurs, Hong Kongers, Southern Mongolians, and Taiwanese, to show their global opposition to the 2022 games.


Activists and their supporters are calling on governments, Olympic Committees, Olympic Sponsors and all people of conscience to take a stand against one of the worst human rights crises of their time by boycotting the 2022 Beijing Winter Games.


Rinzin, Director of Students for Free Tibet (SFT) said: “We are calling out China for its atrocities and human right violations and crimes against humanity not only in Tibet but also in other occupied countries including Canada, US, UK. They have come up against China and openly called out saying that they will not send any of their representatives to the genocide games. So we request the Indian government to take a firm step and stand on the right side of the history and participate in this global solidarity action with other governments and call up for a diplomatic boycott of the upcoming genocide games in Beijing.”


Chinese government has won the right to host the 2008 Olympics with pledges to improve its human rights performance in line with Olympic ideals. However, the promises were never met, rather the human rights situation continued to deteriorate in Tibet.
Since becoming China’s President in 2013 Xi Jinping pursued an aggressive policy on Tibet and reports of human rights violations have repeatedly surfaced

China trying to change the demography of Tibet

Lhasa, Tibet:

According to a report in Tibetan media, the Chinese community Party is working on policies aimed at altering the demography of the Tibet Autonomous Region.

“There are reports that some as young as eight or nine years have been sent to the indoctrination facilities. The indoctrination is also aimed at overcoming resistance within the local population to the PLA’s efforts to recruit more Tibetans. In December this year, the Tibet Action Institute issued a report that Chinese authorities in Tibet had set up a wide network of boarding schools for Tibetan children to separate them from parents, and reduce their exposure to their own language and culture,”.

It is estimated that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has coerced over half a million Tibetans into forced labour programs strewn into secret locations all across China.

China’s rampant misinformation campaign and state-sponsored distortion of historical truth has already brought the Tibetan civilization to the brink of extinction.

“The sinicization of Tibetan history, arts and culture is well underway. The world community must raise questions about human rights violations in Tibet and come together for the Tibetan cause,” the report read.

It is viewed that Chinese authorities are attempting to recruit more Tibetans in order to offset the disadvantages of posting ethnic Han soldiers at high altitudes, especially under the Western Theatre Command.

They believe that the first responder troops at high altitudes need to be Tibetans, who can function effectively in areas with low oxygen, the report read.

Tibet is ruled by the Chinese Communist Party government based in Beijing, with local decision-making power concentrated in the hands of Chinese party officials.

Tibet was a sovereign state before China’s invasion in 1950 when the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) entered northern Tibet.

Respect for Tibetans in China still a far-fetched dream

Chinese Administration believes that Tibetan society was primitive, feudal and ruled by a handful of aristocrats. The aristocracy was increasingly becoming oppressive and the people of Tibet were being subjected to harsh punishments until the China liberated Tibet and Tibetans in the 1950s. Chinese government maintains that Tibet is an integral part of China and their administration never discriminates between Tibetans and Hans (the dominant ethnic group in China) politically, socially and economically. To further justify this stance, they have started focussing on major infrastructure development activities in Tibet area viz. laying/improvement of railway networks, dam sites, establishment of new PLA setups, residential facilities for troops and general public (who fulfils political, demographic and security criteria), flourishing of new villages, and excavation/exploration of minerals, including gold.

However, despite these efforts, incidents continue to be reported which refute the Chinese claims to reveal the prevalent discrimination being adopted between Han ethnic group and Tibetans. Tibetan youth are still unable to find employment in Chinese administration. They are reportedly engaged as low grade workers (electricians, drivers, mechanics, etc.) and often made to work in harsh terrain and adverse weather conditions viz. high altitude border areas. Their salaries are also low as compared to Han Chinese workers. Chinese officials continuously monitor their movements.

It is viewed that Chinese authorities are attempting to recruit more Tibetans in order to offset the disadvantages of posting ethnic Han soldiers at high altitudes, especially under the Western Theatre Command. They believe that the first responder troops at high altitudes need to be Tibetans, who can function effectively in areas with low oxygen.

The Senior Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leadership has undertaken multiple visits including the visit by President and CCP General Secretary Xi Jinping to Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR). The frequency of these trips signifies the emphasis laid by the Xi Jinping Government on Tibet, for further exploitation of natural/water resources, linkages with BRI and consolidation over disputed border areas. They may also be seen as part of Chinese Government’s strategic efforts to implement gradual sinicization of Tibet while overseeing progress of the various development projects implemented in the region to facilitate migration and upgrade military facilities.

In order to secure dominance over TAR, the CCP is working on policies aimed at altering the demography of the region. China’s National Strategic Project to Develop the West, introduced during the 1980s after the Cultural Revolution, encourages the migration of Chinese people from other regions of China into Tibet with bonuses and favourable living conditions. No doubt these policies have borne fruit for China. While Han Chinese constituted 8 percent of the population of TAR in the year 2010, the percentage rose to 12 in the Chinese census of 2020.

It is also reported that Chinese authorities have begun sending Tibetan children to special camps to be indoctrinated in a Sinicised worldview and given basic military training in order to prepare them to be inducted into militias. There are reports that some as young as eight or nine years have been sent to the indoctrination facilities. The indoctrination is also aimed at overcoming resistance within the local population to the PLA’s efforts to recruit more Tibetans. In December this year, the Tibet Action Institute issued a report that Chinese authorities in Tibet had set up a wide network of boarding schools for Tibetan children to separate them from parents, and reduce their exposure to their own language and culture.

It is estimated that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has coerced over half a million Tibetans into forced labour programs strewn into secret locations all across China. China’s rampant misinformation campaign and state sponsored distortion of historical truth has already brought the Tibetan civilization to the brink of extinction. The sinicization of Tibetan history, arts and culture is well underway. The world community must raise questions about human rights violations in Tibet and come together for the Tibetan cause.

Biden was annoyed on Pakistan because of its role in last US elections

ISLAMABAD: Former Interior Minister Abdul Rehman Malik said the US President Joe Biden was not showing his cold behaviour because of Afghanistan, but because of Pakistan and its Partian role in favour of former President Donald Trump.

Talking to The News, Malik revealed, “During the US presidential election, a Pakistani businessman used the Pakistani Embassy in Washington as Trump’s election office and when President Joe Biden found out about it, he got annoyed.”

He advised the prime minister and the foreign minister to write a letter to the US president and clarify the country’s position in addition to inquiring from the Pakistan’s ambassador to the US as to who had allowed him to use the Embassy for Trump’s election campaign.

He claimed that the ice had not melted yet between the US and Pakistan, otherwise President Biden would have talked to PM Khan. The former Interior Minister asserted that an allegation on Pakistan prompting the Afghan Taliban to take over Kabul before an agreed date was false and Indian propaganda.

He questioned as to how could one stop Taliban from entering Kabul once they were near their destination and Afghan forces welcomed them instead of resisting them, adding that President Ashraf Ghani fled away with many of his cabinet ministers, including his vice President Amrullah Saleh who had made tall claims of resistance and staying in Kabul till the last breath.

“The withdrawal of the American forces was in haste, giving a clear way to Afghan Taliban to enter Kabul and make an interim government of their own will,” Malik said, adding that there was no fault of Pakistan in the given scenario as the US never consulted Pakistan either before invading to Afghanistan or withdrawing its forces.

He said since day one, Pakistan had been playing a very sincere role for restoring peace in Afghanistan and it helped bring many Afghan Taliban factions to the negotiation table, adding, “It is Pakistan that has always come forward to rescue the US in crisis like situations despite the fact that the latter had a history of back stabbing the former.” He said that US had best chance to work with Pakistan to bring peace in Afghanistan instead of indulging in blame game as Pakistan could play a pivotal role, adding, “I hope President Joe Biden takes this advice and takes the initiative to stop Afghanistan from becoming a hub of international terrorists. The solution of Afghanistan crisis lies in the joint strategy and efforts between Pakistan and the USA.”

He said that just like post-Afghan war, US was targeting Pakistan unreasonably and alleging it of harbouring terrorism. He blamed the USA, in collusion to India, for being instrumental in placing Pakistan on FATF grey list for the reason that Pakistan and China were enjoying close ties and collaborating in CPEC project as “China is potentially the next super economic power.”

Abdul Rehman Malik also proposed formation of an International Reconciliation Commission with its key members from USA, Pakistan, UK, China, Saudi Arabia, and Afghanistan to give a reconciliation plan for resolving the ongoing row between the stakeholders.

To a question regarding PPP’s inclusion in PDM, Rehman Malik said that if the show cause notice was withdrawn, the PPP could return to the PDM. He added that Pakistan was facing many challenges and the people needed relief from inflation and unemployment.