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Lots of people are chasing torchbearers these days in protest of China’s oppressive policies toward Tibet. But few are asking why China really wants Tibet in the first place.

A glance through history and you’ll see the hegemonic reasoning for China’s confiscation of Tibetan land. But today’s rationale for Tibetan control is likely due to China’s need and huge appetite for natural resources to keep its fast growth growing.

The Himalayan Mountains provide freshwater to more than half the world’s population, and that includes the Chinese. Gushing water there also gives a boost to China’s need for energy: about 30% of China’s hydroelectric power comes from Tibet. Moreover, a new hydroelectric plant being considered along the Yarlung Zangbo River would become the world’s largest hydroelectric power station, if engineering reports are to be believed. Beyond water, Tibet is already China’s biggest provider of geothermal energy, and holds a heaping of peat, which can be used as alternative energy source.

And that’s not all. A new mineral reserve found under the Tibetan Plateau is worth billions, as much as $128 billion, according to some estimates. Tibet is rich in mineral deposits, currently holding China’s fourth richest reserves of muscovite, a mineral important to its huge electronics industry, as well as its defense industry. Muscovite is used as fireproofing.

Then there is wasteland. China uses Tibet as a massive dumping ground for its waste.

In short, the campaign to control Tibet and its people is less about lamentable political philosophy and more about land grab.

Given this reality, it might be more productive for the Tibetan people, and their apparently active followers around the globe, to begin politicking around resource access and allowances (carving out land titles) than to try and stomp out Olympic torches.

The Dalai Lama, the religious leader of most of the Tibetan people, has already let it be known that he would attend the Olympics in Beijing, if invited. And he has implored protestors to stop hassling those carrying the Olympic torch.

Maybe it’s time to focus on the core of the conflict between Tibet and China. Although that may become uncomfortable for many: Those natural resources are largely used to produce products for the West. Europe is China’s biggest trading partners followed by the US.

Activists might do better by the planet by changing their clothes than by forcing changing upon the Olympic relay routes.

April 10th, 2008 by Thomas Kostigen in natural resources, politics | 2 comments | RSS feed | Trackback >