Saving Tibet

Preventing Cultural Genocide

“The very survival of Tibetans as a distinct people is under constant threat.”

- The Dalai Lama

Since 1949, when Chinese troops took over the country, Tibet has endured a brutal occupation. It is estimated that the Chinese regime has killed over one million Tibetans and destroyed much of Tibet’s religious heritage. Today, Tibetans lack basic rights including freedom of speech, assembly and religion. The wholesale resettlement of Chinese citizens into Tibet has been described as cultural genocide.

In recent years, the nature of the threat to Tibet has changed. The Chinese government has sought economic development in Tibet – and in East Turkestan (Xinjiang) to the north – to bolster its control of these regions. Road and rail construction has tightened China’s military grip and facilitated an influx of Chinese settlers. The extraction and transportation to China of Tibet’s raw materials has created few benefits for Tibetans while harming Tibet’s fragile ecosystem.

To help ensure that economic development actually benefits Tibetans, the Tibetan Government-in-Exile, headed by the Dalai Lama, has issued “Guidelines for International Development Projects and Sustainable Investment in Tibet.”
BP’s PetroChina Problem

The Tibetan Government-in-Exile has come out in opposition to projects that it regards as harmful to Tibet. It has called for an immediate halt to the construction of the Sebei-Lanzhou (Amdo) pipeline. This pipeline is a project of PetroChina, a Chinese oil company in which the British oil company BP is the largest foreign investor.

BP’s investment in PetroChina has called into question BP’s commitment to the environment and respect for human rights. PetroChina has been targeted for its poor environmental record by Friends of the Earth. Its parent company, the China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), is widely reported to be linked to human rights abuses in the Sudan. Free Tibet supporters have focused on PetroChina’s role in spearheading the Chinese government’s plans to tighten its economic and military grip on Tibet.


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