China and Tibet
in 1989 to 70.6 years in 2019 which indicates an improvement in Tibetan health. 15 Furthermore, the central government has transformed education. In 1985, the government launched a special preferential policy called the ‘ Three Guarantees ’ to cover all tuition as well as food and board for students from Tibet's farming and pastoral families during their nine-year compulsory education period. 16 From 2011 to 2015, 63.39 billion yuan poured into the region's education sector and now Tibet has 2,200 schools providing different levels of education to roughly 663,000 students. 17 Education increases the quality of life for students as it provides skills such as literacy, which is essential for human development. Economically, it increases the quality of human capital which further expands the productive potential of Tibet’s regional economy by upgrading the labour force. Some have argued that these improvements would have been experienced with independence due to external investment; however, it is evident that the central government’s spending would have far exceeded this. China alone spent some $600 million in Tibet in just 1996. One foreign observer who has studied the region puts this in perspective: ‘ For that same year the United States gave a total of eight hundred million dollars in aid to all of Africa. That's all of Africa — we're talking about hundreds of millions of people. In Tibet there are only two and a half million. So, if they become independent, who's going to be giving them that kind of money? ’ However, the economic prosperity might not be as advantageous as it seems because, due to the influx of Han Chinese migrants accompanied by the growth, a disparity in the economic gains between the Tibetans and Han has opened up and inter-ethnic tensions have been inflamed. Furthermore, economic development, especially the growth of the mining, hydropower and logging sectors, has had deleterious environmental effects. With such riches to be reaped, it was not long before ambitious Chinese looked to the Tibetan plateau as a place to make money. In conjunction with the initiation of government incentive policies to lure migrants to Tibet and significantly greater accessibility due to the transport infrastructure, waves of Han Chinese internally migrated to the region. By the mid-1990s, the Han Chinese outnumbered Tibetans on the plateau, and in Amdo there were an estimated 2.5 million Chinese to only 750,000 Tibetans, according to an analysis of Chinese statistics published by the Tibetan government in exile. 18 The tourism industry in Tibet is dominated by ethnic Hans who make up the majority in urban areas and can communicate more effectively with the travellers (only 0.7% are foreigners). 19 Furthermore, big money-spinners – hydropower and the extraction of minerals and timber – are controlled by state-owned firms that employ relatively few Tibetans. 20 These activities have negative environmental externalities such as pollution, flooding and resource depletion which can damage the quality of life for Tibetans and future Tibetan generations. An example of this is the Yamzhong Yumco hydropower station which has caused flooding along the Yangtze River. 21 Chinese companies and workers have advantages: Tibetan firms often lack the capital necessary for activities such as mineral extraction and are excluded from auctions for public land; Tibetan workers face discrimination in the job market. 22 Therefore, when analysing the statistic that average disposable
15 Sun 1993; Nyima 2020. 16 Shi 2019. 17 Shi 2019. 18 Demick 2020: 103. 19 Fast Track to the Throne 2021. 20 Taming the West 2014. 21 Dreyer 2010: 11. 22 Demick 2020: 103.
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