Beijing is doubling its bet that rapid economic development will win the political loyalty of its Tibetan population.
In a meeting of China’s top leaders last month to discuss Tibet, the government pledged that “leapfrog” economic progress over the next decade would bring stability to the region and blamed the unrest in 2008 on the Dalai Lama and his “clique”.
Heavy investment from Beijing that focused on infrastructure – such as the first railway line to Lhasa – has mostly benefited companies from elsewhere in China and Han migrants in Tibet and do not create self-sustaining growth.
The January Tibet Work Conference was attended by President Hu Jintao,
The policies for Tibet would also be applied to other Tibetan areas – about half the Tibetan population lives in four provinces bordering the Tibetan Autonomous Region (TAR).
For some in the Tibetan exile community, this indicated that Beijing would push the hardline political strategy it has adopted in the TAR on all Tibetans.
Lodi Gyari, the Dalai Lama’s chief envoy, said: “many of the issues that have been prioritised by the forum are similar to the basic needs of the Tibetan people outlined in our memorandum.”