Dharamsala, October 29. According a corrispondance of the Deutsche Presse-Agentur, "Tibet means a lot for the Chinese. The huge plateau north of the Himalayan range is not only rich in minerals, bamboo, hydropower sources and potential resting place for nuclear wastes. It is also extremely thinly populated. Beijing hinted repeatedly that Tibet can offer "living space" to the 1.2 billion Chinese in the country with a very high population density. Already there are more Chinese than Tibetans in Tibet, according to conservative estimates which put the figure at seven million Chinese and six million locals. Above all, Tibet borders India, the only country which will soon catch up with China on population. The two Asian giants have a border dispute going since 1962 when they fought a mountain war in the extreme west of Tibet. A draconian regime not interested in any compromises has underlined so far the importance of Tibet to China on strategy, economy and population policy. To put an end to all criticism on cent

ralisation under Chinese rule, the Beijing Communists quite early divided Tibet administratively. The 'Tibet Autonomous Region' with Lhasa as the capital is neither autonomous nor is it the old Tibet before Chinese occupation but is only half of that. The rest of the old Tibet, mainly the province of Amdo has been incorporated in the Chinese province of Qinghai. Other Tibetan areas have been merged with the neighbouring provinces of Guangzhou, Sinkiang, Szechuan and Yunnan. The chinesisation and destruction of the old Tibetan way of life have gone much farther than in the Lhasa region. The regime even now reacts to political resistance with an iron hand. There are reportedly 250 political prisoners in the Drapchi prison of Lhasa alone. The detainees are between 13 and 83 and are undergoing an average prison term of about seven years for 'separatist activities'. China sees even tourists as a threat even though it woos them internationally. A travel agency was closed in May when it became known that its custom

ers included western diplomats. Travel agencies are obliged to investigate thoroughly whether 'spies' or worse journalists have sneaked into Tibet in tourist groups. Only Tibetans like journalists in the 'roof of the world'. One can feel the widespread atmosphere of fear among Tibetans everywhere in the territory. People look around carefully before speaking to strangers. They complain about the very high cost of living, rents and taxes. Despite a better choice of goods in the market, increasingly few Tibetans can afford the prices and the boom of imports has benefited almost exclusively the Chinese colonizers. The frustration and bitterness of the Tibetans grows every month. This has led among other things to an increasing number of people becoming refugees to cross into India and Nepal and the skyrocketing of the rates for those who help them to cross over, known as dholas. The dholas demand about 1,800 yuans (about 230 dollars) for taking a child across the border. This is more than the annual income of a

Tibetan farmer In 1992, 3,374 refugees arrived in India. The figure was 4,477 the next year and in 1994 1,000 refugees reached India in the first two months alone. Warlike marches of Chinese army in Tibetan areas is one of the most effective method of keeping the locals in control. (EuroTibet News N·4)