The 1011-kilometer-long Sichuan-Tibet Railway began construction on November 8, Chinese Vice Premier Liu He video presided over the groundbreaking meeting, conveying Xi Jinping’s instructions, specifying that the construction of this fast strategic corridor is intended to “consolidate the frontier,” but the analysis of more than Beijing has the purpose of pointing the sword at India.
According to reports, the Sichuan-Tibet Railway (Ya’an to Linzhi section) mobilization meeting was held on November 8 by video link, Liu He conveyed Xi Jinping’s instructions, announced the Sichuan-Tibet Railway construction. Xi Jinping called the construction of the Sichuan-Tibet Railway a major measure to implement the Tibetan strategy.
The Sichuan-Tibet Railway is included in the recently released “CPC Central Committee’s Proposals for the 14th Five-Year Plan and Vision 2035”. The railway, which connects Ya’an with Linzhi, is a national-level double-lane railway with a total length of 1011 kilometers, a design speed of 120 to 200 kilometers per hour and is expected to be completed in 2026. Previously, the Chengdu-Ya’an section was opened for traffic in December 2018, while the Lhasa-Linzhi section began construction in February 2015.
Xi Jinping said the railway “is of great significance for safeguarding national unity, promoting national unity and consolidating border stability …… is of great significance.” Pro-Beijing Hong Kong 01 reported that the Sichuan-Tibet Railway is part of the Chinese Communist Party’s “tender” policy towards Tibet. Beijing authorities launched the first phase of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway, the Qinghai-Germu construction project, in September 1958.
It seems ironic that the term “Huairou” is used here, since in 1958 the Chinese authorities had already begun to implement the People’s Commune, the “Great Leap Forward”, and the destruction of monasteries in the name of class struggle, forcing monks to return to monastic life. These practices increased the dissatisfaction of the officials of the Karmapa government in Tibet with the Chinese government, and relations with the Tibetans became increasingly strained. On March 10, 1959, a large-scale armed conflict in Lhasa and the suppression of the Tibetan riots by the PLA led to the exile of the Dalai Lama in India. Tibetans in exile celebrated “Tibetan Uprising Day”.
Hong Kong 01 reported that due to technical, political and religious problems, construction of the second section – from Golmud to Lhasa – did not begin until 2001, and that the first line of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway into Tibet was opened in 2006. The network cited analysis that the Sichuan-Tibet railway would not only further strengthen links with Tibet, but also link the Sino-Indian border with the Sichuan basin, which is home to many military-industrial enterprises, greatly enhancing Beijing’s ability to rapidly deploy military forces in Tibet.
Relations between China and India are currently very tense, with a bloody clash along the border in June this year, in which 40 people died on the Indian side and the Chinese side kept it secret. Currently, both sides are building up their forces. Not long ago, India opened a strategic tunnel through the China-India border region.
The railway runs along the “seven rivers and eight mountains”, through the world’s highest plateau tundra region, the local exotic and unique highland ecological impact, but also raised questions about environmentalists.
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