The Diplomat advises us at that although a video displaying the damage caused by sand mining in a part of Tibet has been expunged from Chinese platforms, it has been “translated and transcribed on the website of Free Tibet.”
According to Free Tibet’s transcript of the October 15, 2024 video recorded by a young man named Tsowo Tsering (also called “Tsongon Tsering” in reports), Tsowo says that in Tsaruma Township, the “Anhui Xianhe Construction Engineering Company” is guilty of “egregious illegal mining of sandstone from riverbeds during road construction.”
Since May 2023, “Large amounts of sand have been recklessly mined, leading to serious soil erosion in the surrounding areas,” endangering the foundations of the homes of residents and threatening “the water security of both the Yangtze and Yellow rivers.”
Tsowo and other residents have submitted complaints to various local authorities, providing “numerous photos and videos of the damaged sites.” But officials have turned a blind eye to the destruction despite the “good ecological and environmental protection policies” that are on the books. The few nominal fines issued have proved meaningless as deterrents.
In April 2024, the Ecological Protection Bureau of Chungchu County, Ngawa Prefecture, Sichuan, provided me with a petition response, confirming that Anhui Xianhe Construction Engineering Company had indeed illegally excavated sandstone in Tsaruma, and had been penalised and the case closed. However, they harbor and protect the relevant enterprises, using fines as a substitute for management, and downplay the issue….
The threat of soil erosion in the surrounding area continues to exist and is becoming increasingly severe.
The transcript ends with a ringing call for investigation—of what has been done and of the officials allowing it to be done—and for various reforms.
The censorship of Tsowo’s message on Chinese social media suggests that not only will officials continue to ignore these concerns but also that Tsowo may be putting himself at risk. Chinese Communist Party officials need little excuse to detain and even torture Tibetans.
“Sources from the region have also said they fear that Tsering will face punishment for his public criticism of Chinese authorities,” the Tibetan Review reported. And, in fact, Phayul has now passed along an anonymous report that Tsowo “has been arrested and detained. He is currently being held in Kyungchu County, though family members and villagers are hoping for his prompt release.”
Also see:
National Review: “China’s Self-Inflicted Environmental Crisis”
This lengthy article begins with the author’s vaporous warnings about “the effects of climate change over time.” But much of it is about the destructive consequences of Chinese central planning like “excessive industrialization” and “government-mandated overproduction.” Sinkholes, soil erosion, and desertification of land are among these consequences, which have affected “hundreds of millions of people.”
