China building highway to Everest

[Mandrake]

Is this crazy or what...jeez let the pristine Himalayan region alone....these idiots are planning hotels and highways there.... ___________________________________________________________ New Delhi: China on Wednesday confirmed the construction of a 110-km-long metalled highway in Tibet to Mt Everest in an attempt to provide an additional bonanza to the world at the time of the Olympics. The move has sparked off howls of protests from environmentalists while in New Delhi there has been muted anxiety over security issues. The highway is being laid on the Tibet side. It will involve leveling an unpaved track and could take about four months. Chinese authorities on Wednesday said it will press ahead with the construction despite concerns from environmentalists. They also did not rule out building hotels in future in the fragile Himalayan region. Environmentalists say the move will wreak havoc in the Himalayan region as it will deluge the area with tourists, which would damage the delicate eco-system. They say the approach to Everest from Nepal has already seen significant environmental damage. The fragile Himalayan ecosystem is already bearing the brunt of global warming and this has caused immense damage to the glacial areas. But officials in Lhasa appear determined to go ahead. "People have been complaining about the poor road conditions to the base camp. It is not a safe road. It is hoped that the road can be improved so as to provide more convenience to tourists in the future," Qiangba Puncog, Chairman of the Tibet autonomous regional government, says. China says the construction of the highway will be completed before August 2008, in time for the Beijing Olympic Games. "We'll ensure completion of the road by all means by next August," Qiangba said. The project aims to turn a 110-km rough road linking Tingri County of Xigaze Prefecture at the foot of the mountain to the Base Camp into a blacktop highway fenced by undulating guardrails. On completion, the highway will become a major route for tourists and mountaineers who are crowding onto Mt Qomolangma (Chinese name for Mt Everest) in ever-larger numbers. "More tourists are flocking into the Qomolangma Base Camp in the recent two years," said Puncog. "Tourists from Europe and America in particular like to have a glimpse of the Mount Qomolangma." Some of the tourists, he said, had complained the road there was in poor condition and unsafe. Organisers of the Beijing Olympics Games have revealed ambitious plans for the longest torch relay in Olympic history — a 137,000-km, 130-day route that would cross five Continents and scale the world's summit, which straddles the border between China and Nepal. http://www.ibnlive.com/news/india/06_2007/china-confirms-building-road-to-everest-india-sees-red-43270.html

[Lurker]

Chinese are crazy alright. I can see no relevance of this move except to showcase their strength. And at the cost of huge ecological disasters to follow.

[beetle]

They really don't give a damn about the environment...and there is unfortunately no one who can check them and put the brakes...like the SC does in our case.

[CC1981]

Chinese are crazy alright. I can see no relevance of this move except to showcase their strength. And at the cost of huge ecological disasters to follow.

You too fell for that BS ? There is only ONE reason why a country that doesnt give a hoot about human rights is going to undertake a construction project that will outwardly benifit only a few hundred people per year (thats how many go to Everest from Tibet side). And that reason is : CONQUEST. Right now, chinese army is sitting in northern bhutan and building roads/bridges too...China's main goal..ultimately..is conquest/domination. Building road to everest is just an excuse for chinese military to get more strategic access close to Nepal.

[Lurker]

You too fell for that BS ? There is only ONE reason why a country that doesnt give a hoot about human rights is going to undertake a construction project that will outwardly benifit only a few hundred people per year (thats how many go to Everest from Tibet side). And that reason is : CONQUEST. Right now, chinese army is sitting in northern bhutan and building roads/bridges too...China's main goal..ultimately..is conquest/domination. Building road to everest is just an excuse for chinese military to get more strategic access close to Nepal.

That could very well be a side motive. However China does not need to spend so much of their resources to achieve any of this really. They already have a Pakistan handy enough to press on India when need be. Nepal today is more pro-China than it is pro-India and Bhutan ultimately might be practically insignificant. No I am not ruling out a military angle but I do not think that is the main angle here. China will spend most of its resources in the next decade or so trying to secure its oil interest in Middle East, thats where their focus is going to be. xxx

[CC1981]

I am not talking about war, lurks..this is china's strategy in the india/indo-china sphere...see China considers nepal,bhutan,burma,ladakh..basically any place with 'slant eye' population as their 'true greater china'..but it knows it'll never be able to get away with gobbling up another country..atleast not for a while...so china does this...they build roads near border area and then one fine year, an entire battalion shows up right inside your territorry...under the excuse that ' unseasonal snows/rough weather has closed the pases..we are forced to come to your area coz we are stuck'....This 'weather condition' apparently persists for years..by which time, Chinese army sets up shops, starts farming the land, putting houses down etc etc....build bridges connecting further into the 'foreign terrirorry'....After a while, they just 'refuse' to leave, saying it was their land anyways by some fcuked up logic(they will show you some treaty signed by some dalai llama 600 years ago as their justification), say you are showing aggression towards chinese military and threatens war. Since nobody wants to take on China and nobody that has borders with it can (Except russia), you swallow the bitter pill and lose territorry. Thats *EXACTLY* what its doing in Bhutan and even though the 'maps' may not show it, about 10% of Bhutan today is under 'defacto' chinese control. Yup...they are sneaky b@stards really!

[THX_1138]

awesome... lets frak the environment and while we are at it, contribute to global instability. man i am beginning to really dislike these chinese blokes... i better not run into one on the street or he is going to get a piece of my mind.

[THX_1138]

I am not talking about war, lurks..this is china's strategy in the india/indo-china sphere...see China considers nepal,bhutan,burma,ladakh..basically any place with 'slant eye' population as their 'true greater china'..but it knows it'll never be able to get away with gobbling up another country..atleast not for a while...so china does this...they build roads near border area and then one fine year, an entire battalion shows up right inside your territorry...under the excuse that ' unseasonal snows/rough weather has closed the pases..we are forced to come to your area coz we are stuck'....This 'weather condition' apparently persists for years..by which time, Chinese army sets up shops, starts farming the land, putting houses down etc etc....build bridges connecting further into the 'foreign terrirorry'....After a while, they just 'refuse' to leave, saying it was their land anyways by some fcuked up logic(they will show you some treaty signed by some dalai llama 600 years ago as their justification), say you are showing aggression towards chinese military and threatens war. Since nobody wants to take on China and nobody that has borders with it can (Except russia), you swallow the bitter pill and lose territorry. Thats *EXACTLY* what its doing in Bhutan and even though the 'maps' may not show it, about 10% of Bhutan today is under 'defacto' chinese control. Yup...they are sneaky b@stards really!

for one, CC and I agree... this is virtually a verbatim interpretation of the strategy adopted by the chinese hegemony. they are at odds with their own masses and with foreign nations, i just dont get them anymore. they dont want regional stability unless it means they retain annexed territories and still claim victimization by the so called "propagandist and decadent west". i wonder if an eventual confrontation is on the cards.

[gorah_pindu]

India should be more worried about that fact that the Ganges, Indus and Brahmaputra all start in Chinese occupied Tibet - China is already damming the Brahmaputra.

[CC1981]

actually GP, the Ganges starts in Indian territorry..though its close to the Chinese border. Indus- it doesnt concern us and i don't think Paks are too worried- China is their buddy. For Brahmaputra- i am not that worried if China dams it. Brahmaputra is a HUGE river...mindbogglingly huge...and it becomes huge after it enters Arunachal Pradesh when it meets up with a lot of other rivulets and streams. Even if China dams the Brahmaputra, it will still not have the ability to influence more than 50% of the river's flow inside of indian territorry. Besides, maybe it'd be a good thing- Brahmaputra is very prone to flooding...a lil bit less water comming down from Tibet would help both India and Bangladesh.

[The Outsider]

Besides, maybe it'd be a good thing- Brahmaputra is very prone to flooding...a lil bit less water comming down from Tibet would help both India and Bangladesh.

LOL!! And when they let go a deluge in the monsoons from their dams???

[THX_1138]

LOL!! And when they let go a deluge in the monsoons from their dams???

the one thing i dont like about ICF is when people toss numbers in the air without the least bit of citation, cross reference and research. Where on earth are you getting this number from CC? that china can control only upto 50% of the total water supply. for one, if a country decides to build a dam on a river draining into another country downstream, it is required to ask the later for permission, work out how much cubic feet of water it will permit in the river to flow downstream at all times and moreover, they discuss the ecological impact. you cant just build a damn willy nilly for if you do, you can be dragged to an international court of arbitration that can halt the construction if it so decides. think about it, whats stopping us from damming all the rivers that drain into pakistan and simply destroying the country's agriculture and water supply? similarly, notice we dont dam the Ganges within a certain distance of the bangladesh border. finally, i must agree with shwetab on his concern over what would happen in case the chinese need to open the sluice gates to shed excess water accumulated after a heavy downfall. consider this, the chinese did not tell their own people after a major benzene leak from an explosion at a chemical plant into the river songhua which provided drinking water to over 6 million souls. and these chinese frakers only broadcasted this news when it became evident that the toxins would reach russia and could cause a major crisis if they were accused of not provided forewarning. so think about it, these chinese frakers are so obsessed with "success" that not only are they willing to bend the rules, they are willing to completely ignore them and rewrite them as they see fit.

[CC1981]

Where on earth are you getting this number from CC? that china can control only upto 50% of the total water supply.

What i meant is, the Brahmaputra once it descends the himalayas, in arunachal, it hooks up with many other streams & rivulets that makes it such a huge river. When its inside China ( called Yarlung Tsangpo), its size is nowhere as impressive as after it enters India and joins up with other streams. So, even if Chin wanted to dam up the Brahmpautra in tibet and cut off most of its water, downstream in India, we will see no more than a 50% effect at best.