Map showing the location of Riwoche county in Tibet Autonomous Region
Tibetans in Riwoche county in Tibet Autonomous Region’s Chamdo Prefecture have become the latest victims of land grab inside Tibet at the hands of local Chinese officials. They are either forced to sell their land, which they have owned for generations, at a minimal cost or threatened with being put behind bars, reports Radio Free Asia (RFA).
RFA’s source said that the Tibetan residents were given the excuses that the land belonged to the local government, or the ruling Chinese government, and they were offered compensation of 25 Yuan ($4, £3) per square meter of land. Those who refused to sell on these terms were threatened with imprisonment.
“The same piece of land could easily bring from 1,500 to 2,000 Yuan (around $US250, £200) in the current market,” RFA’s source added.
Local Chinese officials are selling the lands grabbed from the Tibetans on to Chinese developers at a profit. The developers build new apartments to sell back to the Tibetans, again for profit. “These officials are secretly colluding with the builders to make profits at the common people’s expense,” said the source, who spoke to RFA on condition of anonymity.
Local government officials reportedly called a meeting with Tibetans at the end of May to tell them of their intention of taking their land for more development. However, according to the sources, the meeting was held at the time when most of the resident Tibetans were away on hills collecting caterpillar fungus – a valuable medicinal fungus and which has become a primary source of their livelihood over the recent years.
The Tibetan residents were warned that if they went to the central government in Beijing to appeal they would be jailed on their return.
Chinese development projects in Tibetan regions have become one of the reasons for the unrest between local resident Tibetans and Chinese officials in recent years.
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