Six, the environmental costs of the railway are enormous. Wu Ziwang of the Chinese Academy of Sciences states that by 2050, the railway could be threatened by rising temperatures in the Tibetan plateau.
Deforestation and exploitation of natural resources in Tibet have led to difficulties for Tibetans, Chinese and even Indians in the downstream Sutlej and Brahmaputra rivers. The 1998 devastation caused by the Yangtze river floods is traced to the degradation in Tibet, which is home to the five major rivers of China.
Finally, in strategic terms, the Tibetan railway will enhance militarisation of Tibet. In the 19th century, the Indian government considered Tibet as a buffer between the Czarist Russian empire and Qing China.
Then Indian prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru's agreement with then Chinese prime minister Zhou Enlai in the 1950s gave up any Indian claims in Tibet by agreeing that it was a part of China.
With the railway and other infrastructure development, the buffer appears to be moving towards the Indian subcontinent.
The railway will facilitate faster deployment of Chinese troops to the border areas. More than 30 regiments of the People's Liberation Army forces stationed at Golmud, in addition to other forces from Chengdu and Lanzhou military regions, are expected to benefit from supplies through railways. Movement of missiles located in Qinghai and Yunnan provinces to other parts would become easier now.
An interconnected issue is the safety of the railway itself. Keeping this in view, China has built small supply depots every 60 km along the railway line. These depots could be used for quick repair and replacement in the event of a natural calamity, or if any resisting Tibetans damage the tracks.
Image: A Chinese army unit jogs around the Potala Palace in Lhasa.
Earlier Slide Show: Your ticket to Mumbai's past
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