Dharamshala — Chinese authorities detained the young Tibetan, who recently posted videos, to expose the illegal extraction of sand by Chinese company in his region, in Gakog county, Ngawa, Tibet. Instead of solving the problems of local Tibetans and the damage being done to the environment, the Chinese authorities detained the Tibetan and interrogated him about his recent videos. Tibetans are very concerned about his well-being.
The young Tibetan man, named Tsowoe Tsering (Tsering) openly reported Anhui Xianhe Construction Engineering Co, Ltd, on October 15, 2024, for illegal sand mining during the construction of road on the banks of a river in Tsa-Ri-Ma Township (ཚ་རི་མ་ཡུལ་ཚོ), Gakog County (རྐང་ཁོག་རྫོང་།) in Ngawa, Tibet. Tsering's report and criticism came after the local Tibetans have reported these cases to local, regional and higher Chinese authorities for last two years, but no action taken by the Chinese authorities to resolve their problem.
Tsering posted videos on his social media account (Wehcat) on October 15, 2024, showing his name and identity card. He openly reported on the Chinese company Anhui Xianhe Construction Engineering Co, Ltd (安徽先河建筑工程有限公司) and criticised the Chinese local and central government for taking no action against illegal sand mining and environmental destruction in Tsa-Ri-Ma Township.
Tsering's video has gained great attention among Tibetans in Tibet and in exile. Hundreds of netizens showed their support and wrote comments, as well as urged the Chinese media to cover the issue. The next day, on the October 16, 2024, when Shanghai Dongfang News contacted the local government to enquire about the issue, the county government replied that it would make a decision that would satisfy the public.
However, Tsering's videos were completely removed from his social media account by the Chinese authorities on October 17, 2024, and he was silenced on social media since then. On October 22, 2024, it was revealed that the local Chinese authorities had taken him in for questioning. Tibetans are very concerned for his welfare and fear that he will be beaten and tortured during the interrogation, as the Chinese police are used to do with Tibetans.
Tsering said in the video, “My name is Tsowoe Tsering and I live in the town of Tsa-Ri_Ma, in Gakog County. I want to report the Anhui River Construction Engineering Co. for illegal sand mining and damage to the ecological environment while construction of roads in the area.”
He said while showing the serious damage of river sites by the Chinese company in the video, “Since May 2023, the company's illegal sand mining activities have seriously damaged the local environment, and large quantities of river. River sand has been extracted indiscriminately, leading to serious water loss in the neighborhood and crisis of the foundations of residential strata”.
“The river water of Tsa-Ri-Ma Township, which is mined, belongs to the watercourse of the Yangtze River and the Yellow River, and this kind of destructive behavior seriously threatens the safety of the water sources of the Yangtze River and the Yellow River. The pollution of the Yangtze and Yellow River tributaries is closely related to the local ecological environment and biodiversity protection, and directly affects the Asian water tower and plateau wetlands,” Tsering added.
Tsering said, “Therefore, It is essential to strengthen ecological protection and governance, given the scale of the ecological damage and the serious consequences for local residents. Some villagers voluntarily reported the situation to the local authorities in Tsa-Ri_Ma, Gokog County People's Government, Ngawa Prefecture, and provided a large number of photos and videos of the destruction and damage to river sites and the environment. However, no action has been taken by the relevant authorities, and the environmental problems have not been dealt with in depth. These authorities are on the company's side, hiding the crimes committed by the company's managers.”
“The soil erosion becomes more and more serious and the situation becomes more and more serious, the results of the destruction of the ecological environment by Chinese company, Tibetans have to bear the consequences,” Tsering said.
“There is no door for the complainant and no one to manage it. Although a good policy on ecological and environmental protection was introduced many years ago, but lack of implementation of the policy on our land. The danger to the people continues and there is a lack of knowledge and inaction in the process of dealing with the environmental problems, and there is a lack of thorough management of the environmental problems,” he added.
The young Tibetan said with worrying, “Ecosystem collapse will be an irreversible disaster. We have lived on this land for generations, and the quality of the ecological environment directly affects the health and life safety of future generations.”
“If we do not punish those who destroy the ecological environment in accordance with the law, similar problems will arise again. I urge the central leadership to pay attention to this issue and to ecological environmental protection, to find out the truth from the facts, to conduct on-site investigations of local ecological damage, and to thoroughly investigate the legal responsibilities of offending enterprises in accordance with the law,” Tsering concluded his appeal with a heavy heart.
China's destruction of Tibet's environment is nothing new; since China illegally occupied Tibet in the 1950s, the Chinese government has been severely destroying and degrading Tibet's environment through mining and in the name of building roads, railways and dams. Chinese authorities arrest Tibetan environmentalists and sentence them to years in prison for protesting against the destruction of Tibet's environment. Tibetans inside and outside Tibet are worried about this young man's situation after he has been detained.
