Alessandra Spalletta, journalist and editor from AGI attends the 2014·Forum on the Development of Tibet, China in the Lhasa City of Tibet Autonomous Region on Aug 13, 2014. [Photo/China Tibet Online]

China's white paper is a "remarkable source of understanding of the 'Roof of the World'", said by Alessandra Spalletta, a journalist and editor from Agenziaitalia (AGI), who presented a thesis titled "Real Achievements in Environmental Protection and Construction in Tibet”to the 2014·Forum on the Development of Tibet, China to discuss the problem of Tibet's environmental protection and construction, as well as its profound meaning for China.

Early in the August of 2014, Alessandra attended the 2014·Forum on the Development of Tibet, China in Lhasa of Tibet Autonomous Region. Has been living in China for several years, Alessandra is familiar with various news reports about Tibet, including the official ones and unofficial ones, which were all taken for supporting the essay's idea.

For Alessandra, the white paper issued by the State Council Information Office on March 10, 2003 entitled "Ecological Improvement and Environmental Protection in Tibet", "is useful to understand the hot debates over Tibet's environment and development in order to better provide Chinese and international experts with strong evidences to address such a sensitive topic" and it is a "remarkable source of understanding of the 'Roof of the World'".

Western people prefer own imagination of Tibet
As a westerner, Alessandra doesn’t agree with most westerners' view of Tibet. In her essay, she took the "Lost Horizon" and Lobsang Rampa's "The Third Eye" for example, and agreed with Chen Zhigang, member of the Research Institute on Marxism of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, that "western people prefer own imagination of Tibet, don't like the real Tibet".

"Shangri-la" here means mystery, wild and backward. Such an image of Tibet is even worse in the Western literature, leaving the western readers a very inflexible impression of Tibet. However, Alessandra thought that "once they arrive in Tibet they discover it is a sunny and quite developed region compared to the past".

Because the foreign media always resort to erratic dissertations and figures about Tibet, Alessandra considered the information released by Chinese authorities was correct. Some foreign media's attack on the Chinese government's policy in Tibet is often biased and they prefer to politicalize the simple environmental problem in Tibet.

Alessandra wrote in her essay: "For some environmental problems faced by Tibet are similar to problems in other parts of China, and more universal than political." No matter developed countries or developing countries, they will always face the environmental problems while developing the economy and China is no exception. Therefore, China puts in a lot of efforts and publishes relevant laws and regulations to protect and improve the environment. Thus the environmental problems which are easily solved in the other provinces of China shouldn't be turned to political issues in Tibet Autonomous Region by some western media.

The Chinese government should spread correct information

As for the main points in the essay, Alessandra said:"With regard to Tibet, I think the Chinese government must identify the main sensitive issues that are easily manipulated by other countries as well as by a diverse public opinion for political reasons. Correct information controlled and spread by the Chinese Central Government would stop the dissemination of uncorrect sources of information, such as those quoted in this essay."

When it comes to the environmental problem, the Chinese government should learn to cope with the change, and refute foreign media's inaccurate reports by using the official detailed and reliable data. In fact, as Alessandra can see in Tibet: "The Chinese authorities are succeeding to address the needs of Tibetans by advocating for things that are good for people, since Tibetans share many of the same needs: clean air, clean water, and basic rights."

Alessandra spoke highly of the white paper issued by the State Council Information Office, and she thought it is one of the important information sources of Tibet. "On the one hand it is crucial for the Chinese government to spread the correct information and knowledge about the opportunities and challenges for the development of Tibet, on the other hand it is useful for China to understand the hot debates over Tibet's environment and development in order to better provide Chinese and international experts with strong evidence to address such as sensitive topic," said Alessandra in her essay. In the era of information explosion, all kinds of true and false news are filled with people's ear. And foreigners, who are not familiar with Tibet, are likely to be misled by false information, thus misunderstand the policies of Chinese government in Tibet. The most advantageous way to fight against the false information is that the Chinese government issues official data and public correct knowledge. Only from "passive defense" to "initiative action", people could understand Tibet with exact facts.

In the essay, Alessandra related that "Some media assert that Tibet's economic development has been achieved at the expense of the environment. They claim that the past few years have witnessed environmental degradation in Tibet due to unlimited exploitation and unscientific mode of development." However, during the one-week investigation in Lhasa and Nyingchi Prefecture, she insisted on her perspective that "Tibet's environment has been well preserved over the past few decades". "If you have followed us… you are liable to find out achievements made by Tibet in terms of environment protection. The population of wildlife has increased. The air and atmosphere quality has maintained a high quality and can be compared with that of the South Pole. The clean energy such as solar energy and methane power have been popularized, providing conveniences to people's lives," wrote in her essay.

A solar water heater is installed in the Baima Family Inn which is located in the Baima Family Inn located in the Trashigang Village of the Lulang Township, Nyingchi Prefecture. In the local houses, such kind of solar water heater can be seen everywhere. [Photo/China Tibet Online]

The cognitive bias of westerners to Tibet should be solved properly

Alessandra thought due to many historical and cultural reasons, there is a gap of information and knowledge between western media and Chinese official's. This gap must be properly addressed to improve the understanding of real Tibet.

In March, 2013, Wu Yingjie, vice executive chairman of the Tibet Autonomous Region and the NPC deputy said, "Tibet is willing to sacrifice the speed of economic development to protect ecological environment" at the two sessions of the 12th National People's Congress and the 12th Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference.

This idea was interpreted deeply by Alessandra in her paper. "Wu's resolution reflects two points: First, Tibet's economy maintains a good momentum; Second, environmental protection as a global issue, exists in China's Tibet as well." Because Tibet owns the proud speed of economic development, Wu Yingjie is confident to protect the ecological environment by sacrificing the development speed. In the meantime, Tibet has the same environmental problem just like the other parts of the world. The problem is not special and also shouldn't be distorted deliberately because it is in Tibet. Tibet now not only pays attention to the economic development, but also starts to implement the ecological security barrier protection and construction plan.

Alessandra listed the probative data in her essay "it is predicted that the total investment from 2008 to 2030 in environment protection will reach 15.5 billion yuan (about $2.5 billion)".

Tibet is situated on the plateau and has a very fragile ecological environment. Before the establishment of People's Republic of China, there was almost no environmental protection and ecological security. It is after the founding of new China that Tibet gets strong support in terms of environment protection.

Alessandra made a time table for her readers, firstly the "work team of state administrative council for Tibet" organized by the central government in 1951, secondly "investigation team on Tibet of the Chinese Academy of Sciences" established in 1958, thirdly Tibet has built many natural reserves over 70 different places since 1970s, and finally, the government invested over 20 billion yuan (about $3.3 billion) on the implementation of the environmental protection in the past few years. The series of measures are proved by Alessandra that "Vigorous efforts are being made to promote local ecological progress and build a beautiful Tibet".

At the end of her essay, Alessandra sketched out her outstanding of Tibet's development during the new period, just as her hoped, "The world must understand that the establishment of the autonomous region, the peaceful liberation and democratic reform under The New China's policy allowed Tibet to achieve economic development and progress, as it triggered a new historical stage of development," Tibet's efforts for environmental protection and construction will be known by the world more and more.

Alessandra Spalletta, journalist and editor with AGI's web portal