Opinion about Tibetan protests and China travel

Ecotravel News is deeply disturbed by China's violent reaction to the widespread Tibetan protests. Travelling ethically and environmentally is always something we at Ecotravel News try to write about and take into consideration.

We've read a lot of travel stories about whether it's a good idea to visit countries with repressive regimes like Cuba or Myanmar, but China never gets put in that list.

But perhaps now it should.

China has a horrible environmental record and its treatment of fellow citizens - as these past few weeks have shown - is almost as bad. Chinese cities are choked with such bad air pollution that permanent grey skies are the norm. The countryside is being exploited with major industrial factories so there are few pristine areas left. The Chinese ethnic majority, the Han, are the ones who control the government and insert their presence and influence around the world. The areas of traditional Tibetan lands in China were still relatively untouched by pollution and industry, but with the advent of the new train to Lhasa, exploitation by the Han is now enabled. Tibetans have been repressed by China since they were "liberated" and "taken over" and had their land swallowed up in 1959. And now that monks, the forbearers of peace and harmony are being brutally killed by the repressive regime, foreign travelers should question their visit.

A good resource on all the latest happenings about all things Tibet is Phayul.com. They have stories that you won't see in western media and have graphic pictures and video. Decide for yourself if it is ethical to enrich a communist government that is trying its hardest to cover-up everything bad that they think will harm their summer Olympic event.

Ecotravel News says don't go.