Miss Tibet 2007 vows to take forward 'Free Tibet' campaign

] China’s high-speed, high-altitude railway to Tibet has carried troops to the regional capital, Lhasa, for the first time, state media has reported. The Xinhua news agency cited unnamed sources in the People’s Liberation Army as saying the railway would become “a main option” for transporting soldiers. Analysts say the move is likely to fuel concerns that China is using the rail link to tighten its hold on Tibet. Chinese tourism and trade to Tibet has surged since its opening 17 months ago. Journey times cut The $4.2bn (£2.1bn) Qinghai-Tibet line boasts high-tech engineering to stabilise tracks over permafrost and sealed cabins to protect passengers from the high altitude. China says the 1,140km (710-mile) line has cut travel time to Lhasa from Beijing and other cities to just two days. Previously, Lhasa could be reached only by plane or after a long, arduous road journey. Trains now carry about 75% of all goods between Tibet and other parts of China, according to Xinhua. Tourism also soared by 64% during the first 10 months of the year, to 3.72 million tourists, compared with 2006, a separate report said. Critics say the railway line threatens not only the delicate Himalayan environment, but also the ancient Tibetan culture. [url:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/7122433.stm[/url]

] The 22-year-old Tibetan, who lives in India, withdrew from a beauty pageant in Malaysia this week after organizers bowed to Chinese pressure and gave her a choice of acknowledging China’s sovereignty over her homeland, or leaving. Tsering Chungtak chose to leave. Chungtak holds the title of “Miss Tibet," having won the 2006 title in an annual competition held in the northern Indian town of Dharmsala, home of the Tibetan government-in-exile and the Himalayan territory’s spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama. She entered a beauty competition in Malaysia in which contestants from more than 30 countries — including China — are vying for the “World Miss Tourism 2007” title, to be awarded on Friday. Chungtak’s participation came to Beijing’s attention, and late last week the trouble began. Lobsang Wangyal, the director of the Miss Tibet pageant, said from Dharmsala Thursday that an official from the Chinese consulate in the Malaysian city of Kuching called the organizer of the Miss Tourism competition “expressing their disapproval of a Miss Tibet." The Chinese official had also called the Malaysian state’s tourism minister, who serves as advisor to the organizing committee. The following morning, Alaric Soh, director of the Miss Tourism contest, “came to Tsering and explained the situation and [she:
was given the options either to wear a sash labeled Miss Tibet-China or pull out of the pageant," Wangyal said. “Tsering opted to pull out." “The Miss Tibet pageant is an event organized to empower young Tibetan women, and to celebrate the evolving contemporary Tibetan culture," the organizers of the Tibetan competition said in a statement. “The pageant is not aimed at promoting any political agenda." A diplomat at the Chinese consulate in Kuching Thursday referred queries to the Malaysian tourism authorities, saying “they know the reason” for the consulate’s intervention. “I have no right to answer your questions regarding the so-called Miss Tibet," he said. [url=http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewCulture.asp?Page=/Culture/archive/200712/CUL20071206b.html]MORE[/url]