Tibetans and their supporters have become concerned about mainland China's decision to increase the urban Tibetan's population by 30 percent come year 2020.

According to Free Tibetans a London-based group which supports urban Tibetans, the planned increase in population does not signify the people's prosperity and the massive influx of migrant workers from China. They added that migrant workers from the mainland are offered incentives in order to move to Tibet.

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"China believes that by populating its occupied territories with Chinese people, it will make protests and Tibetans resistance weaker and homogenize Tibet," the organization said.

The International Campaign for Tibet, a Washington-based organization, released a statement saying before China starts with its urbanization and developmental plans, it should first consider the culture, environment and identity of the Tibetans.

The project was reportedly proposed by the local government of Tibet during an urbanization conference as they seek the approval of Beijing. China then announced shortly thereafter that they would increase the population by around 280,000 within the next five years.

Lobsang Jamcan, the chairman of the regional Tibetan government, said the urbanization plans aim to improve the public services in the smaller towns and cities of Tibet in order to boost the economy of the Chinese province.

This is not the first project offered by China in Tibet as they also started the railway projects back in 2007 which reportedly cost around US$4.2 billion. The railways linked Tibet to China and it is intended to assist the province with their tourism and to make population migration easier.

Mining and exploitation of the natural resources of Tibet were also some of the aims of China. New construction of railways will also connect Tibet to the borders of Bhutan, India and Nepal.

TagsTibet, Urbanization, Tibetan population, migrant workers