China to build world's highest airport

China has planned to construct the world’s highest airport in Tibet by next year, according to a state media.


The official Xinhua News Agency reported that the Nagqu Dagring Airport will be built at an alititude of 4,436m and would be 102m higher than Bamda Airport, which is also in Tibet.

The plan is a part of Beijing’s agenda to boost the long-isolated Himalayan region’s economic growth and living standard.

In 2006, the Chinese government opened a railway link from Beijing to the capital Lhasa, and currently has undertaken construction work of six new rail lines in and around Tibet.

Culture concerns
Critics are worried that the developments at this rate would destroy the delicate ecosystem of the region

They have also expressed concern over increased migration of the majority ethnic Han Chinese to Tibet, which could harm its Buddhist culture and traditional way of life.

China claims that the Communist Party has ruled Tibet since Communist troops arrived in 1951, but Tibetans differ in their opinion.

They say the region was an independent theocracy for most of that time, and it denies having been part of Chinese territory since the mid-13th century.