Airport slated for Tibetan region of western China

China has approved a new airport to be built in a Tibetan area of western China hit by recent anti-government riots, government media reported Wednesday.

The $100 million project will be located near Xiahe, capital of the Gannan region in the western province of Gansu, the official Xinhua News Agency said.

It was not known how long the airport has been planned, but the announcement comes a month after violent anti-government protests among Tibetans in Gannan, where they account for about half of the region's 680,000 people.

Xinhua said the airport had been approved by the government's Civil Aviation Administration of China, although there was no mention of it on the administration's Web site and officials could not immediately be reached for comment.

The airport, to be completed by 2010, would have a runway almost 10,000 feet long, Xinhua said.

That is long enough to accommodate most wide body commercial jets at higher altitudes such as around Xiahe, which lies at an altitude of about 6,500 to 10,000 feet.

The surrounding areas already have two major airports in the cities of Xining and Lanzhou, although China has in recent years moved aggressively to develop western regions heavily populated by restive ethnic minorities including the Buddhist Tibetans and Muslim Uighurs.

China in 2006 opened a rail line to Lhasa that has provided a massive spur to tourism in the region. Critics say it has also promoted migration there by China's ethnic Han majority as well as facilitating the transport of troops and military equipment.