Estimated to cost 700 million yuan (100 million dollars) and ready in 2010, the airport will be in the Gannan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, part of the northwestern province of Gansu, Xinhua news agency said.

Gannan was the scene of recent unrest following anti-China riots in Tibet, which came after days of peaceful protests in the capital Lhasa against 57 years of Chinese rule, and spilled over into other parts of China inhabited by Tibetans.

The Gannan prefecture has a population of 680,000, more than half of who are Tibetans, according to the news agency.

Although the exact location in Gannan has not been finalised, the proposed site is around 50 kilometres (30 miles) from the nearest city, Hezuo, also the scene of recent unrest.

Exiled Tibetan leaders say more than 150 people have died in the Chinese crackdown on the demonstrations. China says it has acted with restraint and killed no one, while blaming Tibetan "rioters" for the deaths of 20 people.

The Chinese government has made a point of developing its Western regions, where many restive ethnic minorities like the Tibetans and Uighurs live.

In 2006, the first ever railway link between Tibet and the rest of China was launched -- a transport link that Beijing argued would help develop the economically backward Tibetan economy.

But critics say new infrastructure such as the railway is allowing the nation's ethnic Han majority to flood the Himalayan region, exploiting its resources and consolidating central political control.

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