Many Tibetans are excluded from serving in senior Chinese government positions, a new report by a Tibetan advocacy and rights group says.
In Tibet, Tibetan representation in leadership positions are limited to “token positions” at the national, provincial and sub-provincial levels, with the majority of positions held by Han Chinese, according to the report by Washington-based rights group International Campaign for Tibet, or ICT.
And the current 205-member Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, the party's top policymaking body, has only one Tibetan member – Yan Jinhai, chairman of the Tibet Autonomous Region, or TAR – according to the report titled "Underrepresented: Tibetans kept out of most leadership positions."
That’s one fewer Tibetan than there was in the previous Central Committee, which had two full members, said the report issued on Monday.
The report comes amid criticism about China’s repressive policies in the region, where Tibetans face discrimination and restrictions on their rights to freedom of religion, association and peaceful assembly, as well as assaults on their language and culture.
Three other Tibetans serve as alternate members in the Central Committee.
At the national level, no Tibetan has ever found a place on the Politburo or the Standing Committee, the party’s highest authority, according to the report.
Accountability
The report was released as Chinese leaders hold the “Two Sessions,” the most important annual meetings of its parliament, the National People’s Congress, and its political advisory body, the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference.
The timing of the release was meant “to draw attention to the issue of underrepresentation of Tibetans in top leadership positions and to hold Chinese authorities accountable for addressing systemic barriers to meaningful Tibetan participation in leadership roles,” Bhuchung Tsering, head of the group’s Research and Monitoring Unit told Radio Free Asia.
“For China to uphold its claim that Tibet is an integral part of the People’s Republic of China, it is essential for the government to address these discrepancies and provide clarity onthe reasons behind the limited representation of Tibetans in leadership positions,” Tsering said.
In the current 14th National People’s Congress, Lobsang Gyaltsen, who currently heads the TAR People’s Congress, is the lone Tibetan among the 14 vice chairs, while Jamyang Shepa, who is from Labrang Tashikyil Monastery in Kanlho of Gannan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in Gansu province, is the only Tibetan in the 159-member NPC Standing Committee, the report said.
Similarly, at the highest advisory body in China, the 14th Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, or CPPCC, Phakpalha Gelek Namgyal is the only Tibetan to find a place at the vice president level and was reappointed as one of the 23 vice chairs of the CPPCC in March 2023, according to the report.
“One reason for this crisis of Tibetan leadership at the national level is the Chinese leadership’s lack of trust and confidence in the Tibetan people, even those who hold comparatively senior positions,” ICT said.
“Any Tibetan leader who expresses views concerning legitimate grievances of the Tibetan people becomes liable for persecution after being accused directly or indirectly of ‘local nationalism.’”
Provincial roles
Across the TAR and in Tibetan-populated areas of Sichuan, Qinghai, Yunnan, and Gansu provinces, there are no Tibetans holding party secretary titles, the highest position of power at the provincial level, the report said.
However, out of the 17 prefectural level and two county level administrations, only three Tibetans – in Lhasa and Shigatse in the TAR and in Tsojang (Haibei in Chinese) in Qinghai – hold the position of party secretary. This number is lower than in 2020 when four Tibetans held the position, and Party Secretary of Tsolho (Hainan in Chinese) was also a Tibetan.
“The fact that the Communist Party excludes Tibetans from real leadership positions in Tibet gives reason to believe that the party leadership does not trust Tibetans to support CCP rule if they had the choice and, to the contrary, that Tibetans would choose to abolish CCP rule, if they could,” ICT’s Tsering said.
Security entities
Non-Tibetans also hold almost all major leadership positions in Chinese government security entities – the People’s Liberation Army, the People’s Armed Police and Public Security Bureau – in Tibetan areas at both the provincial and prefectural levels.
The Public Security Bureau, which has been at the forefront of Chinese suppression, control and surveillance of the Tibetan people, also has no Tibetan representation at the provincial levels.
At the prefectural level too, only four out of 17 PSB heads are Tibetans, ICT said, adding that this suggests the Chinese Communist Party “does not trust Tibetans enough to be leading these offices.”
“China’s securitization imperatives in Tibet – which has ‘stability maintenance’ as a paramount objective – mean no Tibetans in security-related leadership,” the report said.
Additional reporting by Tashi Wangchuk and Sonam Lhamo Singeri for RFA Tibetan. Edited by Roseanne Gerin and Malcolm Foster.