How About the Tibetan Personnel Changes in Lhasa?
The Chinese Government confirmed on January 12, 2010 that both Lekchok (Ch: Legqog), the Chairman of the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) People’s Congress, and Jampa Phuntsok (Ch: Qiangba Puncog), the Chairman/Governor of the TAR Government, will be resigning from their posts. We had an inkling of this happening for some time.
The natural next thing now is to speculate on the reasons behind these personnel changes. Are they routine or can we see some political messages? Keeping in mind His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s call to “Hope for the best while preparing for the worst,” I see two or three possible reasons. Before I do that, however, I want to speculate on the futures of the two gentlemen first.
It was already announced on January 6, 2010 that Lekchok would leave his Communist Party position, namely being a deputy secretary. Since he would no longer have a Party or a government position now, and since he seems to have reached the retirement age for provincial leaders, it is most possible he will fade away into the sunset. However, given his initial academic background I would not be surprised if he is given some tasks in that field to boost the overall Tibet strategy.
As for Jampa Phuntsok, I have not seen any report of his having been relieved of his Party post of deputy secretary. Also, age-wise, he has some years till retirement, and so it could be that he may step into the shoes of Lekchok as the Chairman of the TAR People’s Congress (just as Lekchok did when Apo Ragdi (Ch: Raidi) moved from that post for the National People’s Congress (NPC) in Beijing some years back). In this scenario, Pema Thinley (Ch: Baima Chilin), who was recently promoted to being a deputy secretary of the Party, would become the Chairman of the TAR Government. As it is, he is a Vice Chairman of the TAR Government.
Alternatively, Jampa Phuntsok may go to Beijing to be the “Tibetan face” on the national scene. Since Ragdi’s “retirement” more than a year back, there is no Tibetan at the national level holding a formal position in the NPC.
Now the answer as to why such changes are being made, if we hope for the best, then we can put them in the context of the January 8, 2010 meeting of the Politburo on Tibet and to say that all these are part of the effort by Beijing to have a new approach on Tibet. The hope also rests on the assumption that the Politburo meeting really discussed Tibet on the basis of addressing the needs of the Tibetan people and not merely to find new ways to confront the “Dalai clique.” The Xinhua report refers to the Politburo meeting emphasizing the need to “adhere to the road of development with Chinese and Tibet’s characteristics.” I am looking forward specifically to the “Tibet characteristics” in the policy, if this can be taken positively.
The other perspective, a worst-case scenario, could be seen in the context of no change being announced regarding TAR Party Secretary Zhang Qingli, the one individual who has come to represent Chinese rule (or misrule) over Tibetans. It could mean that there will not be any radical changes in the political policy towards Tibetans although we may see shifts in non-political fields. It could be that both Jampa Phuntsok and Lekchok did not meet the expectations of Zhang Qingli or the conservative elements of the leadership.
Interestingly, for what it is worth, I was intrigued to see Lekchok seeking recourse to the “Mao” jacket during the People’s Congress meetings in Lhasa in the past few days. Was he trying to placate the conservative elements as a last ditch effort? Jampa Phuntsok seemed to be in a Western-style suit and tie at the events.
In any case, what is important now is how the changes will impact the Tibetan people. I hope it will be for the better.
PHOTO CAPTION: From left to right, Lekchok, outgoing Chairman of the TAR People’s Congress; Zhang Qingli, TAR Party Secretary; Paghbala, Chairman of the TAR CPPCC (a legislative advisory body); and Jampa Phuntsok, outgoing Chairman of the TAR Goverment. This photo appeared this week in China’s official press in Tibet as part of its coverage of the ongoing People’s Congress in Lhasa.
2 Responses to “How About the Tibetan Personnel Changes in Lhasa?”
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It is strange that there has been no mention — at least that I have seen — of the appointment of a new Commander of the Tibet Military Region which was made public in the last week of December 2009? This potentially carries more importance than the few personnel changes made at the just completed annual TAR People’s Congress and CPPCC meetings. After a short period of only about a year and a half that interestingly included an official trip to Nepal just before his transfer was announced, Lt. General Shu Yu-tai returned to Chengdu as a Deputy Commander of the Chengdu Military region and was replaced in Tibet by Maj. General Yang Jin-shan, a native of Henan with no previous Tibet exposure. In the last several years there has been an unusually heavy turnover of the heads of the various discipline services (PLA, PAP, PSB) in Tibet.
This is a very good commentary and only errs from perhaps being a bit too optimistic.
I too found the symbolism of Legchok’s zhongshan zhuang (’Mao jacket’) interesting. He even wore it yesterday in contrast to Jampa Phuntsog’s Western tie & coat when the two shared the Lhasa stage for the final time and exchanged hata with each other. I do not think it was a last ditch effort on Legchok’s part. He knew he would be retiring for quite some time now, and I think it safe to say that the conservatives are still very much in the driver’s seat. Maybe Legchok simply thinks he looks better and carries more gravitas in a zhongshan zhuang.
Whether Zhang Qingli felt comfortable with Legchog is hard to say, but over the years they have not appeared together as often as Jampa Puntsog and Zhang. As for Zhang’s transfer, precisely because of what happened in March 2008 he likely will remain in the TAR until a short while before the convening of the 17th Party Congress in Beijing.
For someone being close to 72 years old Ragdi remains incredibly engaged and active. I suspect he now will be given Ngabo Nawang Jigme’s seat as a Vice Chairman of the CPPCC along side Phakpala. Ragdi seems to have the ear of Hu Jintao and Zhang Qingli in the same way Yin Fatang’s counsel was welcomed by Jiang Zemin. The influence of his Nagchu faction in the TAR Party apparatus, however, may diminish now that the top two active Tibetan officials — Jampa Phuntsog and Pema Thinley — both are from the Chamdo region.
I look forward to your commentator’s views on the new book just published a few weeks ago by the Canada-publisher Mirror Press. It is titled 西藏内部之争 and is a lengthy political memoir of General Fan Ming (范明） who led the 1st Army into Tibet in 1951 and escorted the 10th Panchen Lama back to Shigatse.