TIBET INSIGHT

PLA/MILITARY

Ninth Lhasa Youth League held the First Plenary Meeting

Lhasa government October 25, 2013

On October 24, the Communist Youth League Committee of the Ninth Lhasa held its first plenary session and elected 11 people for the new session of the Standing Committee of the Youth League 11. Kelsang Yangzom and Ren Ying Qi were elected as Deputy Secretary.

District Party Committee, Party Secretary Qizha La (Choedak) attended the meeting and he said that they should mobilize the youth for realisation of China Dream ‘Lhasa Chapter’. According to him, the Communist Youth League has won widespread appreciation of its youthful style in maintaining stability and opposing separatism, urban construction and voluntary service. City's vast youth actively involved in bringing long-term stability, struggled to build a beautiful homeland at Lhasa.

DEVELOPMENT

Chairman of TAR’s Visit to Nyingchi-Gyamda Highway Construction Site

Xizang.gov, October 26, 2013

The district party secretary, Chairman of TAR Lobsang Gyaincain (Lobsang Gyaltsen) paid a visit to Nyingchi-Gyamda highway construction site on 25th of October. Lobsang Gyaltsen said that Lhasa to Nyingchi Lalin highway will help attract international tourists to Lhasa, build eco-tourism and promote Tibet-China economic circle of construction and break the traffic bottleneck in the region.

All Administrative Villages in Tibet to Have Internet Access by 2015

China Tibet online, October29, 2013

All administrative villages in southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region will have access to internet by 2015, further implementing the country's favourable policy for farmers, Lhasa Evening Paper reported. An agreement on the project of establishing 400 rural integrated information service stations was signed by the Tibet branch of China Telecommunications Corporation and the local industry and information department of Tibet recently. By the end of 2013, altogether 1,000 rural integrated information service stations will be established, which will be equipped with computers connected to the internet. Staff of the stations will also be selected and trained to benefit the local herdsmen and farmers with information knowledge. Wireless access will facilitate effective delivery of agricultural information, technology, market, medical treatment and weather for farmers and herdsmen. A key project of Tibet during the 12th Five-Year Plan period (2011-2015), the overall project will include the establishment of 3,000 stations in all administrative villages of Tibet. By 2015, all administrative villages in Tibet will have access to internet, among which 80 percent villages will have broadband access.

ECONOMY

Nepalese Diplomat Talks Up Ties with China

China Daily, October 30, 2013

Hari Prasad Bashyal, the Consular General of Nepal in Lhasa, said that Nepal views the TAR as a gateway to the markets of inland China and the wider world. “We are working to develop trade hubs for bilateral and international trade”, Bashyal said. China Radio International cited official Nepalese sources who said that trade between Tibet and Nepal totalled US $1.7 billion in 2012, an increase of about 80 percent over the previous year. China-Nepal trade in 2001 was just US $153 million, according to figures on the Chinese embassy in Nepal. Nepal remains the biggest trade partner of Tibet, and an agreement signed in 2012 requires China to waive tariffs on 95 percent of products imported from the country.

The Chinese central government is prioritizing the construction of a major road route for trade to South Asia, and plans to develop Gyirong Port, which will link the two countries at Shigatse. Bashyal disclosed that more than 300 Nepalese businesspeople currently work or live in Lhasa.

POLITICAL

China Released White Paper on Tibet

Xinhua, October 22, 2013

China State Council issued a white paper title “Development and Progress of Tibet” on 21 October 2013 which defends Tibet’s comprehensive development and rapid progress over the past 60-plus years. It claimed that said that Tibet under Chinese rule had achieved a great deal, the white paper lists Tibet's development over the past six decades in the fields of economy, people's livelihoods, political systems, cultural preservation, religious freedom and environmental protection etc. In separate albeit brief paragraph, the white paper specially castigated the Dalai Lama.

Lobsang Gyaltsen, Chairman of TAR commended on the white paper on Tibet, where he said Tibet has achieved major advance under the leadership of the CCP with Tibetan way of development. He practically blamed the “Dalia clique” for trying to split Tibet from the motherland and being the biggest obstacle to the development and progress of Tibet.

Tibetans Call China’s Policies at Tourist Spot Tacit but Stifling

New York Times, China, October 24, 2013

One of the most important sites in Tibetan Buddhism, Labrang monastery in Amdo presents an idyllic picture of sacred devotion carefully promoted by the Chinese government to portray that Tibetan religion and culture are monitored under the Communist Party’s benevolent embrace. But behind closed doors, many of the monastery’s resident monks privately complain about intrusive government policies which they say are strangling their culture and identity.

TAR Held a Conference Lhasa to Maintain Social Stability

Xizang.gov, 0ctober 27, 2013

On 26th of October, a conference was held at Lhasa by the TAR government and District Party Committee to maintain social stability in the region. The conference emphasized study and implementation of Mao’s “Fengqiao Experience.” It was chaired by the Director of Regional People’s Congress Pema Lin and attended by Secretary of the Regional Party committee Deng Xiaogang, Jin Shubo of the District Party Committee, and civil servants Tashi, Dong Yunhu, Rui. Deng stressed that all levels of party organizations and cadres should unite in implementing the instructions of Comrade Mao Zedong Memorial ”Fengqiao Experience” and  in order to  maintain a stable and harmonious social environment.

Pema Lin stressed that the region’s government organization and leading cadres at all levels of the party are responsible for ensuring a high degree of political awareness and maintaining social stability.

Thorough Study and Implementation of Xi’s Speech Series

Xizang.gov, October 29, 2013

The District party committee of TAR has recently launched a campaign to study and implement Xi Jinping’s speeches. On 17th of October, the TAR Women’s Federation invited members like Pasang Dolma who is the Deputy Director of the Municipal Party.

On 18th October, the Regional Bureau of Statistics held session to study Xi Jinping’s speeches. It gave particular importance to Xi Jinping’s China dream and his mass line campaign.  

Similar study sessions have been organized by the TAR Land and Resources Department, Autonomous Department of Industry, District Academy of Agricultural Sciences, China Mobile Tibet companies and other units to fully understand the important speeches of Xi Jinping.

Garze Tibetan Prefecture Holds Meeting on Monastery Management

Sichuan Ribao Online, October 29, 2013

A meeting of Directors of Monastery Management Committees from Kardze Prefecture in Sichuan Province was held in Chengdu on 28 October. Cui Baohua, the Vice Chairman of the CPPCC Sichuan Regional Committee and the head of Sichuan CPC United Front Work Department, attended the meeting. The meeting called on the monks of the Monastery Management Committee to “understand the significance of managing the monastery under the law, upholding the authority of the Monastery Management Committee and complying with the state laws and regulations.”

The meeting urged the cadres of Committee to “focus on law-based management, provide education, guidance… address monks and nuns' concerns, and implement the party and government policies…” Since April 2012, Garze Prefecture has set up new-style Monastery Management Committees in 53 monasteries.

Chinese Officials Urge ‘Vigilance’ in Tibetan County Following Tiananmen Crash

RFA-Tibetan, October 30, 2013

Authorities in Sichuan Province are tightening controls on motor vehicles following the crash on 28^th October of an SUV in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square in an apparent terrorist attack. Officials in Sichuan’s Kardze County are urging “vigilance” in defending against similar attacks by Tibetans challenging Chinese rule in their own region. “After the crash of the SUV at Tiananmen Square, Kardze County officials went to villages and called meetings with village leaders, cautioning them about the importance of proper driving licenses,” RFA’s source said, speaking on condition of anonymity. “Village leaders were directed to submit lists of all vehicles and their drivers in their respective villages,” he said, adding that meeting participants were told that the orders came from prefecture and province-level authorities.

RELIGION/CULTURE

61 Tibetan monks awarded "Nzhing Ram Ba" Degree

China Tibet, October 25, 2013

The High-level Tibetan Buddhism College awarded 61 Tibetan monks the intermediate degree of Tibetan Buddhism "Nzhing Ram Ba" in Beijing last Friday after they passed a four-day exam of debating sutra and defending dissertation. Jamyang Rinpoche and Nagstang Rinpoche, President and Vice President respectively of the High-level Tibetan Buddhism College, and Sita, the Tibetan Vice-Minister of the CPC Central Committee’s United Front Work Department attended the award ceremony.

The 7^th   Khampa Cultural, Tourism and Art Festival

Khampa Daily, October 29, 2013

The 7^th Art Festival of Kham started from 23^rd of October and lasted for five days. It was held in Chamdo this year and the Vice-Chairman of District Party Committee of Karze Henbei Ha who was also present at the festival thanked Chamdo Administrators for hosting the festival. The closing ceremony was attended by local leaders and artist from Karze, Yushul, Dechen County and Chamdo. The artist and performers sang and danced to songs of praise to the CCP. The local leaders also talked about the richness of Tibetan Art and Culture as well as the development and progress that the CPP made toward it.