Speech by top ethnic affairs official points to shift away from development, analyst says
South China Morning Post
Andrea Chen
September 9, 201
A ceremony is held at the Potala Palace in Lhasa to mark the 50th anniversary of the founding of the Tibet autonomous region. Photo: Reuters
China’s top ethnic affairs official stressed social stability over economic growth in his speech on Tuesday marking the 50th anniversary of the founding of the Tibet autonomous region.
The comments were made during a ceremony in front of thousands of students, soldiers, and officials gathered outside the Potala Palace in the regional capital of Lhasa .
Beijing’s administration of Tibet has been controversial and a source of diplomatic tension with other nations ever since it was “peacefully liberated” by troops more than six decades ago.
Activists and human rights organisations say the central government has adopted a policy of religious and cultural oppression, while encouraging mass Han migration to transform the region’s identity – accusations Beijing denies.
But the anniversary speech by Yu Zhengsheng, the Politburo Standing Committee member in charge of ethnic and religious issues, focused on national and ethnic unity, making them the first point of his address.
“In order to govern the border areas, we must first keep Tibet stable,” Yu said. “We must take ethnic unity as our lifeblood.”
Work remained in getting people from different ethnic groups to identify with Chinese nationality and the Communist Party, he said. Yu also pledged to crack down on separatist activity and maintain the “normal order” of Tibetan Buddhism.
Economic development, Beijing’s top priority in Tibet for the past several decades, was relegated to Yu’s third point.
His remarks hewed closely to the position that President Xi Jinping laid down in a speech he delivered at the state leaders’ conference on Tibet late last month.
State media echoed the position, with People’s Daily’s overseas edition saying it was unnecessary for officials in Tibet to stress economic growth as their counterparts elsewhere on the mainland did. Battling separatism was more important, it said.
Robert Barnett, director of Columbia University’s modern Tibetan studies programme, said both speeches indicated a shift of policy emphasis from “development” to “stability”.
“The reality on the ground is that ‘stability’ has been the top priority in Tibet for some 25 years now, but it’s unusual, if not unique, for a state leader to state that openly,” Barnett said.
“That’s a big setback for any officials looking to emphasise culture, conciliation or consultation with Tibetans.”
The shift could be a reflection of Xi’s “assertive style of leadership”, or a sense among leaders that the state-driven economic boom in Tibet had finally been accepted, he said.
Xi would enjoy a brief honeymoon period in Tibet as “some cash finally made its way to the pockets of the newly urbanised labour force”.
But this respite could end at any time if the Tibetan exiled spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, became ill or died, unless Beijing had already reached some kind of compromise with him.
The emphasis on stability also allowed Beijing to build up “an uncompromising position in the run-up to any future talks with the exiles”, Barnett said.
Yu said Beijing had repeatedly foiled separatist plots hatched by the “Dalai clique” and “hostile foreign forces”, a claim the government has made before.
State-backed Global Times also published an editorial yesterday in which it drew an analogy between Dalai Lama and disgraced mainland qigong “master” Wang Lin, who was arrested by Jiangxi police in July on suspicion of kidnapping and killing a disciple.
The editorial came after Beijing said the individual named as the 11th Panchen Lama by the Dalai Lama was “living a normal life” after he disappeared from public view 20 years ago, shortly after his selection.
Beijing deemed Gedhun Choekyi Nyima’s recognition as the incarnation as unauthorised and instead named Gyaincain Norbu.
“It’s a part of signaling to the exiles that if they are ever permitted to negotiate, one of the first things they’ll be told to do is to accept China’s Panchen Lama … and to accept the state’s sole right to appoint all lamas at whatever level,” Barnett said.
