A meeting of senior leaders of the People's Republic of China's (PRC) held in Beijing on 08 January 2010 discussed the future development of the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR). The third session of the Ninth TAR People's Congress, which opened in Lhasa on 10 January, then rubber-stamped the directives that were issued. Personnel changes in the TAR, like the retirement of Legqog from the legislature and the appointment of Padma Choling as new governor of the TAR, follow a set pattern. Although Qiangba Puncog's transfer, from the executive to the People's Congress, has occurred surprisingly early, it does not appear to upset the general political scenario. Overall, Beijing is pursuing the same policy in Tibet - the building of a "Great Wall of stability" - that President Hu Jintao called for in March 2009 in response to the unrest of 2008(1). The key elements to this are still accelerated economic development through large infrastructure projects (including some whose efficiency is contentious) and control of potential dissent, in particular from religious institutions. This confirmation of the same strategies, which partly ignited the explosion of dissatisfaction of spring 2008, occurs while the announcement of a new visit to China by the envoys of the Dalai Lama, delayed since late 2009, is expected imminently.

The meeting in Beijing focused on the TAR's "development and its long-term stability" under the direction of President Hu Jintao and stressed the "system of regional autonomy of ethnic minorities" and "a development path with Chinese characteristics and suited to TAR's regional conditions". Pledges were made to give priority to economic construction in the region, ethnic unity and the improvement of living standards was underlined and efforts to protect the TAR's ecosystem stressed.

Continuity and no change

While both meetings were going on, Chinese media praised the achievements made so far. Regarding infrastructure:

• Construction began in 2009 on all the 180 projects designed by Beijing to accelerate the TAR's development during the 11th five-year-plan, and 100 have already been completed. A pump-storage power station project, however, had to be adjusted, and, surprisingly, the Lhasa-Shigatse (Chin: Xigaze; Rigaze) railway project is still awaiting central approval. 

• Construction of the Qinghai-Tibet, Sichuan-Tibet, Xinjiang-Tibet and Yunnan-Tibet highways, and the China-Nepal highway, are said to have "advanced smoothly", with 49 of 78 TAR counties now having access to asphalt roads. In total 53,000 km of roads have been completed so far. The Elikunsha Airport in Ngari (Chin: Ali) will soon be operational, and renovation of the Chamdo-Pomda (Chin: Qamdo-Bangda) Airport was completed.
• Laohuzui Hydropower Station is progressing, while Bahe Xueka Hydropower Station is in operation, linking the power grids of Nyingtri (Chin: Lingzhi) and central Tibet. A transitional power supply system for the central TAR power grid is expected to go into service by mid-February 2010. The Shiquanhe emergency power supply system is operative and construction began on a photovoltaic power plant in Ngari.
• The main construction work for the Manla and Moda irrigated areas has been completed.
• 3G mobile service is available in the TAR.

In the financial sector:

• About 90 percent of rural residents in TAR are said to have obtained small farm loans from the state-owned Agricultural Bank of China (ABC); "34 percent above the average across the PRC".
• By the end of 2009, TAR's balance of deposits was of over 100 billion Yuan (UK£9bn; US$14.6bn; EU€10.2bn) and the balance of loans 24.8 billion Yuan (UK£2.2bn; US$3.6bn; EU€2.5bn).
• Since 2005, the ABC TAR Branch provided farm loans of 16.4 billion Yuan (UK£1.5bn; US$2.4bn; EU€1.7bn) and poverty relief loans of 3.8 billion Yuan (UK£350m; US$550m; EU€380m), ranging from 3,000 to 200,000 Yuan (UK£270; US$440; EU€305 - UK£18,000; US$29,300; EU€20,400) per person.
• 3.3 billion Yuan (UK£300m; US$480m; EU€340m) was released for "regional housing projects"(2).

Future plans that were also recently announced include:

• The construction of an airport in Nagchu (Chin: Naqu) prefecture, the sixth one to be built in the TAR. The three-year project will cost 1.8 billion Yuan (UK£162m; US$264m; EU€184m) and at an elevation of 4,436 metres - 102 metres higher than the TAR's Bamda facility which entered service in 1994 - it will be the world's highest airport. Nagchu economic planner Xu Jian said: "The objective for the next stage of development is to open direct air routes from Tibet to south Asian countries".
• A large "ecological construction project" in Shigatse prefecture will start February 2010 under the supervision of the TAR Forestry Bureau. It will receive an investment of 100 million Yuan (UK£9m; US$1.5; EU€1.2m). So far, 2.5 million Yuan (UK£225,000; US$365,000; EU€255,000) has been spent on preliminary work for the project. 13,333ha of land along the No.318 National Route from the western suburbs of Shigatse city to Sakya (Chin: Sajia) county are to be afforested, as part of a water conservation, wind prevention and air purification strategy. However, specialists doubt the efficiency and sustainability of such large-scale projects.

Qiangba Puncog taking leave

The Tibetan capital Lhasa, whose economy makes up one-third of the TAR's total, is to continue playing a leading role in the development of the region. Echoing the Beijing meeting, Padma Choling said: "To promote the economic and social developments and achieve modernisation is to solve local citizens' urgent problems and let the masses benefit". He added that in 2010 the government would increase investment and make "scientific plans" in order to "achieve the transformation problems in Lhasa". This might be an allusion to a late realisation, albeit a simplistic one, that social imparities amplify local feelings of alienation.

Qiangba Puncog also announced that the government would tighten religious affairs' management and crack down on "separatist activities under the signboard [sic] of religion". By the end of 2010, the TAR government will have completed registering all religious places, Buddhist incarnations, monks and nuns. This indicates that the Chinese authorities still identify religious institutions as major political challenge.

Crew change

Delegates at the TAR Congress cast their votes on-camera. Note the wildl...

During the People's Congress session, Legqog resigned as chairman of the Standing Committee of TAR People's Congress and deputy secretary of TAR's Regional Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC), as he had reached the prescribed retirement age. Legqog(3), born in 1944, is a native of Gyantse (Chin: Jiangzi) county in southern Tibet. He served for five years as chairman of the TAR government before taking the office as chairman of TAR's Regional People's Congress in May 2003.

Qiangba Puncog resigned from the post of TAR governor. He was then appointed chairman of the Standing Committee of the TAR People's Congress, replacing Legqog. Qiangba Puncog(4), from Chamdo prefecture, born in 1947, served as TAR's governor for nearly seven years. His resignation comes three years before the end of his mandate and the mandatory retirement age.

Legqog and Qiangba Puncog at the 3rd session of the 9th TAT People's Con...

Padma Choling, since 2003 executive vice-chairman of the TAR government, became the TAR's 8th governor(5) on 15 January. He combines his post with that of deputy/vice secretary of TAR's regional committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC). Already a member of the committee, he acquired the latter Party post earlier in January after replacing Legqog. Padma Choling(6) was born in 1951 in Dengchen (Chin: Dingqing) in Chamdo prefecture. He served 17 years in the People's Liberation Army (PLA) from 1969 to 1986, before he became an official in the TAR government. He was deputy head of the TAR management team on floating population, which deals with issues about housing the immigrant population in Lhasa following the unrest of spring 2008(7). He also participated in the talks with the envoys of the Dalai Lama, Lodi Gyari and Kelsang Gyaltsen, in October-November 2008. He is quoted as having attempted to mediate in a dispute between a Chinese mining company and Tibetan locals in April 2009 in Markham (Chin: Mangkang), but faced hostility from the local population(8).

Padma Choling

While the early resignation of Qiangba Puncog has generated some speculation, there is no compelling reason to assume that it was involuntary. It is clear that both men's public images are diametrically opposed. Mimicking free press commentaries, a Xinhua article described Qiangba Puncog as "soft-spoken" and "a man of wisdom" and Padma Choling as "strong-willed", looking "stern", and "a man of valour"; "straightforward". Regardless, the post of TAR governor is largely an administrative function without real political power, routinely occupied by Tibetans, while real executive power in the TAR lays in the hands of the Party secretary, who so far has always been an ethnic Chinese (Han), and the incumbent - Zhang Xingli - remains and, as such, the recent personnel change do not appear to reflect any significant change in policy.

TAR's leadership since 2000

(1) Full title: Secretary of the Tibet Autonomous Region's Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC/CCP)
(2) Full title: chairman of the Tibet Autonomous Region's People's Government
(3) Full title: Chairman of the Standing Committee of Tibet Autonomous Region's People's Congress
(T) stands for ethnic Tibetan, (H) for ethnic Chinese

Meanwhile, on 14 January, Premier Wen Jiabao and President Hu Jintao, respectively head of China's State Council and of the Central Military Commission, issued a mandate giving an honorary title: "Hero Squadron of the Snowy Plateau", to a special service squadron of the People's Armed Police (PAP) contingent in the TAR. The PAP which is under the dual command of the State Council and the Central Military Commission played a central role, albeit with the support of the regular army, in suppressing the unrest of 2008. In late December 2009, Lieutenant General Wang Jianping was appointed central PAP Commander. Wang served as Commander of the TAR PAP from 1996 to 2000.