January was local “two sessions” season across China. These meetings include provincial-level law makers and political advisors and focus on local economic and social development plans for the coming year. Delegates work towards the achievement of a full Xiaokang society, which roughly translates as a moderately prosperous society in all aspects. It is the stated goal of the central government in Beijing to achieve this by 2021, the centenary of the founding of the Chinese Communist Party.
The 11th Tibet Regional Committee meeting included contributions from Che Dalha, Chairman of the Tibet Autonomous Region since 2017; Zhu Weiqun, former head of the Ethnic and Religious Affairs Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) and Dzongkha Adan, Vice Director of Tashi Lhunpo Monastery, among others. The committee agreed on the intention to retain religious freedom and poverty alleviation as priorities in 2020.
According to Chinese state media, the Global Times, Che Dalha said that although absolute poverty in Tibet was basically eliminated by 2019, poverty alleviation would remain central to government efforts in 2020. The Tibetan regional government plans to allocate roughly $2 billion (£1.5 billion) this year to “further consolidate the achievements of poverty alleviation”. Further developments in the e-commerce and tourism sectors are part of the plan to help villagers shake off poverty.
Zhu Weiqun spoke about the relationship between a “stable religious situation” and economic growth. Based on the precepts that “modern monks should elaborate on the rules and doctrines of Tibetan Buddhism in line with the socialist society and social development”, and that “freedom of religion is guaranteed but monasteries must never undermine national unity”, Zhu said that he has carried out a series of severe crackdowns on separatist forces hidden in monasteries in the past decade. He reported to the committee that “the success of religious work in Tibet has provided valuable experience for Xinjiang* and other parts of the country”.
Dzongkha Adan provided support for Zhu’s views by stating that “monks and nuns, while being Buddhists, were Chinese citizens first of all”. Zhu himself maintained that his efforts were “welcomed by the majority of monks”.
* East Turkestan, or Xinjiang as it is known in China, is the Muslim ethnic minority area of north western China whose Uighur population suffer similar repression under Chinese rule to that experienced by Tibetans in Tibet.
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