Publications

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Racial Discrimination in Tibet (2000)

Discrimination in Public Representation

Token Tibetan Representation

While one may see a number of Tibetans holding positions of authority at regional, prefectural and county levels within this system, this should not be taken as evidence that they therefore possess political power proportionate to their representation. Most of the time the appointments act merely as legitimising agents for the Party, or function to give the appearance that Tibetans are contributing to the running their country. Some appointments are in accordance with official directives that the Party would be foolish to deny. For example, the constitution requires that the Chairman of the government and of the congress of each region and province must be a member of the majority indigenous group in that area, and as a result, the Chairman of the "TAR" has always been Tibetan. Yet the dominant members of "TAR" government and congress remain die-hard Party loyalists, and their level of authority does not usually permit even the possibility of raising political notions in opposition to Party decrees. The National Forums on Work in Tibet are a perfect example of this.

Since 1980, the Tibet Work Forums have been the main political arena in which decisions shaping the future of Tibet are made. The group involved consists of the General Secretary of the CCP (Han Chinese) and a committee of senior Party officials - cadres from Tibet are summoned to Beijing only to hear the deliberations and are not permitted to present evidence. Their role is to listen and accept but not to discuss as the Tibet Information Network was forced to conclude:

"As we have seen, Tibetans are increasingly involved in the administration of the Party and government in the "TAR". But it would be a mistake to assume that Tibetans are playing a more dominant role in the region. The highly centralised nature of the decision-making process and the rigidity of authority make it difficult for individual Party members or government cadres to raise issues which conflict with established policies, and the region's economic dependence on the centre decreases its political leverage."

In early 1998, a campaign was launched to reduce the "excess office staff" present in Government offices and enterprises in Lhasa City. The cuts were primarily targeted at Tibetans in business, industrial, judicial and administrative sectors, and resulted in approximately 3,600 Tibetans losing their jobs. New quotas were set limiting the number of staff in the various offices, and new recruitment policies enforced which have resulted in a smaller percentage of Tibetan representation in Lhasa City offices.