-by International Campaign for Tibet 

This year’s annual political meetings in Beijing, popularly known as the Two Sessions, saw indication of not only continued clampdown of Tibetan identity in the coming period, but also that Tibetans are currently being used as the testing ground for broader policy of assimilation of “ethnic minorities” by the Chinese Communist authorities.

The Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), said to be the political advisory body, was in session from March 4 to 10, 2025, while the National People’s Congress (NPC), claimed to be the parliament, was in session from March 5 to 11, 2025.

Regurgitating cliches and misplaced priorities

As in the past, Chinese state media reported on how Tibetan delegates to the Two Sessions this year were making laudatory remarks on Chinese government policies. Despite credible reports indicating absence of basic human rights in Tibet, Chinese state media concocts this collective quote to the Tibetan delegates gathered in Beijing: “Nowadays, happiness, peace, harmony and unity are the truest portrayal of the lives of people of all ethnic groups in Tibet.”

At the same time, remarks by China’s top national and provincial leaders charged with Tibetan affairs could be perceived setting the tone for what to come. Zhang Guoqing, member of the Political Bureau and a Vice Premier, who appears to have been entrusted with the Tibet portfolio in Beijing attended a Tibetan group meeting on March 5, 2025 and reiterated this: “We must fully implement the Party’s Tibet governance strategy in the new era, anchor the “four major issues” of stability, development, ecology and strengthening the border, and write a new chapter in the practice of Chinese-style modernization in Tibet.” In addition to Zhang, Sun Yeli, secretary of the Party Leadership Group and minister of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, was among the other non-Tibetan national leader who attended a Tibetan delegation meeting during this year’s session.

Interestingly, Wang seems to indicate that they will use economic investment as a way to open TAR to the outside world. In the abovementioned meeting, he told the delegates, “Focus on improving infrastructure and building more open platforms. Deepen reforms in key areas, stimulate the vitality of various business entities, continuously optimise the business environment, and increase investment promotion efforts. Let the world better understand Tibet and let Tibet go to the world faster.”

The only direct reference to the continuing political challenges to the Chinese by the Tibet movement internationally was made by the new chairman of the TAR Government, Karma Tseten. In his remarks to the delegation on March 7, 2025, Tseten talked about “smear campaign against public schools in Tibet” (西藏公民教育的抹黑 a reference to the international campaign on the boarding schools) and that they “will brook no interference by the Dalai Clique”. Although the Chinese authorities know that the Dalai Lama has devolved his political authority to the elected Tibetan leadership in 2011, they continue to use “Dalai Clique”, a pejorative term to refer to the broader Tibet movement internationally. From all indications, Tseten is ambitious and since he has also been promoted to his position only in January 2025, such utterances could also be his way of proving his loyalty to the CCP.

Tibet continues to see general foreign tourists access restricted with only select few individuals being able to travel in organized groups. Therefore, in an indication of misplaced priorities, Wang Qiang, who took over as mayor of the Tibetan capital Lhasa in December 2022, was quoted by Chinese state media on March 6, 2025, as inviting people wanting to “play snooker” or join “bicycle race” to visit.

Where is the CCCP-Selected Panchen Lama?

Interestingly, among Tibetans, the CCP-selected Panchen Lama was not in public even if he was a delegate even though he is supposed to be a member of the Standing Committee of the National Committee of the CPPCC and Vice President of the Buddhist Association of China. State media has circulated a photo of him attending a religious group meeting during 2024 Two Sessions. He was more active comparatively in 2024 in visiting Tibetan areas. However, in the aftermath of this year’s earthquake in western Tibet, state media showed him in prayer only on January 13, 2025, several days after it had happened.

Similarly, Wang Junzheng, the top CCP official in Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR), in his remarks to the Tibetan delegation on March 6, 2025 stressed that it is necessary to strengthen the overall leadership of the Party and strive “to build a socialist modern new Tibet.”

Tibetans as testing ground to implement “ethnic unity” in PRC

This year’s Two Sessions also saw focus on implementing Xi Jinping’s strategy of a common Chinese identity being voiced by different leaders, including a legislative initiative by the NPC. In 2021, at the Fifth Central Conference on Ethnic Work, Xi had said: “We should deepen the creation of ethnic unity and progress, focus on deepening connotation, enriching forms, and innovating methods, and build a normalized mechanism for promoting and educating the Chinese nation’s sense of community.”

In his work report to the NPC on March 8, 2025, its Chairman Zhao Leji announced the plan to have a new national “ethnic unity” law saying, “We will formulate a law on promoting ethnic unity and progress to forge a strong sense of national identity, reinforcing the Chinese people as one cohesive community.”

CPPCC Chairman Wang Hunning, in his report to it also echoed the need of such a legislation saying, “The complex circumstances and formidable tasks we face make it all the more important for us to remain united as one. This means further consolidating the great unity of the Chinese people of all ethnic groups, forging a strong sense of community for the Chinese nation…”

Premier Li Qiang, in his Government Work Report, also similarly stressed the need to “promote ethnic solidarity and progress.”

In perfect choreography, Chinese state media reported on how the proposed law was being welcomed by the delegates to the Two Session. It said Xing Guangcheng, a deputy to the 14th NPC, emphasised the significance of enacting such a law, “regarding it as a legislative approach to addressing issues related to the borderland and ethnic unity with the country’s important strategic framework in the new era.”

In fact, the political significance of this proposed national legislation can be understood when we look at the fact that in January 2020, “Regulations on the Creation of a Model Region for National Unity and Progress in the Tibet Autonomous Region” was enacted in Lhasa. The regulations, revised in January this year, is the first such legislative initiative by the People’s Republic of China and formalises the CCP powers to enforce a Chinese-centric way of life and to nurture vigilant citizens as informants for the Party. Further, they represent an explicit legal departure from the principle of preferential treatment for people like the Tibetans, as stipulated in the Regional Ethnic Autonomy Law. It was the culmination of Xi Jinping’s policy focus (to consolidate power in the party and eliminate threats) with the second generation of ethnic policy thinkers who advocate for the dilution of ethnic difference, thus enforcing assimilation of the Tibetan culture.

Click here to read the original report on ICT.