PTI – 6 October 2021 The New Indian Express
BEIJING: Qizhala, an ethnic Tibetan and Chairman of China’s Tibet Autonomous Region, has been shifted to Beijing by the ruling Communist Party for a higher position in the national legislature ahead of the top leadership reshuffle next year and a possible unprecedented third term for President Xi Jinping, according to a media report.
Qizhala, 63, whose original name is Che Dalha, has left Lhasa to take up a new job in Beijing, the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post reported on Wednesday, while there is no official announcement here yet.
His vacancy is expected to be filled by Yan Jinhai, the head of the Lhasa branch of the ruling Communist Party of China (CPC), in a reshuffle that is part of the build-up to the five-yearly Congress of the party.
Lhasa is Tibet’s provincial capital.
The Congress will finalise the party’s top leadership for the next decade.
Qizhala has been head of the Tibetan government since 2017 and was expected to take on a new role in the top legislature, the National People Congress (NPC), the Post report said.
His elevation to the NPC will be regarded as the fulfilment of Xi’s vision of a “sense of community for the Chinese nation” which means “a high degree of recognition” in the country and the party of all ethnic groups, the report said.
The CPC will formally kick off its process for next year’s key Congress by holding its sixth plenary session here in November in which more than 370 full and alternate members will participate.
Next year formally marks the end of Xi’s second term. All of Xi’s predecessors retired following the mandatory rule of two five-year terms.
Over the past three decades, the party has usually used the last plenary session to address party affairs, especially on key appointments, ideology and party-building matters.
Xi, 68, is widely expected to remain in power after his second tenure, possibly for life following the 2018 constitutional amendment, which removed the two-term limit for the President.
Read the full report here.