Rights body raps Beijing for political repression of tibetans

New York, Nov 8 (UNI) Beijing's decision to reduce the number of Tibetans on Lhasa's most powerful ruling body has raised concerns regarding the role of Tibetans in administering the region, according to the Human Rights Watch.

Appointments made in September to the Communist Party's committee in Lhasa, the Tibetan capital, have a lower proportion of Tibetans than at any other time in the last 40 years. For the first time in 25 years, the Lhasa committee is to be led by an ethnic Chinese politician.

Tibetans have faced a high degree of political repression since China's annexation of Tibet in the 1950s, the rights body stated.

"China seems to be pushing Tibetans out of positions of authority," Sophie Richardson of Human Rights Watch said yesterday.

"Beijing's promotion of ethnic Chinese leaders fundamentally compromises Tibetans' right to participate in Lhasa's most powerful institution." Ms Richardson is deputy Asia director for the New York-based body.

The Chinese government is subject to constitutional requirements which stipulate that the leaders of an "autonomous area," such as the Tibet Autonomous Region and most of the representatives to the People's Congress must be members of the main ethnic group that lives there-- meaning Tibetans. But these laws don't apparently apply to the Chinese Communist Party, which also controls Tibet and holds decision-making powers.

The shift away from Tibetan participation in the Lhasa ruling body follows a significant change in rural administration in the Tibet Autonomous Region. In 2003, ethnic Chinese officials were sent for the first time to run xiang, or township, and zhen, or small town, administrations throughout the Tibetan Autonomous Region. So far, some 280 ethnic Chinese are believed to have been sent to take up these positions, radically altering the role of rural Tibetans in the lowest level of governance in Tibet.

"The participation of Tibetans should be increasing -- not falling to historically low levels," said Ms Richardson. "If Beijing is serious about allowing Tibetans real control of Lhasa and other Tibetan areas, it will reconsider these appointments." UNI XC MS VC1248