Forum on Tibetan Cultural Preservation Upholds Party Development Policy

Communist Party and government officials, acting as officials of a Chinese NGO, hosted an international meeting in Beijing October 10 and 11 that promoted increased economic development and tourism as appropriate measures to ensure the preservation and development of Tibetan culture, according to reports by state-run news media. About 120 experts, scholars, and celebrities from China, Hong Kong, and more than 10 other countries, attended the China Tibetan Culture Forum, according to an October 10 China Tibet Information Center (CTIC) report. The Forum was sponsored by the China Association for Preservation and Development of Tibetan Culture (CAPDTC). Founded in June 2004, CAPDTC is an "NGO formed by voluntary [persons devoted] to the protection and development of Tibetan culture," according to an October 9 CAPDTC report that announced the opening of the Forum.

CAPDTC describes the organization's legal status as "independent." Senior CAPDTC officials, however, also hold leadership positions in the Party's United Front Work Department (UFWD), whose responsibilities include overseeing the implementation of Party policy in the Tibetan areas of China. Liu Yandong, the Honorary President of CAPDTC, also heads the UFWD and is a Vice Chairman of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), according to a CTIC report. Zhu Weiqun, the Vice President of CAPDTC, is also the Deputy Head of the UFWD, the CAPDTC reported on October 10. Sithar (Sita), the Vice Chairman of CAPDTC, is also the Director of the UFWD's Seventh Bureau that handles Tibetan affairs, according to an October 9 CAPDTC report.

Several Tibetan CAPDTC officials also hold influential government, advisory, and academic posts at the national level. Ragdi (Raidi), the Honorary Chairman of CAPDTC, is also a Party Central Committee member, Vice Chairman of the National People's Congress, and former Chairman of the TAR People's Congress, according to an October 10 CAPDTC report. CAPDTC President Ngapoi Ngawang Jigme and Vice Chairman Pagbalha Geleg Namgyal also serve as Vice Chairmen of the CPPCC according to two CTIC reports dated October 10 (1) and October 10 (2). Lhagpa Phuntsog (Laba Pingcuo), Vice Chairman of CAPDTC, is also Secretary General of the China Tibetology Research Center and a former Vice Chairman of the TAR government, the CTIC reported on October 11.

A CAPDTC Web page says that the organization endeavors to "preserve and develop Tibetan culture, protect human rights, and promote unity, harmony and common prosperity of people of all ethnic groups in Tibet." In addition, CAPDTC pledges to abide by the "policies of the State."

Officials and experts speaking at the Forum said that preservation and development of Tibetan culture must be based on what they described as Tibetan culture's role as a component of Chinese culture. CAPDTC Honorary President Liu Yandong likened Tibetan culture to a "bright pearl in the treasure house of the Chinese culture," and said that development of a socialist harmonious society in China means building a "national culture" based on "scientific theory" that discards "all eroded and backward values," according to an October 10 CTIC report. She said that the preservation and development of Tibetan culture should be consistent with national policies that promote accelerated economic and social development.

CAPDTC Vice Chairman Lhagpa Phuntsog said at an October 9 press conference that the Qinghai-Tibet railway is playing a "positive role" in Tibetan cultural preservation and development by prompting TAR authorities to "better protect traditional culture so as to further attract tourists," the China Daily reported on October 10. At the Forum's closing speech, he told the delegates that the preservation and development of Tibetan culture "must preserve national unity as a prerequisite," and be "inseparable from China's economy and society," according to an October 11 CTIC report. Professor Suo Wenqing of the Central University for Nationalities in Beijing also advocated protecting the traditional Tibetan cultural heritage by relying more on commercial development, according to an article on the CAPDTC Web site dated October 13. In July, when the Qinghai-Tibet railway began passenger service, Lhasa Mayor Norbu Dondrub expressed a similar view. He told reporters that Tibetan culture would not change fundamentally with the opening the railway, nor "disappear when there is a market demand for it" according to a July 2 report in Xinhua. None of the reported speeches or statements at the Forum, however, suggested that ethnic Tibetans and local Tibetan autonomous governments should play a role in decisionmaking about protecting and developing Tibetan culture.

After the Beijing Forum, some of the delegates participated in a CAPDTC-sponsored tour of the TAR, traveling to Lhasa aboard the Qinghai-Tibet railway, according to an October 20 China Daily report.

For more information on the Qinghai-Tibet railway, Great Western Development, and related issues, see Section VIII, on "Tibet, Culture, Development, and Demography," of the CECC 2006 Annual Report.