Dharmshala, 20th October: According to Chinese state media, a rising Chinese leader sanctioned by Western countries for alleged human rights breaches in Xinjiang has been nominated as the CPC’s chief of Tibet. Wang Junzheng, 58, was the political commissar of the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps and deputy secretary of the CPC committee of the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region (XUAR).

Wu Yingjie, the current Communist Party secretary of the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR), is 65 years old and assumed office in 2016. His position is unknown, however, it is likely that he has retired. Wang and Chen Mingguo, chief of the Xinjiang Public Security Bureau, were sanctioned by the US Treasury Department earlier this year for alleged human rights violations against the Muslim Uighur people.

It claimed the two were targeted under the US Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act for their roles in Xinjiang, and that the move supplemented efforts made by the EU, Britain, and Canada. Wang had reacted to the sanctions by saying that they were based on “lies and false information; are a gross slander and an affront to the Chinese people’s reputation and dignity; a flagrant interference in China’s internal affairs; and a grave violation of China’s sovereignty and security interests.”

On Tuesday, Zeng Yichun, vice-minister of the CPC’s Central Committee’s organization department, revealed Wang’s appointment for the Tibet job at a meeting of the TAR’s top party cadres in Lhasa. Zeng stated that the decision was reached after careful analysis and examination of the “overall circumstances and actual situation of the region’s leadership.”

The promotion is crucial for Wang, the new party chairman of the Tibet Autonomous Region. In 2019, Wang, the previous party boss of Changchun city, was promoted to deputy CPC secretary of the autonomous region, and in 2020, he was promoted to head of the political and legal affairs committee, the main political body responsible for peace and order in the territory.

Yan Jinhai was named deputy chairperson and acting chairperson of TAR earlier this month, while former chairman Qizhala resigned and is expected to take up a new position in Beijing. The reshuffle is likely part of the build-up to the five-yearly CPC Congress to be held next autumn when China’s President Xi Jinping is expected to start his third five-year term as party general secretary, the first Chinese leader to do so in decades.

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