Full text: Communist Party of China Policies on the Governance of Xizang in the New Era: Approach and Achievements

VI. Strengthening Democracy and the Rule of Law

To ensure that Xizang continues to achieve successful development, the rule of law must be upheld and socialist democracy strengthened across the board. Xizang has always been committed to the Party’s leadership, the people’s position as masters of the country, and law-based governance. Efforts have been made to ensure the effective implementation of the system of people’s congresses, the system of CPC-led multi-party cooperation and political consultation, the system of regional ethnic autonomy, and the system of grassroots self-governance. Fresh progress has been made in strengthening the political development in the region, ensuring the right of all people of all ethnic groups to be masters of the region and the country. As a result, all undertakings have advanced in the region.

– Continuous progress in advancing socialist democracy

The strengths of the system of people’s congresses have been given full play. Since the 18th CPC National Congress in 2012, two elections have been held in Xizang to elect the regional people’s congress, in which more than 90 percent of eligible voters have participated in the county and township-level direct elections, and the participation rate in some places has even reached as high as 100 percent. The institutional mechanism for deputies to the people’s congresses to fulfill their duties with due diligence has further improved. The People’s Congress of the Xizang Autonomous Region has established and implemented a dual-contact system in which members of its standing committee maintain direct contact with community-level deputies who in turn maintain direct contact with people in their constituencies. Dhawa, deputy from Naiyu Lhoba Township, Mainling City to the People’s Congress of the Xizang Autonomous Region, believes that “as an elected deputy, one should do everything possible to serve the people.” By coordinating the relevant departments, he has helped build greenhouses for relocated residents in Sangan of Qamdo, ensuring their access to fresh produce in winter. To date, Xizang has instituted 772 “homes of deputies to people’s congresses”, covering all cities/prefectures, counties/districts, and townships/towns/sub-districts in the region. Some villages have set up deputies’ functional centers. These facilities enable deputies to perform their duties on a more regular basis in the intersessional period, which has helped regulate and institutionalize the dual-contact system.

The unique advantages of socialist consultative democracy have been further highlighted. Xizang has exercised consultative democracy throughout the process of socialist democracy. It gives full play to the role of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) as a major channel for consultative democracy and its committees as specialist consultative bodies. CPPCC members are encouraged to offer workable suggestions to address major issues related to economic and social development and resolve the people’s immediate concerns. The CPPCC is open to representatives from all social sectors and ethnic groups, including those of religious circles, intellectuals who are not CPC members, and people from New Social Groups. There are 440 members on the 12th CPPCC Committee of the Xizang Autonomous Region, 59.3 percent of whom are not CPC members. CPPCC organizations have been established in all the 74 counties/districts in the region. There are more than 8,000 CPPCC members in the whole region; ethnic minority members account for 85.7 percent. Between 2013 and 2022, the CPPCC Committee of the Xizang Autonomous Region received a total of 4,356 proposals, all of which were processed with feedbacks. The CPPCC organizations have urged its members to earnestly perform their duties in political consultation, democratic supervision, and participation in the deliberation and administration of government affairs.

Democracy has been translated into extensive, pragmatic and vivid actions at the grassroots. Grassroots democracy in Xizang has been gradually enriched. The system of villagers’ representative meetings has been established, and community residents’ congresses or residents’ committees have been instituted in urban areas, providing a satisfactory organizational guarantee for grassroots self-governance. In 2019, the Measures of the Xizang Autonomous Region for Transparency in Village Affairs was issued. So far, more than 90 percent of the villages in the region have set up “transparency” bulletin boards, to ensure the right of local people to be informed, to participate in the deliberation of village affairs and in the decision-making process, and to scrutinize the exercise of power.

In 2015, the Regulations of the Xizang Autonomous Region on Workers’ Congresses (for Trial Implementation) were promulgated. There are now 8,821 trade unions in the whole region, with 607,000 members in total. Employees in enterprises and public institutions can fully exercise their democratic rights in the decision-making process regarding important matters that concern their immediate interests through democratic management systems such as workers’ congresses.

– Full implementation of regional ethnic autonomy

More measures have been adopted to reinforce the system of regional ethnic autonomy. The regional autonomy system ensures the region’s right to development in the political, economic, social, cultural and other fields. The People’s Congress of the Xizang Autonomous Region and its Standing Committee have also formulated implementation measures for a number of national laws, which have become an important supplement to state legislation. Preferential financial policies have been introduced, such as policies to give the autonomous region the right to retain all its revenues, to receive increasingly higher subsidies from the central government, and to allocate funds earmarked for special projects. The Xizang Autonomous Region relies on its hard-working spirit while benefiting from the caring policies of the central government and support from other parts of the country. It makes judicious use of its own fiscal revenues. To keep pace with the times, Xizang fully implements the autonomy system, regularly updating specific measures and means to exercise autonomy.

The exercise of rights conferred by the Constitution and other laws is fully guaranteed. The offices of chairperson or vice chairpersons of the Standing Committee of the People’s Congress of the Xizang Autonomous Region are occupied by Tibetans, as is the office of the governor of the Xizang Autonomous Region. A total of 89.2 percent of the 42,153 deputies to people’s congresses at four levels in the autonomous region are from the Tibetan or other ethnic minorities. Of the 24 deputies of the Xizang delegation to the 14th NPC, 16 were from ethnic minorities, including ethnic groups with small populations such as the Monba people and the Lhoba people. There are 29 members of the CPPCC national committee from Xizang, 25 of whom are from ethnic minorities. The proportion of females among deputies to people’s congresses at all levels or members of the CPPCC at all levels has risen considerably. Efforts have been intensified in the training and appointment of ethnic minority officials, which has significantly contributed to prosperity, stability, development, and progress in all respects in Xizang.

– Marked progress in the governance of Xizang in accordance with the law

Significant progress has been made in the development and improvement of the legal framework. Since the 18th CPC National Congress, guided by the strategy that stability in Xizang is paramount in the governance of the border areas and the country as a whole, the autonomous region has formulated and implemented a number of local regulations, government rules and other normative documents, establishing a complete and sound legal system. The region has endeavored to advance the rule of law in terms of both government administration and social governance, by introducing institutions, standards and procedures in the management of regional affairs. As of 2022, the People’s Congress of the Xizang Autonomous Region and its Standing Committee had formulated and implemented 160 local regulations and statutory resolutions and decisions of a regulatory nature. They ensure that the rule of law contributes to maintaining stability, facilitating development, protecting the eco-environment, safeguarding the borders, and organizing other matters involving social governance and the people’s wellbeing. The People’s Congress of Xizang and its Standing Committee have focused on practical issues in light of local realities and features. Based on the region’s important role as a national and ecological security shield, the congress has formulated and implemented Regulations on the Establishment of Model Areas for Ethnic Unity and Progress in the Xizang Autonomous Region and Regulations on Developing Ecological Highlands in the Xizang Autonomous Region. Starting from 2021, all the region’s cities with subsidiary districts have been accorded local legislative powers. More local legislative bodies and the improved local legislative system have provided legal guarantees for stability and prosperity in Xizang.

Fresh progress has been made in law-based government. The business environment has been steadily improved. The Work Plan of the Xizang Autonomous Region for Building a Sound Administrative Environment and the Implementation Plan of the Xizang Autonomous Region for Promoting the Inter-Provincial E-Government in the Five Southwestern Provinces have been formulated and released. To keep the exercise of power under effective restraint and supervision, several local regulations, government rules and other normative documents have been formulated and released, including the Regulations of the Xizang Autonomous Region on the Supervision of Administrative Law Enforcement, the Regulations of the Xizang Autonomous Region on Discretion over Administrative Law Enforcement and Interim Regulations of the Xizang Autonomous Region on Major Administrative Decision-Making Procedures. Transparency in government affairs in accordance with the law has been promoted, with most government services available online now. These efforts have further optimized government services for the convenience of the people.

New breakthroughs have been made in the building of a law-based society. The General Office of the CPC Central Committee and the General Office of the State Council jointly issued the Measures on Accelerating the Building of a Public Legal Service System, further boosting the public legal service system. All judicial administrative offices at the county level and above have launched public legal service entity platforms, gradually extending to the primary-level communities. In 2021 alone, legal aid institutions in the region provided consultation services to people on more than 27,300 occasions and accepted 7,626 legal aid cases, which helped legal aid recipients recover financial losses of RMB98.47 million. The Regulations of the Xizang Autonomous Region on the Awareness-raising and Education on the Rule of Law have been promulgated, and an extensive education campaign has been carried out to raise awareness of the Chinese socialist legal system with the Constitution at the core. Effective public education on the rule of law has been conducted in rural areas, at schools, and in religious facilities to create a culture of respect for the rule of law across Xizang. The region has carried out a vigorous project to encourage villagers to learn about the law, set up WeChat groups for legal services in rural areas, and provided legal advisers to all villages. A campaign to bring legal knowledge and services to the countryside has been executed, in which real-life cases have been used to explain and interpret laws. National pilot villages and communities for democracy and the rule of law have been established. Interpreting laws with vivid cases motivates more people to learn the law, respect it, abide by it, and apply it.