China Focus: Ethnic minorities hold majority seats of Tibet's legislature

Tibetans and other ethnic groups hold more than 70 percent of the seats in the regional legislature, according to the standing committee of the legislature on Thursday.

A total of 443 deputies are attending the annual regional people' s congress meeting ending on Thursday afternoon. Among them, 311 are Tibetans and other ethnic minorities, said Zeng Zhonghua, an official with the general office of the legislature's standing committee.

In the delegation from Lhasa, the regional capital, ethnic minorities account for 77 percent of the 66 deputies, said Zeng.

Losang, 58, was elected as a deputy of the regional legislature in 2012. Though illiterate, he was chosen to learn Tibetan medicine at the age of 12.

In 1978, the central government held a work conference to encourage the training and promotion of ethnic cadres and professionals. Losang was chosen to further his medical study in Xianyang City in northwest China's Shaanxi Province that year.

"The preferential policy on ethnic minorities made me a respected doctor from a son of a former slave," said Losang, who is currently the head of the Maizhokunggar County' s legislature.

Losang submitted a proposal for better training of grassroots doctors on Tuesday.

China has a total of 56 ethnic groups. The majority, Han, makes up 93 percent of its total population.

There are 45 ethnic minorities living in Tibet with a population of 3.1 million. The ethnic Tibetan, a minority in the country but a majority in Tibet, accounts for 90 percent of the population.

According to the roster of the deputies, apart from 50 delegates from the army and para-military police, most of them are officials and professionals at various levels.

"Selecting and appointing Tibetans on major posts is an important approach to achieve sustainable development in Tibet as they are the majority of the population," said Painba Lhamo, an assistant researcher with the Contemporary Tibet Institute of Tibet Academy of Social Sciences.

The number of cadres with Tibetan origin has been on a rise since the First National Conference on Work in Tibet in 1980.

Back in 1965 when the Tibet Autonomous Region was founded, there were only 7,600 ethnic-minority cadres in Tibet, accounting for a third of the total cadres. The figure grew to 83,446 by the end of 2012, accounting for 70 percent of the total, according to the Organization Department of the Communist Party of China Tibet Regional Committee.

The Fifth National Conference on Work in Tibet in 2010 reiterated Tibetan cadres were the major driving force of governing Tibet. So far, nine Tibetans have been elected as regional government chairman, the top post of the Tibet administration.

While endorsing the leading role of the ethic-minority deputies, Painba Lhamo warned them to be aware of their shortcomings.

As Tibet's education lags far behind the inland provinces, their educational background is inferior to their Han counterparts. Among the 443 deputies, 32 have only primary-school education and another 32 have junior middle school education, mainly village officials, according to the tally book provided by the regional congress.

There is an urgent need of ethnic minority professionals that has expertise in economic management and medical care, he said.

Painba Lhamo suggested the regional government to cultivate a large number of ethnic minority cadres with professional knowledge that can serve the future development of Tibet's education, technology and economy. Endit