Tibet News
Lhasa: According to Chinese media reports, Wang Junzheng, party secretary of the Tibet autonomous region, paid a visit to Lhasa to “direct, supervise and inspect the epidemic prevention and control work” amidst clamor regarding China using COVID19 as an opportunity to exert more control over Tibet ahead of Chinese Communist Party’s 20th Party Congress.
Tibet reportedly is facing mounting pressure with COVID19 cases on a rise. Xinhua reported that 521 local asymptomatic carriers were newly identified in Tibet yesterday. Makeshift hospitals have been built in Lhasa, Shigatse and Chamdo, where “traditional Tibetan medicine therapy is also applied”. Thousands of Chinese tourists have become stranded in Tibet as the region suffers a spike in coronavirus cases and provinces impose restrictions on travel from the area. Videos supposedly showing Tibetans being mishandled by authorities had surfaced in social media recently.
China’s ruling Communist Party appointed Wang Junzheng, sanctioned by the U.S., Britain, European Union (EU) and Canada for his alleged role in the human rights violations against Uygur Muslims in Xinjiang, as the head of its party unit in Tibet in October 2021. Wang became China’s highest-ranking official to be sanctioned in March 2021 over accusations of human rights violations during his tenure as Xinjiang’s deputy party secretary and security chief.
By Team TRC