By Choekyi Lhamo
DHARAMSHALA, Sept. 24: Following the visits by President Xi Jinping and top CCP leader of TAR Wu Yingjie to Tibet in the last months, China’s State Councillor and Minister of Public Security Zhao Kezhi visited Gansu and Qinghai provinces from Sept 19-21. The security minister asked Tibetans to “study and implement the spirit of General Secretary Xi Jinping’s important speech at the Seventh Central Tibet Work Forum.”
At the seventh Tibet work forum, Zhao was quoted as saying that Tibetans must deepen the struggle against “separatism” and ensure the implementation of the Party Central Committee’s major decisions and deployments. He interacted with grassroots public security units, residential communities, religious sites, and police officers during his visits.
Zhao has been reported by state media as saying, “We must fully understand the severity and complexity of the struggle against separatism, resolutely overcome blindly optimistic thinking and paralysis, effectively respond to the thought preparation and work preparation of sharp and complex struggles, and resolutely guard against and resolve major risks and challenges.”
Minister of public security attended the “Two Sessions” meeting in May this year and met with National People’s Congress (NPC) delegation from TAR and addressed other officials to strengthen the anti-separatism campaign. During last year’s NPC session, he also met with the TAR delegation and “called for efforts to firmly implement the Party’s strategy for governing Tibet.”
The minister had also travelled to Southern Mongolia after the protests against the language reform which prioritized Mandarin as the medium of instruction on Sept 2. Zhao directed the security personnel to “severely clamp down on domestic and foreign forces that carry out infiltration and sabotage, and it should go deeper in promoting the fight against separatism.”
The top leadership in the CCP has been visiting Tibetan regions to reaffirm the need for anti-separatist campaign and further direct officials to carry out effective implementation of the CCP thought.
