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Managing and servicing the floating population a “key issue for security anddevelopment in the TAR”
[TIN] Tibet Update 26 September 2008
The Chinese authorities have created a management team to deal with the floating
population in the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR). This initiative was taken in
response to the social unrest that swept across Tibetan areas in spring 2008,
particularly the ethnic riots in Lhasa on 14 March. It has been interpreted as
an admission by the authorities that the riots were triggered by relentless
migration from China. However, after careful analysis of official reporting, and
consideration of existing long-term PRC policies and ground realities in the
TAR, this interpretation appears ill founded. Far from acknowledging any policy
errors, the authorities' rationale behind forming the team is to reaffirm
existing policies and consolidate the position of mainland migrants in the TAR,
many of who were traumatised by the recent unrest. The team will also assume a
role in containing the floating population of young Tibetans, many of them
migrants from rural regions, whose frustrations erupted in the events of 14
March. Both floating population groups, mainland migrants and rural Tibetan
migrants, were assigned specific roles as entrepreneurs and labourers in the
long-term plans drafted by the PRC authorities for the TAR. Beyond that,
mainland migrants also play a crucial role in providing a stabilising population
within the restive Tibetan environment. Rather than a change of policy then,
this new management drive represents further state intervention in the aftermath
of the events of spring 2008.
It is the official policy of the PRC to facilitate a more or less controlled
flow of non-Tibetans, mainly Chinese (Han) and Chinese Muslims (Hui) into
Tibetan regions. They are expected to bring practical and entrepreneurial skills
(qualities perceived to be lacking among Tibetans) and so, it is believed,
trigger economic development in the region. The authorities also have few
illusions about Tibetans' allegiance to central government and therefore see the
mainlanders as constituting a core of loyalty to the state. The role of these
non-Tibetan migrants draws parallels to that of the pioneers in the mid-19th
century American 'Go West' movement from which features of China's Western
Development Drive (Ch: xibudakaifa) are believed to have been derived.
The events of spring 2008 left many mainland migrants traumatised and deeply
insecure and a number of them, mainly Chinese, left Lhasa within a few weeks of
the riots, while others expressed their intention to leave, dependent on
guarantees for their security. Ironically, the authorities' policy of
aggressively disseminating graphic material about the single day of violent
rioting might also have backfired and generated a dissuasive effect on potential
newcomers.
Rural Tibetans have also been encouraged to move to cities for many years. For
instance, a government work unit's report to Lhasa City’s People's Congress,
dated 01 April 2003, mentioned "development of (...) emigration" from rural
areas into urban areas as one of its key objectives. It states: "More rural
workers should be sent out to the urban centres", and even makes urbanisation of
the rural population a development indicator. The justification for facilitating
migration from rural areas is "to expand the labour economy" for industrial
development, and making use of a rural labour force that is seen as unproductive
by the authorities. Farmers and nomads who are to "be encouraged to settle in
towns and cities" are expected to "find jobs or engage in business" there.
However, the reality of development in Tibet is that while migrants from the
mainland can gain access to and benefit from government subsidies to develop
their businesses, most of the Tibetan floating population remains jobless and
forms a new underclass in cities, particularly in the Tibetan capital. These
Tibetans, mostly young people from eastern Tibetan rural regions, often survive
in appalling conditions and, with many virtually homeless, inevitably get
involved in illegal activities. At the same time, a deep resentment against
incomers from China, who occupy the few jobs available, has been developing
among them. Despite numerous warnings from Chinese sociologists, nothing was
done over the years to address the situation and the Tibetans' frustration
finally erupted against mainlanders, resulting in the ugly scenes of 14 March.
The new migration management drive appears to correct these undesirable
developments by placing the floating population under closer supervision of the
state.
The newly created floating population management team is headed by Wang Yibing,
the secretary of the TAR Legal and Political Committee, who is also secretary
and head of the TAR Public Security Bureau (PSB). His deputy is Baima Chiling,
an ethnic Tibetan (Tib: Pema Tsering), who is also the first vice chairman of
the autonomous region. Both are high regional leaders and members of the
standing committee of the TAR branch of the Communist Party.
The first meeting of the leading group for the (Tibet) Autonomous Region
floating population service and management work (Chin: zizhiqu liudong renkou
fuwu he guanli gongzuo lingdao xiaozu) was held in Lhasa on 02 September 2008.
TAR deputy Party secretary Zhang Yijiong delivered the keynote address.
According to a Tibet Daily report, Zhang stressed the importance of floating
populations for the development and stability of the TAR and hence the need to
provide them with proper services and adequate management. The aim of the new
policy priority, he said, is to "vigorously create good environmental conditions
for the floating population to work and live in Tibet [Autonomous Region]". Wang
Yibing added: "We must adjust our working thoughts, enhance the guarantee system
of the floating population's lawful rights and interests, so that they can live
and work in peace and contentment [(Chin: anju leye)] better than ever". Zhang
Yijiong also said the 'floating population' is "an important force in building a
better-off, peaceful and harmonious Tibet [(meaning the TAR)], and hence all
local party committees need to show leadership and government departments should
take greater control interest in the floating populations, including protecting
their legal rights and benefits, treating them equally, and providing rational
guidance" and better public services. Wang Yibing emphasised that they must be
helped to solve practical problems, and that protection of their rights and
their sense of safety must be reinforced (obviously referring to the attacks on
Chinese people and their properties on 14 March).
While these statements are obviously aimed at reassuring mainland migrants,
other comments seem to refer more specifically to the Tibetan migrants. Wang
Yibing spoke about the need to "reinforce management on public security, [and]
target the criminal activities hiding within the migration community". In the
afternoon of 02 September, the team visited and "gave guidance" to the Lhasa
municipal office for the 'floating population', and also the housing rental
agency.
In the speeches, the security and stability aspects were repeatedly emphasised.
Zhang Yijiong, for example, pointed out that all Tibetan local governments and
departments need to take "a strategic view of maintaining homeland unity,
national security and Tibet stability". And the presence of Wang Yibing, the
leader of the PSB, and, next to Qing Yizhi, vice-chairman of the TAR government
and secretary of the Lhasa Communist Party, of the deputy commissar of the Tibet
military region, Zhang Shipin, further reinforced this theme.
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