A Chinese official who approved the destruction of a huge Buddha statue in a Tibetan-majority area has been assigned to another post in the same prefecture, Tibetans inside and outside the region said.
Wang Dongsheng, a former head of Drago county, now has a non-political appointment as director of the Office of Science and Technology in Kardze Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in China’s Sichuan province, they said. Drago County, called Luhuo in Chinese, is located in Kardze, in the historic Tibetan province of Kham.
A source in India told Radio Free Asia that Wang was promoted to the post in August 2022.
Wang had previously overseen a campaign of destruction at the sprawling Larung Gar Buddhist Academy in Drago in a move that led to the expulsion of thousands of monks and nuns and the destruction of homes.
After taking office as Drago county chief in October 2021, Wang led the demolition of the 30-meter (99-foot) building. buddha statue following official complaints that it had been built too high. Dozens of traditional prayer wheels used by Tibetan pilgrims and other Buddhist worshipers were also destroyed.
The authorities forced monks from the Thoesam Gatsel Monastery and Tibetans living in Chuwar and other nearby towns to witness the destruction that began in December 2021.
Wang had previously overseen a campaign of destruction at Sichuan’s sprawling Larung Gar Buddhist Academy in a move that led to the expulsion of thousands of monks and nuns and the destruction of homes.
“Just a month after taking office, he started the demolition of Tibetan religious sites in Drago,” said a Tibetan source inside the region who requested anonymity for security reasons. “Under his leadership, the Drago Buddhist school was destroyed.”
hotbed of resistance
Since 2008, Drago has been a hotbed of resistance against Chinese rule, prompting interventions by the authorities, including significant crackdowns in 2009 and 2012. Any sign of Tibetan disobedience is seen by Beijing as an act of separatism that threatens China’s national security. .
In this satellite image slider, the 99-foot Buddha statue in Drago in the Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture is shown on the left protected by a white canopy on November 19, 2019. On the right is the site on November 1 January 2022. Credit: Planet Laboratories with analysis by RFA
Earlier this year, Chinese authorities tightened restrictions on Tibetan residents there, imposing measures to prevent contact with people outside the area, according to sources with knowledge of the situation.
Wang’s tenure as head of Drago County ushered in a period of intense attack on Tibetan Buddhism by the Chinese Communist Party, with the brutal dismantling of important cultural and religious sites.
Party leaders who suppress Tibetans and successfully carry out tough campaigns against the Buddhist minority group are often promoted, said Dawa Tsering, director of the India-based Institute of Tibet Policy.
“This is the norm, and we can see that happening with Wang Donsheng,” he told RFA.
Lui Pang, an executive member of the Drago Communist Party, has been appointed as the new county head, the sources said.
Among the dozen or so administrative officials in Drago County there are eight ethnic Chinese who hold higher posts, while the remaining four are Tibetans who work as office workers, they said.
So far, there has been a slight easing of the harsh campaigns against Tibetans in the region under the new county chief, said another Tibetan inside the region, who declined to be named for security reasons.
“Unlike former chief Wang, if you don’t get involved in any sensitive or political issues or incidents, (the authorities) won’t make random arrests as such,” the source said.
Wang was previously appointed deputy secretary of the Tibetan-majority Serta county in Kardze, called Ganzi in Chinese, in December 2016, later serving as county head.
Translated by Tenzin Dickyi for RFA Tibetan. Edited by Roseanne Gerin and Malcolm Foster.
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