(TibetanReview.net, Jun12’25) – China has on Jun 12 given state funeral to Ragdi (also written as Raidi), one of top Tibetan collaborators in its occupation rule in Tibet. He topped his career under Chinese rule as a vice chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress (NPC), China’s top legislature.
Xi Jinping, along with other Party and state leaders including Li Qiang, Zhao Leji, Wang Huning, Cai Qi, Ding Xuexiang and Li Xi, bid farewell to Ragdi at the Babaoshan Revolutionary Cemetery, reported China’s official Xinhua news agency Jun 12.
Amid solemn music, they walked slowly toward Ragdi’s body and stood in silent tribute. They then paid their final respects with three bows, shook hands with Ragdi’s family and offered condolences, the report said.
Ragdi was stated to have died of illness at the age of 87 in Beijing on Jun 6, having served as a vice-chairman of the 10th NPC Standing Committee (2003-08.
The report said Ragdi was extolled as an excellent member of the Communist Party of China (CPC), a loyal communist soldier, an outstanding leader in the work on ethnic affairs and socialist legal system development, and an excellent son of the Tibetan people.
It noted that Xi Jinping, Li Qiang, Zhao Leji, Wang Huning, Cai Qi, Ding Xuexiang, Li Xi, Han Zheng and Hu Jintao either visited Ragdi while he was in hospital or mourned him and sent condolences to his family through various means following his passing.
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A former monk – though touted as a former serf in some of China’s propaganda pieces – and a graduate of the Central Party School of the Chinese Communist Party, Ragdi joined the CPC in Oct 1961.
A native of Driru (Chinese: Biru) county in Tibet’s Nagchu City, Ragdi began his career in the city’s Public Prosecution and Law Enforcement Commission. He rose through the ranks to become Deputy Secretary of the TAR Party Committee (1993-94) and head of the Standing Committee of the TAR People’s Congress, before being elevated to Beijing.
On Sep 16, 2019, China honoured him with the national honorary designation of “Outstanding Contributor to Ethnic Unity”.
Ragdi was especially known for his unabashed support for China’s rule in Tibet and shrill denunciation of those who criticized its highly repressive policies and actions there.
He proved his loyalty to the CPC-state in his interactions with foreign journalists, in his discussion of the status of the Dalai Lama and the Karmapa, and on the disappearance of the 11th Panchen Lama Gedhun Choekyi Nyima (“China says vanished Panchen Lama ‘happy'”. BBC News, Nov 12, 2002).