(TibetanReview.net, Jun04’26) – China is continuing into the 15th year a campaign to embed its cadres in each village of Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) in a long-running campaign to strengthen political control and accelerate forced assimilation policies, said Washington-based Tibet advocacy group International Campaign for Tibet (ICT) Jun 2. The campaign is stated to involve over 22,000 cadres being deployed on a yearly rotational basis to villages across the TAR at an average of four cadres per village.
A similar campaign is stated to be continuing in the Tibetan areas outside TAR, namely in Qinghai, Sichuan, Gansu and Yunnan provinces, although on smaller scales of deployment.
Under the campaign, which began in 2011, teams of cadres are required to live, eat and work full-time in the villages in TAR for one-yearly rotations.
ICT said that at a high-level conference held on May 18 in Lhasa, the regional Party Secretary Wang Junzheng praised the achievements of village-stationed work teams and outlined priorities for the newly deployed 15th batch of cadres. The meeting combined awards for outstanding performers with directives to deepen ideological education, maintain stability and promote rural revitalization.
“Carrying out the work of stationing cadres in villages is a major decision and deployment made by the Party Committee of the Tibet Autonomous Region in accordance with the requirements of the Party Central Committee,” Wang was quoted as saying.
The program’s five key focus areas were stated to be forging a strong sense of community for the Chinese nation, carrying out anti-separatism work, defending border areas, boosting rural incomes and maintaining social stability.
ICT says the deployment of such cadres in Tibetan areas outside TAR was much lower, totalling probably in low thousands, although in Qinghai province the total was 5,221 in 2021, for example.
The higher level of deployment in TAR is seen as Beijing’s view of the region being a strategic priority requiring deeper grassroots penetration. Since the program’s launch, China has carried out more than 297,000 cadre deployments across 15 batches in TAR.
ICT said “form pairs and make friends” is a common united front mass work tactic used in Tibet where tens of thousands of cadres have been paired with Tibetan households in an organized “befriending” program where officials are assigned specific families to regularly visit and sometimes stay with overnight. The cadres carry out political indoctrination and propaganda by explaining party policies, Xi Jinping Thought, and promoting “ethnic unity.”
CCP cadres are also stated to gather information and report on family situations, ideological positions or potential risks. The cadres promote the use of the Chinese language and the commemoration of Chinese national holidays in rural Tibet.
ICT said the “befriending” program, which has been running for a decade, turns officials into embedded “relatives” who monitor and steer Tibetans towards party policies to ensure tight grassroots control in Tibet.
Between 2011-2024, the party-state spent more than 20 billion yuan (approximately $2.8 billion USD) to enhance the party’s control in the TAR’s 5,594 villages, the TAR People’s Government Press Office. Strategic evolution and border security, was stated to have reported.
Although originally expanded during China’s national poverty alleviation campaign, the village-stationing program has now evolved into a permanent tool of state control. Since claiming victory over absolute poverty, the focus has shifted toward ideological work, China’s national identity building and border security, the report said.
In Tibet’s border villages near India, Nepal and Bhutan, cadres are stated to play a dual role in promoting economic development while supporting “xiaokang” (well-off villages) border settlements and joint defense mechanisms.
ICT said that as cadres implemented the existing party-state policies, concrete short- to medium-term directions and strategies were expected to emerge during the impending 11th TAR Party Congress later this year, as well as the 8th Central Tibet Work Forum, which is due following its five-year interval. The last Tibet Work Forum was held in August 2020.