(TibetanReview.net, Nov29’24) –Yan Jinhai, an ethnic Tibetan with Chinese name from Qinghai province, has resigned as the Chairman of the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) government. An acting chairman has been appointed, reported China’s official chinadaily.com.cn Nov 29, citing the local party mouthpiece Xizang Daily.
China usually appoints a Tibetan as the chairman of the TAR government, with concurrent position as a Deputy Party secretary. The regional Party Secretary, who wields the real power, has always been an ethnic Chinese.
Karma Tsedan was appointed acting chairman of the Xizang autonomous region on Nov 28, the report said, using the Sinicized name for Tibet.
The appointment was stated to have been made at the 13th meeting of the Standing Committee of the 12th People’s Congress of the TAR.
The committee also accepted Yan Jinhai’s request to resign from the region’s chairman position, the report added.
The report said both decisions would be submitted for the record of the 12th People’s Congress of the TAR.
Yan, 62, previously served as the Mayor of Lhasa City.
Before that, he was vice governor of Qinghai from Jan 2013 to May 2017, when he became a member of the standing committee of the CPC Qinghai Provincial Committee, the province’s top authority.
In Jul 2020, he was transferred to TAR and appointed a deputy party secretary, concurrently serving as party secretary of Lhasa since Jan 18, 2021.
On Oct 8, 2021, he was appointed chairman of TAR, succeeding Che Dalha, a Tibetan from Gyalthang (Chinese: Zhongdian, now renamed as Shangri-La) County, Yunnan province.