China sets preconditions for Tibetan college grads to criticize Dalai Lama to get public jobs

New job postings reveal that Chinese authorities are requiring college graduates from the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) who apply for jobs in public institutions to “expose and criticize the Dalai Lama” and “have clear and firm political principles.”

In a series of announcements, TAR officials have introduced repressive new conditions for job candidates, including:

“Support the Party’s leadership, resolutely implement the [Chinese Communist] Party’s line, line of approach, policies, and the guiding ideology of Tibet work in the new era; align ideologically, politically, and in action with the Party Central Committee; oppose any splittist tendencies; expose and criticize the Dalai Lama; safeguard the unity of the motherland and ethnic unity and take a firm stand on political issues, taking a clear and distinct stand.”^[1]

These new requirements underscore how Tibetans are being forced to perform visible acts of loyalty to the Chinese state and to disavow any allegiance to the Dalai Lama, whom China forced into exile 60 years ago and who has not been allowed to return to Tibet ever since.

Extra requirements for Tibetans

The requirements for Tibetan graduates go far beyond the language in a general college graduate recruitment announcement posted by the People’s Republic of China’s Ministry of Natural Resources in 2019, which applies to people across China and says only that applicants must “[r]esolutely support the Party’s line, principles, and policies, comply with the law, and behave properly.”

The general announcement also refers to a “qualification review” candidates will have to go through, stating that “each recruiting unit will conduct qualification review in conjunction with the actual situation and job requirements of the unit (the specific requirements of the job are subject to the explanation of each recruiting unit).”

The TAR announcements, in contrast, is more explicit and state that candidates also have to pass a political review, and that those deemed insufficiently loyal to China’s authoritarian rule in Tibet may not be hired:

“Candidates are required to fill out the ‘2019 Tibet Autonomous Region Political Examination Form for College Graduate Recruitment in Public Institutions,’ and the local police station or work unit will inspect the candidates. The unit or department responsible for the political review inspection shall do a good job in examining the political review work in a conscientious and responsible manner, seek truth from facts, and sign an opinion and affix their official seal on the political review form. They must focus on examining candidates in regards to anti-separatism, safeguarding the unity of the motherland and ethnic unity, and other aspects of political performance. Those who fail the political examination are not to be hired.”

The TAR announcements also reference a qualification review by the personnel management office of the People’s Social Welfare Department that includes inspecting each candidate’s graduation certificate, ID card, household registration book (Chinese: hukou), political review form and other relevant documents.

The TAR announcements add that:

“After review, if the candidate has failed the political examination, doesn’t meet the conditions for application, applied dishonestly, disobeyed organization rules, or has created or spread online rumors, or has maliciously disseminated untrue statements, their qualifications will be cancelled.”

In contrast, the language used in the general announcement is more passive, saying:

“The information and materials submitted by the applicant shall be true and accurate. The applicant will be responsible for any failure to fill in the form seriously, resulting in an incomplete form or errors. If the information is incomplete or incorrect, the applicant shall be liable. Anyone who commits fraud will be disqualified from the examination and employment qualification.”

Search for applicants

Beginning in April 2019, TAR authorities announced the recruitment of college graduates for various positions, including civil servants, teachers and grassroots workers.

On June 5, 2019, the Autonomous Region College Graduates Employment and Entrepreneurship Leading Group Office mentioned the open recruitment process and said, “The party committees and governments of the autonomous region have always attached great importance to the employment of college graduates and adopted a number of measures to arrange employment for college graduates.”

In their announcements this month, TAR authorities announced they will recruit 1,000 candidates for public institutions, including 250 in local-level institutions, 600 in the education system and 150 in institutions at the district-level.

Quote:

Matteo Mecacci, president of the International Campaign for Tibet:
“Such official recruitment announcements by the Chinese authorities symbolize the additional systematic discrimination imposed on Tibetans living under Chinese rule. Being forced to denounce the Dalai Lama – a Nobel Peace Laureate who for Tibetans is a source of pride and great inspiration – to get a job, is an unnecessary humiliation and discrimination, which only hardens the Tibetan spirit of resistance, and does not certainly provide legitimacy to Chinese rule in Tibet.

“The tightened rules give reason for concern, as they apply to applicants of Tibetan origin only and amount to racial profiling. Moreover, the requirements to reveal and denounce a certain political opinion violate the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion, as protected in Article 18 Universal Declaration of Human Rights.”

Footnotes:
[1] Section Three, “Application Conditions,” 2019 Announcement of the Fourth Batch of Teachers Recruiting College Graduates in the Tibet Autonomous Region in 2019, posted on Oct.8, 2019 https://www.educity.cn/jszp/2010993.html