In recent days, two senior officials handpicked by the Chinese Communist Party to head the leadership in the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) have been prosecuted for misuse of funds exposing the deep ties between corruption and repression in Tibet.
Wu Yingjie, former TAR Party Secretary and previously sanctioned by the US and Canada for human rights violations, has been convicted of corruption while serving in TAR. On July 16, Beijing No. 3 Intermediate People’s Court sentenced Wu to a death sentence with a two-year reprieve.
Similarly, on July 22, 2025, Chinese state media announced that Che Dralha (Qi Zhala), a Tibetan and former head of the TAR Government, was expelled from the CCP and dismissed from public office for misappropriating public funds. Che and Wu were serving in Lhasa around the same time. In January 2025, the CCP Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and the National Commission of Supervision had launched an investigation against Che. Che is probably the seniormost Tibetan among many others working under the Chinese system who have been subjected to investigation for misusing public funds indicating that corruption is pervasive in the Tibetan areas.
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Numerous senior officials across the CCP party-state structure in Tibetan regions, spanning 17 prefectural-level and two county-level “autonomous” administrative divisions, are currently under prosecution or investigation for corruption. A recent International Campaign for Tibet report, Crisis of Credibility: China’s Leaders in Tibet Selected for Loyalty to CCP Over Welfare of Tibetan People, highlights a partial list of these officials, arguing that China’s leadership in Tibet faces a credibility crisis due to ineffective Tibetan representation and rampant corruption and misrule.
The CCP’s anti-corruption campaigns, heavily publicized through state-controlled media, are strategically designed to bolster the Party’s image and legitimacy both domestically and internationally. However, endemic corruption in Chinese-ruled Tibet is pervasive in an environment devoid of checks and balances, independent oversight, and transparency. High-profile prosecutions of officials, such as Wu Yingjie, are trumpeted to showcase the Party’s commitment to rooting out corruption. Yet, these actions often function as political theater to project an illusion of accountability and justice while leaving the broader system of patronage and power untouched.
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In the absence of a free press, independent judiciary, or vibrant civil society, the CCP maintains unchallenged control over the narrative, portraying itself as a resolute opponent of corruption while suppressing any scrutiny that might expose the depth of systemic graft and mismanagement.
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