15 Jan, 2010, Tibet, China

China has selected a former soldier as their new governor of Tibet as the previous one had resigned unexpectedly. Padma Choling, the new governor is an ethnic Tibetan who served for 17 years in China’s army before joining the regional government. Qiangba Puncog, the previous governor was in office during the deadly riots which shook Tibet in early 2008.

The most powerful official in the Tibet still remains the local Communist Party boss Zhang Qingli. He is also a former military man, suggesting China sees Tibet as an issue of military control. Tibet is a resource-rich, mountainous region that strategically shares the borders with India, Pakistan, Nepal and Burma. The region is notionally autonomous but policy for the region is tightly controlled by the central government in Beijing.

Padma Choling became the vice-governor of Tibet in the year 2003. His appointment to the governorship is a part of leadership shuffle that that has also seen his predecessor named head of the Regional People’s Congress. Tibet has seen fast growth in few recent years that includes the completion of the world’s longest high-altitude railway connecting the capital Lhasa with the rest of the country in 2006.

China has greatly lifted the living standards for the population.