High-Ranking Chinese Official Sanctioned by the West Promoted by the CCP

Beijing has promoted a elder authoritative successful China’s far-western Xinjiang portion whose sanction has appeared connected aggregate Western sanction lists for his relation successful suppressing Uyghur communities, which respective countries person labeled arsenic genocide.

Wang Junzheng, 58, has been placed successful the apical Chinese Communist Party (CCP) station successful Tibet aft serving arsenic the Party brag of Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps (XPCC), a paramilitary radical successful Xinjiang accused of superior human rights violations.

His promotion was announced connected Chinese authorities media connected Oct. 19, on with the installations of six different determination chiefs. The promotion comes arsenic the CCP gears up for the 20th National Party Congress adjacent year, which volition people its largest enactment reshuffle successful 5 years.

Wang was one of four Chinese officials sanctioned by the United States, Canada, the UK, and the EU earlier successful 2021, making him 1 of the regime’s highest-ranking figures to beryllium deed with specified punitive measures.

He told authorities media astatine the clip that the sanctions were “a portion of discarded paper,” saying helium had nary involvement successful traveling to those countries and “not a penny” successful their banks.

Workers locomotion by the perimeter obstruction of a labour campy successful Xinjiang, China, connected Sept. 4, 2018. (Thomas Peter/Reuters)

In 2019, Wang became the caput of the determination Political and Legal Affairs Commission successful Xinjiang, a almighty governmental organ liable for instrumentality enforcement and nationalist security. He besides assumed the relation of lawman information main astatine the region’s Party committee successful 2020 and became the governmental commissar astatine the XPCC, which has besides been sanctioned by the United States.

Wang volition beryllium taking implicit the station from the retiring authoritative Wu Yingjie, who, successful an Oct. 19 speech, characterized the unit changes arsenic Chinese person Xi Jinping’s “thorough affirmation” to their handling of Tibet. At the aforesaid conference, attended by each large officials successful Tibet, Wang vowed to give himself to the Party and to physique a “loyal, clean, and responsible” cadre team.

Beijing took implicit Tibet successful 1951 aft promising the region’s radical the close to workout autonomy. Over the years, however, the authorities has continued to intensify its power implicit the section population, forcing monks and nuns to resume secular beingness and promoting Mandarin Chinese implicit the Tibetan language.

In August, Chinese Vice Premier Wang Yang told Tibetans to judge the Party’s leadership, claiming it to beryllium the lone mode for Tibet to prosper.