Standing in the Party and Career Highlights:

** In May 2012 Mingpao reported that Zhu Weiqun had retired and been replaced by Zhang Yijiong. However feedback from visiting diplomats suggests that Zhu Weiqun still appears to be in position. There are no official announcements concerning Zhang Yijiong, who is a member of the 18th Central Committee and currently listed as Deputy Party Secretary of Jiangxi Province. Zhang served as a Deputy Party Secretary in the TAR from 2006 – 2010 and on the Autonomous Region’s Politics and Law Commission.]**

Appointed Vice Director of the United Front Department in 1999 and became the Executive Vice Director (Minister) in 2006. Zhu is Vice President of the China Overseas Friendship Association as well as Secretary-General of the China Association for Preservation and Development of Tibetan Culture.

Member of the 17th CPC Central Committee but not a member of the 18th Central Committee (2012).

No information available for the period 1970 – 2006, apart from a reference to the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection in 2002.

In February 2012 Zhu Weiqun drew the attention of the international media with an article in the party’s ‘Study Times’ journal which said listing ethnic minority status on identity cards, using ethnic names for schools and regions and reserving privileges for ethnic minorities were obstacles to nationalism and cohesion. Minnie Chan in the South China Morning Post quoted him as follows: “Some of our current educational and administrative policies have unintentionally weakened [ethnic minorities’] sense of nationhood and Chinese nationalism” and, with other media, suggested the Party may be considering an abrupt shift towards overtly assimilationist policies, after more than 60 years of recognising cultural and ethnic difference.

Quotations By:

• Zhu Weiqun: In Hong Kong, marking the 40th anniversary of the creation of the TAR, he gave a speech entitled “Buddhism and Building of Harmonious Society.” I, a beginner in study of Buddhism, would like to beg your attention to my humble opinions on Buddhism if they are correct. If my opinions are incorrect, I hope you’ll be kind enough to point out what is wrong with them………..Another example we’d like to cite is the “Theory of Cause” advocated by Buddhism, according to which nothing can exist in isolation and the human being is closely bound up with all other living creatures on earth. Proceeding from this theory, the religion takes equality as the basic principle guiding the handling of the relations between the different peoples and between the human race and all other living creatures. Says the Diamond Sutra, “The Great Law stands for equality, making no distinction between the superior and the inferior. Equality, in our opinion, means mutual respect by the strong and the weak, the rich and the poor, the great and the small, and the leader and the subordinate.”
• Exchange of statements with Lodi Gyari December 2009 “Mr. Gyari just tries to steer the topic and distract people’s attention away from the embarrassing issue ‘whether the Dalai Lama lies or not’.”
• Kelsang Gyaltsen on the Memorandum on Genuine Autonomy: “Zhu Weiqun stated: “Even the title of your memorandum is unacceptable. How many times do we need to say that the Dalai Lama has no right to speak about the situation in Tibet or in the name of the Tibetan people?” When we asked him why in the first place he had invited us to present our views on autonomy, his answer was: “This was a test to see how far you have come understand the position and the policy of the Central Government. And you have failed the examination miserably.”
• In December 2011 in a party journal, Qiushi (Seeking Truth), Zhu Weiqun warned against the rise of religious believers in the CCP. If party members are allowed to believe in religion, he wrote, it will result in “shaking and losing the guiding position of Marxism, and in dividing the party ideologically and theoretically”. (Source: Economist)

Zhu Weiqun’s Contact Information:

• Address: 135 Fuyou Street Xicheng District, Beijing 100800.
• Website: http://www.zytzb.cn/09/
• Phone:
• Fax:

Zhu Weiqun Profile Downloads:

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