Hao Peng

Hao PengName
Hao Peng 郝鹏

Current status
Acting Governor, Qinghai Province

Born
1960

Relevance to Tibet
A rising leader with considerable experience in Tibetan areas, including the TAR between 2003 and 2013 (last post was Deputy Party Secretary).

Overview

Pronunciation: How Peng
Born: 1960, Shaanxi Province
Education: A rusticated or “sent-down” youth who worked in Gansu Province in the 1970s. Graduated from Northwest Polytechnical University (Shaanxi Province) in 1982.
Career: Worked in Gansu Province 1999 – 2003, rising to Deputy Party Secretary of Lanzhou City, before being transferred to the Tibet Autonomous Region as a Vice Chair of the TAR government, and Deputy Party Secretary from 2006 to 2013. Acting Governor of Qinghai Province since March 2013.
Prospects: Hao Peng’s experience in Gansu and the TAR seems likely to stand him in good stead for future promotion.
Relevance to Tibet: Head of the government of Qinghai Province, which encompasses large areas of Tibet.

Standing in the Party and Career Highlights:

Alternate Member of the 18th Central Committee.

Quotations By/Comments About:

    In 2010, Hao Peng gave a press conference to a select party of foreign journalists. Here are some extracts of what he is reported to have said:

  • The Independent, July 2010: “We are doing our best to improve the quality and calibre of local Tibetans and have also introduced special policies in terms of employment projects, subsidies and grants to help local people,” Clifford Coonan also commented: ‘Hao Peng cuts an avuncular figure and is unusually frank for a party official in Tibet. He is the new, approachable face that China wants to front its multibillion-yuan efforts to boost the isolated mountain enclave’s economy and win the hearts and minds of the Tibetan people.’
  • New York Times: “The flow of human resources follows the rule of market economics and is also indispensable for the development of Tibet,” Hao Peng, vice chairman and deputy party secretary of the region, said at a news conference with a small group of foreign journalists. But the current system “may have caused an imbalanced distribution,” he said. “We are taking measures to solve this problem.”
  • Reuters: “We have the ability and confidence to maintain stability in Tibet forever, and we will ultimately achieve long-term order and stability,”… “What you see in the streets, including the police and other legal forces, are necessary measures to maintain stability,” [Speaking about the ban on Dalai Lama portraits] “The Dalai Lama is not merely a religious figure, he is also a mastermind of separatist activities. No sovereign country in the world would allow the hanging of a portrait of a person like that,” he said.
  • The New York Times [Quoting Hao Peng speaking about Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, the Panchen Lama] “We know that he is studying now and living in quite good conditions,” he said. “His family members and him do not want to be disrupted in their normal life. We have to respect their wishes, so that’s why we don’t arrange visits with the young man.”

Other Quotes

  • Guardian, May 2012: Tibet Daily newspaper said Hao Peng, head of the Communist party’s commission for political and legal affairs in the region, had urged authorities to tighten their grip on the internet and mobile text messaging. “Hao Peng stressed that … the trouble caused by the activities of the Dalai clique has persisted, and the situation for stability maintenance is still complicated and grim,” it reported.
  • BBC, May 2012: [Speaking about twin self-immolations in Lhasa] “They were a continuation of the self-immolations in other Tibetan areas and these acts were all aimed at separating Tibet from China,” Hao Peng, head of the Communist Party’s Commission for Political and Legal Affairs in the Tibet Autonomous Region, was quoted as saying.

Contact Information:

  • Address: Qinghai Provincial General Office, No.12 Xidajie, Xining, Qinghai 810000.
  • Website: www.qh.gov.cn
  • Phone: + 86 971 8252102 or 8252103
  • Fax: + 86 971 8239540