Tibet requires lawyers to strengthen Party construction, education

Authorities from China’s Tibet Autonomous Region are requiring lawyers in the region to strengthen their Party construction and education.

Party committees of the legal profession need to educate lawyers, making sure every law office and lawyer understands Party construction in the new era, Wang Liping, the deputy head of Tibet’s department of justice, said at a workshop on Sunday.

The legal profession in Tibet should set off a “learning craze” for Party building, Wang said, according to a statement obtained by the Global Times from Tibet’s department of justice on Tuesday.

Cai Zhiqiang, a professor at the Party School of the Central Committee of Communist Party of China, told the Global Times on Tuesday that strengthening Party building among lawyers doesn’t mean the Party would interfere in the work of lawyers.

If an institute has more than three Party members it should build its own Party organization, regardless of industry or sector, Cai said.

Party construction only applies to CPC Party members, but non-Party members should also be familiar with the laws and national policies. Since Tibet has complex ethnic relations and religion, Party construction among lawyers in the region is significant, Cai added.

The All-China Lawyers Association said Party building work among lawyers has made huge strides in recent years. The Xinhua News Agency reported that by the end of 2016, lawyers’ associations in 31 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities, and the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, had established Party organizations.

Among the 26,000 law firms in China, 6,538 have their own Party branches and 10,159 have joint Party branches, the report said.