Padma Choling (; alternatively Pema Thinley, Pelma Chiley, Baima Chilin; ; born October 1952) is a Chinese politician of Tibetan ethnicity. He was the eighth chairman of the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR), but in January 2013, was replaced by his deputy Losang Jamcan. Later he served as the Tibet Autonomous Region People's Congress. As Chairman of TAR, Choling was the "most senior ethnic Tibetan in the regional government", though he was subordinate to the TAR Communist Party Chief Zhang Qingli, and later his successor Chen Quanguo. Biography Padma Choling was born in 1952 in a farming family in Dêngqên County, Chamdo Prefecture. He joined the People's Liberation Army in Qinghai Province at 17, and served in the army for seventeen years. In the army he played basketball and mastered the Chinese language. He joined the Chinese Communist Party in October 1970. He was an official in the Tibetan regional government since December 1969, working in Xigaze and then Lhasa, rising to the vice-chairmanship of the TAR in 2003. After his anodyne handling of an earthquake in Damxung County outside Lhasa, he was elected the chairman of the Tibet Autonomous Region in 2010. On 7 December 2020, pursuant to Executive Order 13936 signed by President Donald J. Trump Choling, being a vice chairperson of the NPC was sanctioned by the US Department of the Treasury. Every other Vice Chairperson of the National People's Congress were sanctioned as well, for "undermining Hong Kong's autonomy and restricting the freedom of expression or assembly." Chairmanship Personally, he has been described as "stern, but... amiable" in contrast to his "soft-spoken" predecessor Qiangba Puncog. In addition to stability and ethnic harmony, he has set a goal of 12 percent GDP growth and a ¥4,000 per capita GDP for farmers and herders in the Tibet Autonomous Region. To bring this about, he has signed an agreement with the Ministry of Commerce of the Central Government to allow it to promote trade with South Asia, including Nepal. Padma is of the opinion that there is no "issue of Tibet" that the Dalai Lama says, and questions the Lama's ability to judge the situation in Tibet since he has not been in Tibet since 1959. On the issue of religion, Padma has said that he and the Karmapa, Ogyen Trinley Dorje are "mates from the same hometown". At the 2010 National People's Congress, he announced that the choosing of