Chinese leader Xi Jinping made a rare visit to Tibet on Wednesday to mark the 60th anniversary of the Tibet Autonomous Region Foundation – the long -disputed consolidation of Beijing on Himalayan territory.
XI arrived by plane in Lhasa during his second visit to Tibet as president. Video broadcasting by the Chinese government has shown hundreds of people in traditional dress dancing with flowers and striking traditional drums while Xi was walking on the red carpet. Thousands of other flags have made a sign of agitation and white Tibetan scarves along the course of XI procession.
“We can read the Chinese leader Xi Jinping by visiting Tibet twice in the past five years as a sign that everything is not rosy inside Tibet as described by Beijing,” Rfa Namgyal Choedup, the representative of the Tibet office in Washington, told RFA.
“Despite more than six decades of the PCC rule, Tibet is essentially a police state and undoubtedly the most supervised region of the entire PRC’s visit. XI in Lhasa to mark the 60th anniversary of the Foundation of the Autonomous Region of Tibet Card Card because Beijing lacks both historical and popular legitimacy on its presence in Tibet ”.
XI was the last in Tibet in 2021, where he urged people to “follow the party” during a visit widely seen by external observers to report the confidence of the Communist Party according to which the order had finally been established in a region with a long history of protest against Chinese domination.
“To govern, stabilize and develop Tibet, the first thing is to maintain political stability, social stability, ethnic unity and religious harmony,” the state media told Xi on Wednesday, telling the senior officials of Tibet.
The Chinese government’s media also declared that Xi had urged the construction of a “modern socialist” Tibet “united, prosperous, civilized, harmonious and beautiful”.
Communist forces occupied Tibet in 1951 six years after the 14th Dalai Lama fled to India following a failed uprising, the unique dictatorship of Mao Zedong established the autonomous Tibet region in 1965. Decades of political repression followed, including the demolition of certain Buddhist monasteries and the imprisonment of Monks.
During a period that followed the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, when China opened its doors to the outside world, Tibet was shaken by demonstrations by monks and a series of self-immolation.
In recent years have seen Tibet virtual closure with journalists and foreigners, the abolition of Tibetan children from their families to boarding schools where they are taught in Mandarin, and the repression of all forms of political or cultural expression outside the control of the Communist Party.
The Dalai Lama, who celebrated his 90th birthday at his home in exile in Dharamsala, India, said that in his death, he would be reincarnated as the next spiritual leader and only the Gaden Phodrang Trust – his foundation – would be authorized to identify his successor.
Beijing maintains that he has the right to approve the Dalai Lama successor.
With report by the Associated Press and Reuters.