What message was Xi Jinping trying to send on his visit to Tibet?
- The first visit by a Chinese leader to the region in three decades was designed to send a message to the US, India and the Dalai Lama, observers say
- Visits to a leading Buddhist monastery may also have been a way to highlight Beijing’s grip on the region
The president’s latest policy edict on Tibet – summarised in eight Chinese characters that translate as “stability, development, ecology and border-area consolidation” – and the stage-management of the event were meant to send a clear message to domestic audiences and to India and the Dalai Lama.
The official reason for the three-day trip, which concluded last Friday, was to highlight the 70th anniversary of what Beijing calls the peaceful liberation of Tibet, generally referring to the beginning of the People’s Liberation Army’s stationing in the region in 1951, following a milestone agreement between the central government and the administration in Lhasa earlier that year. It was the first by a top Chinese leader since 1990.
Bouts of ethnic and religious unrest rocked the Tibetan capital Lhasa in 1989 and 2008. China accused the exiled spiritual leader of being behind the disturbances, but rights groups said they were a sign of desperation and had been triggered by Beijing’s hardline policies.