Chinese leader Xi Jinping took a rare trip to Tibet and welcomed the crushing of “separatism” in the once reeling region.
Communist Party officials waving Chinese flags, soldiers from the people’s liberation army marched with rifles, while Tibetans performed traditional dances at a ceremony that marks the 60 years since the establishment of Tibet’s autonomous region.
From the stage in front of Lhasa’s towering Potala Palace, Xi saw a meticulously choreographed celebration of Beijing’s solid control over a remote, resource-rich region with a long history of resistance to Chinese rule.
Potala Palace once served as a winter residence for the consecutive Dalai Lamas, which ruled Tibet as a spiritual and political head for centuries after the failed upheaval of Chinese rule in 1959, before the present Dalai Lama’s defection.
On Thursday, the square in front of the palace was packed with a parade attended by a large audience, including school children who clapped in unison during their official speeches, and thousands of people. The crowd is surrounded by two huge portraits of XI, the other with his predecessor.
Xi’s attendance at the event marked a break with precedent. In the past, Beijing has sent senior Communist Party leaders to Lhasa for every decade of regional government celebration, but never the top leader himself.
At age 72, XI is China’s oldest leader visiting Lhasa, the capital of the Himalayas region, 3,700 meters (12,139 feet) above sea level. He last visited the city in 2021, documenting 70 years that Beijing called Tibet’s “peaceful liberation.” Tibetan exiles see it as a brutal invasion and occupation by foreign forces.
“The first thing to do to govern, stabilize and develop Tibet is to maintain political stability, social stability, ethnic unity and religious harmony,” Xi told a senior Tibetan official at a meeting after its landing in Lhasa on Wednesday. He didn’t speak at the ceremony Thursday.
The trips of top leaders are because Tibet is prepared for pivotal moments in the future.
The current Dalai Lama, who spent more than 60 years in exile in India and is deeply respected by many in Tibet, is preparing for a showdown with Beijing about who will control his reincarnation.
Tibetan Buddhists believe in the circle of rebirth, and when an enlightened spiritual master like the Dalai Lama dies, he will be able to choose the place and time of his rebirth through the power of compassion and prayer.
In a memoir released in March, the Dalai Lama stated that his successor was born in a “free world” outside of China and urges his followers to reject the candidates chosen by Beijing.
And a few days before his 90th birthday in July, the Dalai Lama announced that he would have a successor after his death, and that his office had the sole authority to identify his reincarnation.
The declaration sets him on a Chinese officially conflict course with the atheist Communist Party.
That could lead to the emergence of two rivals, the Dalai Lama. One was chosen by his predecessor and the other by the Communist Party of China.
During his trip to Tibet, Xi did not name the Dalai Lama in comments reported by state media. However, he made a veiled mention to spiritual leaders at a meeting with Tibetan officials on Wednesday.
According to state media, Xi has promoted the regional government’s efforts to “enforce a thorough struggle with separatism” over the past 60 years.
Beijing brands the Dalai Lama as a dangerous “separatist” and denounces him for inciting Tibetan protests, anxiety and self-imagining against the Communist Party’s rule.
The Dalai Lama rejected those accusations, claiming that he wanted true autonomy in Tibet, not complete independence.
The Chinese Communist Party has launched a decades-long campaign to trust the current Dalai Lama and erase his presence from Tibetan life.
Since taking power, XI has strengthened security and surveillance in China’s frontier regions, strengthened efforts to assimilate ethnic minorities, launched a nationwide campaign to “sinicize” religion, and ensured it was consistent with the leadership and values of the Communist Party.
At Wednesday’s meeting, XI called for more effort to systematically promote “religious sin”, improve governance on religious issues, and “lead Tibetan Buddhism to adapt to a socialist society.”
Top leaders also called on local officials to advance Tibet’s major infrastructure projects. This includes plans to build the world’s largest hydroelectric power plant downstream of the Tsangpo River in Ito.
“Major projects such as the Yarlung Tsangpo Hydropower Project and the Sichuan-Tibet Railway must be carried out powerfully, systematically and effectively,” Xi was quoted as saying.
