Xi on the ‘roof of the world’: China’s grip on Tibet holds firm

On August 20, at noon, Chinese President Xi Jinping, also General Secretary of the Communist Party of China and Chairman of the Central Military Commission, landed at Lhasa Gongkar Airport. His fourth visit to Tibet was to celebrate sixty years of the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR).

But what is the TAR?

In 1965, a Tibet Autonomous Region was established to ‘administrate’ Central and Western Tibet. The area corresponded to the former Ü-Tsang Province and some parts of western Kham. It was a tragedy for the Tibetans because it meant the partition of Tibet.

Traditional, ethnic, linguistic Tibet was composed of three provinces: Ü-Tsang, Kham and Amdo. Suddenly Tibet was divided into five parts; TAR was one of them, and the remaining parts were amalgamated into the Chinese provinces of Qinghai, Gansu, Sichuan and Yunnan.

Tibet was dismembered. It has always been one of the Dalai Lama’s demands to reunite the five parts of Tibet into one administrative and political entity.

Further, the autonomy promised in the name itself was never given; for the past 60 years the First Secretary of the TAR Communist Party has not been a Tibetan, but a Han. There are very few ethnic Tibetans in the higher echelons of the Party, as we could see in the videos of Xi Jinping’s recent visit.

The Delegation

Xi was accompanied by a large delegation from Beijing.

The Xinhua release observed that Xi was looking at “the long-term stability and high-quality development of Tibet in the new era and the construction of a socialist modern Tibet”.

Xi was greeted by “a cheering crowd when he stepped out of the cabin and waved to the people. Dressed in festive attire, people from different ethnic groups waved red flags and flower bouquets, dancing to joyful rhythms”.

It looked more like a North Korea-type reception with everyone clapping in unison. Did the Tibetan ‘crowds’ have the choice to not participate? Probably not.

During the following day, the ‘clapping’ continued wherever Xi went.

During such visits, it is always important to look at the composition of the ‘Central’ delegation; it is the best way to decipher the visit.

Xi was accompanied by Wang Huning, No 4 in the Party, chairman of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference and member of the Politburo’s Standing Committee. Wang’s colleague, Cai Qi, No 5 in the Party and director of the General Office of the Central Committee, who often accompanies Xi in his tours, was present.

Three other members of the Politburo came to Lhasa: Li Ganjie, head of the United Front Work Department, along with He Lifeng and Zhang Guoqing; also present was the powerful Minister of Public Security Wang Xiaohong and Gen Zhang Shengmin, a member of the Central Military Commission who replaced the CMC’s strongman Gen Zhang Youxia, who had accompanied Xi in 2021. Why Gen Zhang did not come is probably because Xi and Zhang have lately not seen eye to eye.

More importantly and hardly noticed was the presence of Hu Chunhua, a former party secretary in Tibet who was at one time Xi’s heir apparent. After being apparently disgraced, he seems to be back in favour; his eventual return needs to be followed closely. Incidentally, Hu is one of the very few Han leaders who can speak Tibetan.

Apart from Gen Zhang Youxia, Gen Wang Haijiang, who since August 2021 has been commanding the Western Theatre Command opposite India, was missing in action. Earlier Wang had a long career in Tibet. Has he been purged? Everything is possible in China today. Also missing is Lt Gen Wang Kai, the commander of the Tibet Military District; only the TMD’s Political Commissar, Lt Gen Yuan Honggang, was seen around.

These absences are intriguing.

The Fourth Visit

It was Xi’s fourth visit to the Roof of the World.

In June 1998, then deputy secretary of the Fujian Provincial Party Committee, he came to Tibet for the first time to take back a first batch of Tibet Aid cadres in Fujian and bring a second batch.

In 2011, Xi Jinping, then Vice-President, led a delegation from the Central Committee to attend the celebration of the 60th anniversary of the so-called Peaceful Liberation of Tibet. He then said, “The ecological protection of Tibet is an important issue, and it is necessary to protect Tibet’s blue sky.”

His next visit was in 2021. From July 21 to 23, the General Secretary was in Tibet “to congratulate the 70th anniversary of the peaceful liberation of Tibet and visit and comfort the cadres and masses of all ethnic groups in Tibet”.

He also visited Nyingchi Prefecture, near the Indian border, where he inspected the ecological environment protection of the Yarlung Tsangpo River and the Nyang River basin. Later, he travelled by train to Lhasa.

The Programme

President Xi met six representative groups: people of ethnic groups and ‘all walks of life living in Lhasa’; then cadres who are posted in Tibet; next were judicial workers and police officers, followed by ‘grassroots role models’ and ‘patriotic members of the religious circles’; finally, he had a photo session with military officers ranked colonel and above.

During all these sessions, Xi looked tired, sometimes haggard (while the other leaders visited the six cities/prefectures outside Lhasa, Xi remained in the capital to rest).

During his meeting with the religious leaders, Xi had a brief encounter (not more than 5 seconds) with Gyaltsen Norbu, the Chinese-selected Panchen Lama. It was the only time that the latter was seen during the visit, which probably means that Norbu will not play an important role in the selection of the next Dalai Lama, as he was not given any prominent role during the visit.

Wang Huning and Cai Qi attended all the meetings.

The Work Report

Xi was invited to listen to the work report of the TAR government.

During his interaction, Xi stressed that “Tibet should fully implement the party’s strategy of governing Tibet in the new era, adhere to the general tone of steady progress, implement the new development concept in a complete and accurate manner, solidly promote high-quality development, continue to grasp the four major events of stability, development, ecology and strong edge, and strive to build a socialist modern new Tibet that is prosperous, civilised, harmonious and beautiful”.

The usual jargon. Do the Tibetans really believe this? It is doubtful, but do they have a choice?

The Chinese President then made a summary of the Party’s successes for 60 years: “Its economic and social development has achieved remarkable progress, leading to profound changes in the plateau region.” It cannot be denied that materially Tibet has changed.

Xi explained Beijing’s policies: “Governing Tibet, ensuring its stability and promoting its prosperity must begin with maintaining political and social stability, ethnic unity and amity among different religions, calling for further advancing the building of a community for the Chinese nation.” Stability is a recurrent issue in Xi’s discourse.

Xi then emphasised the need to guide “Tibetan Buddhism in adapting itself to socialist society.” He did not use the usual term of ‘sinisation’ of Tibetan Buddhism, but the result will be the same, erasing all traces of Indian influence on the propagation of Buddhism in Tibet.

He also asserted that Tibet (now called ‘Xizang’ by the Chinese government) “needs to develop competitive plateau industries based on local conditions, with a particular focus on industries of agriculture and animal husbandry with local features, as well as the clean energy sector”. This is being done on a large scale, completely changing the landscape of the Roof of the World and, worse, changing the demography of the plateau by bringing lakhs of migrants from China.

Finally, he mentioned the construction of a series of hydropower plants on the Yarlung Tsangpo/Brahmaputra, which causes deep anxiety in India: “Major projects such as the hydropower project in the lower reaches of the Yarlung Tsangpo River and the Sichuan-Xizang Railway project in a vigorous, orderly and effective manner.”

He spoke of the promotion of ecological conservation: “To make coordinated efforts to cut carbon emissions, reduce pollution, expand green development, and pursue economic growth, so as to protect the roof of the world and the water tower of Asia."

It does not make practical sense. One can’t destroy and protect the environment at the same time.

The Return of Zhao Zongqi

During the Gala reception in the evening, India was in for a surprise: Gen Zhao Zongqi, the artisan of the Doklam confrontation (2017) and the Eastern Ladakh Chinese intrusions in 2020, was posturing, seated in full uniform in the row behind the top leader. Gen Zhao retired in December 2020 as Commander of the Western Theatre Command after spending two decades posted in Tibet; after taking command of this sensitive area facing India, he created havoc in the Sino-Indian relations by trying to occupy five places in Ladakh. So, why was he invited?

Probably to show India that the border issue is far from being settled, despite the recent meeting of the Special Representatives in Delhi.

This visit (the shortest of Xi’s four visits) is ominous for the Tibetans as well; gaining any type of autonomy in the present circumstances is utopian.

And the question remains: are the Tibetans allowed to not clap?

The writer is Distinguished Fellow, Centre of Excellence for Himalayan Studies, Shiv Nadar Institution of Eminence (Delhi). Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely those of the writer. They do not necessarily reflect Firstpost’s views.