Xi Jingping’s Tibet Visit: A Challenge for India?
Posted on : September 14, 2021Author : Sagnik Sarkar
On July 21, there came an unprecedented guest at Nyingchi’s Mainling Airport in the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR). And this guest was none other than the Chinese President Xi Jingping, who landed at the region for a two-day official visit, without any prior notice and amid stringent security. This was the first official visit made by him to the region, where Beijing’s initiatives such as its massive military build up, as well as ethnic assimilation polices, have for long drawn criticisms from all corners of the world. This move can be viewed as Beijing’s effort to affirm its control over a region which has for ages been a source of contest and confrontation in the region, especially for India. This visit should be seen as a worrying event for India.
If one looks at Tibet, it has for long been a contested region, between various parties, and China. In 1913, the region asserted independence after decades of efforts by Britain and China to establish control. In 1949, Mao Zedong became proclaimed the foundation of the People’s Republic of China, and threatened Tibet with ‘liberation’, and in the following year, it enforced a long-held claim to the region. Tibetan leaders were forced to sign a Seventeen-Point Agreement, which professed the guarantee of Tibetan autonomy, and to respect the Buddhist religion, but also allows the establishment of Chinese civil and military headquarters at Lhasa. The Chinese occupation of Tibet in 1950 attracted dissents in the future from large sections of the Tibetan masses. In the mid-1950s, this resentment led to the outbreak of an armed resistance. The Dalai Lama’s efforts to make China adhere to the seventeenth point agreement fail, as talks with Mao Zedong in 1954 do not yield positive results.
The annexation of Tibet in 1950 led to the disappearance of historical buffer between India and China, but they did not oppose to this development openly. The Panchasheel Agreement, signed between Nehru and then Chinese Premier Xhou Enlai, included in it a clause respecting the territorial integrity of the two countries. But situations were worsening. Another armed rebellion in 1958 was suppressed by the Chinese army. Fearing the worst, Dalai Lama crossed over to India in 1959, and soon granted asylum. This was where the friendly relations soon took a U-turn. China opposed India’s move, claiming that the latter was allowing ‘anti-China activities’ to take place within its own territory.
Xi’s recent visit to the Tibetan ‘Autonomous’ Region (TAR) comes during a period of heightened tensions between the two neighbouring states. And his decision to begin his tour from the Nyingchi Prefecture is a noteworthy happening. Opposite to the prefecture is the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh. Official Chinese maps still include almost the entirety of the Indian state as part of the Chinese territory, more precisely of the Nyingchi Prefecture. Xi Jingping has indulged, for long, in making persistent calls for ‘rejuvenating’ the Chinese nation and recovery of territories apparently lost by the imposition of unequal treaties by foreign powers.
The importance of the visit was highlighted by the presence of three politburo members and General Zhang Youxia, who is the Vice Chairman of the Central Military Commission, in Xi’s visiting contingent. The focus of the tour was the implementation of the 14th Five Year Plan, the military, and the Chinese Communist Party’s policy initiatives in the TAR. And indeed, Nyingchi has an abundancy of border defence regiments, missile bases and Peoples’ Liberation Army (PLA) Units.
Besides, the region would also function as a crucial linkage of the under-construction Chengdu-Lhasa railway, which would connect the capital of TAR, Lhasa, with Chengdu, which is the capital of the Sichuan province. Once the construction is over, this railway would reduce travel time between the two cities by at least 10 hours from the current timespan of around 30 hours. This would also end up being the second railway network to connect Lhasa and Shigatse with the Chinese mainland. Thus, the strategic importance of this railway makes it a so very important subject for the Chinese leadership. For this very reason, Xi Jingping visited the Linzhi station, an important hub-station of the Sichuan-Tibet Railway, on July 22, where he received a briefing of the entire railway project, and specifically regarding Nyingchi. He emphasised on the importance of the railway-link as a measure to promote the development of Tibet as well as provide livelihood to the local people. He later travelled by a Bullet train to Lhasa.
Alongwith the railways, Nyingchi is also going to host the world’s largest dam which is being built near the Great Bend on the Yarlung Tsagpo, or the Brahmaputra. Other projects on the river include the construction of numerous other small dams. The fact that these projects would require the influx of a large number of skilled workers and technicians from the mainland to the scarcely populated Tibet must have also been on the minds of the Chinese leadership.
The presence of General Youxia also confirmed the military intents of the visit. China already has in mind certain plans for TAR, which include defence-related infrastructure projects such as building up twenty border airports. Upgradation and extension of two additional highways along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) is also being thought of. Xi’s visit was marked by greeting military personnel and veterans at Lhasa, as well as addressing thousands of PLA and Air Force servicemen. Xi thanked them for their large contribution towards security and unification, along with ensuring ‘peace and stability’ in Tibet. He encouraged them to remain committed to the Party and to endorse its ideology, besides also urging the soldiers to continue working hard to become a ‘formidable’ force, having also mentioned that they have successfully met with the environmental and climatic challenges posed forward by Tibet. However, his assertion to build up a ‘formidable force’ should be seen as a matter of concern. He had also highlighted the need for the army to maintain training for ‘future wars.’ And indeed, with the prevailing situation between India and China with regards to LAC in Ladakh, it should not be a doubt that this situation and related developments have also been discussed in this meeting.
To conclude, the Chinese Premier’s visit to Tibet is a calculated move to assert China’s claim in a strategically important region. He even went on to exert an inclusive look and addressed Tibetan sentiments by visiting the Potala Palace, Barkhor and Drepung Monastery in Lhasa. Besides, this unexpected tour has suddenly provided some sort of an impulse to the policies and development projects currently going on in the region. Development of transport networks, highways and railways, increasing security of Tibetan borders, and initiatives such as building up border defence villages, are up and running. Xi has bolstered the CCP’s directives which stress on the necessity of ‘blending ethnic groups’ and adapting Tibetan Buddhism to ‘Socialism with Chinese characteristics.’ Promotion of Mandarin as the primary language in TAR’s ethnic schools is also being given a push. For India, this official visit comes as a new challenge, with the socio-economic changes proposed for the region receiving a sudden spark. These developments should carefully be assessed and addressed as soon as possible. The military developments in the region should be given a heightened importance, and India must be ready for increased military activity along its borders with Tibet, as this is a sheer matter of concern. As the CCP marks it’s 100th Anniversary, and Chinese history claims it to be 70 years since the ‘peaceful liberation’ of Tibet, it remains to be seen how India answers to these recent developments with regards to China’s emphasis on having strong control in the region and its efforts to increase military power along its borders.
References
[1] Jayadeva Ranade, ‘Xi Jingping’s Tibet Visit Should Worry India’, The Hindustan Times, 29 July 2021
Xi Jinping’s Tibet visit should worry India – Hindustan Times
[2] ‘Why has China’s president, Xi Jinping, visited Tibet?,’ The Economist, 23 July 2021
Why has China’s president, Xi Jinping, visited Tibet? | The Economist
[3] ‘Tibet Profie-Timeline,’ BBC, 13 November 2014
Tibet profile – Timeline – BBC News
[4] IANS, ‘Xi Jingping’s Recent Visit to Tibet and its Impact,’ The Times of India, 7 August 2021
Xi Jinping’s recent visit to Tibet and its impact – Times of India (indiatimes.com)
[5] TNN, ‘Xi ‘secretly’ visits Tibet, first trip by a China president in 3 decades,’ The Times of India, 24 July 2021
[6] Martin Pollard, “Xi Jingping is My Spiritual Leader’: China’s Education Drive in Tibet”, Reuters Inc., 12 June 2021
‘Xi Jinping is my spiritual leader’: China’s education drive in Tibet | Reuters
Sagnik Sarkar,
Intern, Asia in Global Affairs
(The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed in the text belong solely to the author.)
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