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SHANGHAI: China must build an “impregnable fortress” to maintain stability in Tibet, protect national unity and educate the masses to fight against “splittism,” President Xi Jinping told top leaders, state media told the Saturday (August 29).
China seized control of Tibet in 1950 in what it describes as a “peaceful liberation” that helped the remote Himalayan region shed its “feudal” past. But critics, led by exiled spiritual leader the Dalai Lama, say the Beijing government amounts to “cultural genocide.”
At a high-level meeting of the Communist Party on the final future of the governance of Tibet, Xi praised the achievements made and praised front-line officials, but said more efforts are needed to enrich, rejuvenate and strengthen unity in the region.
Political and ideological education in schools in Tibet needs to be strengthened to “plant the seeds of love for China deep in the hearts of all young people,” Xi said in remarks published by the state news agency Xinhua.
Committing to building a “new, modern, socialist, united, prosperous, civilized, harmonious and beautiful Tibet,” Xi said China needs to strengthen the role of the Communist Party in the territory and better integrate its ethnic groups.
Tibetan Buddhism also needed to adapt to socialism and Chinese conditions, he added.
China’s policies toward Tibet have returned to the spotlight this year amid the country’s deteriorating relationship with the United States.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in July that the United States would restrict visas for some Chinese officials involved in blocking diplomatic access to Tibet and engaging in “human rights abuses,” adding that Washington supported one ” meaningful autonomy “for Tibet.
