Xi Jinping Makes Rare Tibet Visit to Mark 60 Years of so-called TAR
By Tenzin Chokyi
DHARAMSALA, 21 August: Chinese President Xi Jinping is in Tibet to take part in the celebration marking the 60th anniversary of the founding of the so-called Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR), a colonial administrative entity created by Beijing in 1965 to fragment the historical Tibetan Region and streamline its rule over the occupied territory.
According to Chinese state media outlet China Daily, Xi Jinping attended a grand gathering on Thursday at the Potala Palace square in Lhasa, the capital of what was once an independent Tibet, to commemorate the so-called TAR’s 60th anniversary.
During the event, Xi has emphasised the importance of “unity” in the occupied region, praising the local government for what he described as “a thorough struggle against separatism”, a reference to the Tibetan freedom movement both in occupied Tibet and in exile.
“To govern, stabilise and develop Tibet, the first thing is to maintain political stability, social stability, ethnic unity and religious harmony,” Xi said, addressing an audience of around 20,000 local officials and residents representing what China refers to as “all ethnic groups and walks of life” gathered for the celebration, according to various media reports.
However, the call for unity, in Xi’s vision, appears to be one of homogenization, where difference is not embraced but rather absorbed into a singular national identity defined by “Chinese characteristics”.
In a meeting with local authorities on Wednesday, also attended by senior Chinese Communist Party leaders, Xi advocated for the “popularization of a national common language and script”, – a policy widely seen as state-enforced cultural assimilation.
This move aims to gradually erase distinct cultural and civilizational identities in occupied regions, such as Tibet, by assimilating them into the dominant Han Chinese culture.
The establishment of the TAR in 1965 came six years after the 14th Dalai lama fled into exile in India, following the 1959 Tibetan uprising against the Chinese invasion. The TAR today includes Tibet’s U-Tsang province and the Chamdo region of Kham province. The remaining part of Kham and the entire Amdo were absorbed into neighboring Chinese provinces, including Sichuan, Yunnan, Qinghai and Gansu.
The designation was intended to give “ethnic groups” a greater say over policy making. However, Tibetans in exile and international human rights groups have consistently described China’s rule in the TAR and other parts of occupied Tibet as oppressive and a threat to the very existence of Tibetan identity and culture.
With the creation of the TAR in 1965, China now dismisses the historical reality of Tibet, with its three traditional provinces of U-Tsang, Kham, and Amdo, as a myth. According to Beijing, if any “Tibet” exists, it is limited to the TAR, effectively reducing a nation and civilization with thousands of years of history to a political construct just 65 years old.
