Tibet: Chinese President Xi Jinping made an unannounced visit to the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR), official media said on Friday morning.
The visit started in Nyingchi close to the Sino-India border in Arunachal Pradesh two days earlier.
After landing in Nyingchi on Wednesday, Xi visited Lhasa on Thursday, returning to the Tibetan capital after more than a decade, reports said.
Video clips shared on Chinese social media on Thursday show Xi addressing people in the city of Nyingtri (Chinese: Linzhi), stepping out of a shop in the Barkhor area in Lhasa and giving remarks to the public while facing the “Monument to the Peaceful Liberation of Tibet” in front of the Potala Palace, the traditional winter residence of the Dalai Lama.
“He then visited the Nyang river bridge to inspect the ecological preservation in the basin of the Yarlung Zangbo river and its tributary Nyang river,” the Xinhua report said.
According to sources, the visit may have been linked to the 70th anniversary of the controversial 17 Point Agreement, which China falsely claims marks its “peaceful liberation of Tibet,” but which Dalai Lama has renounced as an agreement made under duress.
While heavy security is expected for a visit by Xi anywhere, it is unusual that even Chinese state media did not report about his visit to Nyingtri and Lhasa, even though two days have already passed since his arrival.
