China's Xi attends Tibet's 60th anniversary

By Saadet Gokce

ISTANBUL (AA) - China's President Xi Jinping attended a celebration Thursday to mark the southwestern Tibet autonomous region's 60th anniversary, becoming the first Chinese leader to participate in the festivities, state news agency Xinhua reported.

The event at the Potala Palace square in Lhasa, the capital city of Tibet, locally known as Xizang, was attended by 20,000 local officials and participants.

Xi was joined by Communist Party ideologue Wang Huning, who delivered a speech, and Cai Qi, chief of staff to the Chinese president.

Wang noted Tibet's "significant strides in economic and social development," in the last 60 years, and how the nation has entered its "best period of development and made the most substantial progress" since 2012, attributing it to "the strong leadership of the (CPC) Communist Party of China and the clear political strength of China's socialist system."

He urged efforts to ensure stability, facilitate development, protect the eco-environment, and strengthen frontiers, which were also noted by Xi the previous day.

Xi said Wednesday that ensuring Tibet's stability and promoting its prosperity "must begin with maintaining political and social stability, ethnic unity and amity among different religions," while urging advancing the building of a community for the Chinese nation.

The Chinese president stressed the importance of advancing two-way exchanges between Tibet and mainland China, and the need "to guide Tibetan Buddhism in adapting itself to socialist society."

Xi became China's president in 2013. He has since visited the nation of 3.6 million twice. He last visited in 2021.

He became the first Chinese president to attend the event, which is held once a decade.

China established control over Tibet in 1951, describing it as a “peaceful liberation.”

Founded in 1965, the Tibet Autonomous Region is one of China’s five ethnic regions.