Chinese President Xi Jinping has made a rare trip to Tibet, arriving in Lhasa on 20 August for his second visit to the region as head of state and the first since 2021. His three-day tour coincides with events marking the 60th anniversary of the founding of the Tibet Autonomous Region, established by Beijing in 1965 after the Dalai Lama’s flight into exile six years earlier. At a ceremony outside the Potala Palace attended by about 20,000 people, Xi urged officials to safeguard “political stability, social stability, ethnic unity and religious harmony,” according to state broadcaster CCTV. State media photographs showed a giant portrait of Xi overlooking uniformed troops, students and performers in traditional Tibetan dress. Xi also directed authorities to pursue “vigorously, orderly and efficiently” the construction of the planned Yarlung Tsangpo dam, a 1.2 trillion-yuan (US$167 billion) hydropower project that would be the world’s largest. The scheme has drawn objections from India and Bangladesh, which rely on the Brahmaputra River downstream. Separately, a central government delegation led by Politburo Standing Committee member Wang Huning toured Lhasa, meeting ethnic and religious representatives and calling for advances in stability, development, environmental protection and border security. The visit comes amid heightened scrutiny of Beijing’s governance in Tibet and ahead of an expected succession battle for the 90-year-old Dalai Lama, with China insisting on final approval of any future spiritual leader. Human-rights groups accuse Beijing of cultural repression and heavy surveillance, allegations Chinese officials deny, citing poverty alleviation and infrastructure gains in the Himalayan region.