Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived in Lhasa on 20 August for his second visit to Tibet since taking office, leading a high-level delegation that includes Politburo Standing Committee members Wang Huning and Cai Qi. The trip marks the 60th anniversary of the establishment of the Xizang (Tibet) Autonomous Region in 1965. Xi attended a gala on Wednesday evening and, on Thursday morning, joined roughly 20,000 officials and local residents at a grand gathering in Potala Palace Square. A congratulatory message from China’s top state and party bodies was read aloud before Xi presented a plaque inscribed with his call to “build a beautiful Xizang.” In meetings with regional representatives, the president urged the plateau territory to become a “modern socialist new Xizang” by prioritising political and social stability, ethnic unity, environmental protection and stronger border defences. He also pressed officials to “vigorously” advance key infrastructure, including a 1.2 trillion-yuan hydropower dam seen as central to Beijing’s carbon-reduction and security goals. Beijing highlights six decades of economic and social change to bolster its governance claims. Official data show regional GDP reaching 276.5 billion yuan ($39 billion) in 2024, an average annual growth rate of 8.9 percent, alongside expanded road, rail and air links. Human-rights groups continue to criticise curbs on religious freedom and tight controls on access to the region, issues unaddressed in state media coverage of the anniversary.