Claude Arpi for The Asian Age
China has a serious problem. Beijing claims that it “liberated” Tibet 70 years ago, but in the recent confrontation in eastern Ladakh, it was the Tibetan troops serving with the Indian Army who successfully fought against the Chinese.
When China’s overlord Xi Jinping, who is also chairman of the Central Military Commission, visited Lhasa last week, on July 22 and 23, he is bound to have discussed this burning issue, especially after his tour of the Indian border region the previous day.
In Lhasa, Mr Xi met the PLA’s top brass stationed in Tibet as well as their Western Theatre Command bosses from Chengdu. Mr Xi didn’t mention the recruitment in his speech. “Over the past 70 years, troops of the Tibet Military District successfully completed a series of heavy tasks in the snowy plateau and withstood the test of the arduous environment and complexity of the country in order to uphold national security and unity and promote the development of Tibet,” he said. With Gen. Zhang Youxia, CMC vice-chairman, and a large number of three and two-star generals in attendance, the issue must have come up at a closed meeting.
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