Chinese President Xi Jinping visits Nyingchi town bordering Arunachal Pradesh, during his first visit to Tibet
Chinese President Xi Jinping has made a rare visit to Nyingchi, a strategically located border town close to Arunachal Pradesh, during his first visit to Tibet, the official media reported on Friday.
Upon his arrival at the Nyingchi Mainling Airport on Wednesday, Xi was greeted by the local people and officials of various ethnic groups, news agency Xinhua reported. He is perhaps the first Chinese leader to visit the town at the India-China border.
Xi’s politically significant visit was kept under wraps by China’s official media till Friday. Xi during his visit to Nyingchi, visited the Nyang River Bridge to inspect the ecological preservation in the basin of the Brahmaputra river, called as Yarlung Zangbo in the Tibetan language.
Concerns were raised in the riparian states of India and Bangladesh, when China approved plans to build a huge dam over the Brahmaputra river during the current 14th Five-Year Plan. Nyingchi is a prefecture-level city in Tibet that is adjacent to the Arunachal Pradesh border.
Although China claims Arunachal Pradesh as part of South Tibet, India has firmly rejected it. The India-China border dispute covers the 3,488-km Line of Actual Control (LAC).
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This visit by the Chinese President to Tibet took place amidst the current India-China military tensions in eastern Ladakh. Since early May last year, India and China have been locked in a military standoff at multiple friction points in eastern Ladakh.
Following a series of military and diplomatic talks in February, the two sides withdrew troops and weapons from the North and South banks of Pangong Lake. The two sides are now engaged in talks to extend the disengagement process to the remaining friction points.
In a video shared on Chinese social media, Xi was seen greeting residents in Nyingchi, known as the Switzerland of Tibet. “[As for] the future, the people of all ethnic groups in Tibet will march towards a happy life, I am as confident as you are,” the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post newspaper quoted Xi saying.
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