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One of the biggest challenges facing China’s future development is water, which must support the country’s 1.4 billion people and booming industries. Despite being one of the top five countries with the largest freshwater resources, on a per capita basis, China faces serious water shortages which are further compounded by a highly uneven spatial distribution and precipitation: the densely populated north suffers from acute water shortages whereas the south is prone to severe floods. To optimize the allocation of water resources, China has embarked on the construction of a mega engineering project, the South North Water Diversion project (SNWD).

Expanding the world’s largest water transfer project

The project was first proposed in 1952 by Mao Zedong who concluded that “the south has plenty of water, the north much less. If possible, the north should borrow a little.” And the SNWD does exactly that — it diverts water from the South to the North along three routes: eastern, middle, and western. The eastern route transfers water through Jiangsu to Shandong and Tianjin via the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal, which dates back to nearly 2,500 years ago. The middle route, diverting water from Hubei province to Beijing and Tianjin, has been in use since 2014.

The western, and most controversial route, has not yet been built. In May 2021, Chinese President Xi Jinping announced that China will press ahead with the world’s largest water diversion project. The western route’s plans are split into two categories: modest plans from the government and ambitious proposals from scholars.

Various plans for the western route

The official plan for the western route links the Yangtze and Yellow rivers across the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau to divert 17 billion m3 of water, approximately 7 million Olympic-sized swimming pools, to Gansu and neighbouring provinces each year. This transfer is massive, but notably much smaller than two alternate water transfer plans  targeting water from the Qinghai-Tibetan plateau. 

The Shuotian Canal (Great Western Route) was an earlier proposal by water expert Guo Kai in the 1990s. By building a dam in Tibet, 200 billion m3 of water could be diverted from Sichuan to Beijing and Tianjin. It was later concluded that the Shuotian Canal is neither technically feasible nor necessary.

Another proposal from 2017 on the Red Flag River was introduced by Tsinghua professor Wang Hao. It plans to annually divert 60 billion m3 of water from transboundary rivers on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau, including the upstream of the Brahmaputra, Mekong, and Salween, to northwest China. This would create 200 million mu (133,333 km2) of arable land in Xinjiang and a 150,000km2 greenbelt in the northwest. However, its feasibility has been questioned by academics and geographers.

As a possible alternative to the western route, the Tianhe project, the world’s largest weather modification and artificial rainmaking system, was proposed by scientists from Tsinghua and Qinghai universities in 2015. The Tianhe project uses glaciogenic cloud seeding to annually create 5-10 billion m3 of rain above northern China. It was included in Qinghai’s 13th Five Year Plan. 

National food security driver and environmental concerns

The western route is needed to safeguard the country’s water and food security while balancing regional economic development. As Xi Jinping stated in 2014, the lifeline of food production lies in the country’s water conservancy systems. Aside from grappling with national water quality, quantity, and unequal distribution, China faces a lack of arable land: estimates suggest that only 14 percent of the country’s total land is arable. With the remainder heavily contaminated by pollutants, this aggravates water scarcity, food safety, and food security concerns. Due to a changing dietary landscape, including increased demand for water-intensive produce like meat, these challenges will continue to increase. Hence, to the Chinese leaders, the western route could solve northern China’s water shortage problems and protect China’s overall food security.

Social and ecological concerns raised by environmentalists and scientists have delayed the construction of the western route. As both the Shuotian Canal and Red Flag River would need to cross earthquake-prone areas and mountain ranges, there are fears that they could result in seismic and environmental consequences such as landslides.

Competing local interests

Unlike the central government, provincial governments are less concerned about equity of access to resources. On the one hand, southern provinces from where water will be transferred, particularly Sichuan and Hubei provinces, which are located at the Yangtze River’s upstream, strongly oppose the western route. Not only does diverting water from these provinces threaten their own water supply, leading to fears of water scarcity and droughts, but it would additionally undermine the local hydropower sectors. In Sichuan, home to China’s largest hydropower sector, governments have publicly supported local scientists who strongly dispute the western route’s feasibility.

On the other hand, western provinces, such as Gansu and Qinghai, support the western route. They believe it will encourage regional socio-economic development by providing water for local industries, coal, and agriculture. Given their huge water demand, western provinces prefer the ambitious unofficial proposals. For example, the Gansu provincial government has provided support for  research on various options to divert waters from Tibet (the Brahmaputra River) to Gansu.

International implications

India has long worried over China’s plans to divert the Brahmaputra, fearing it could cause water shortages. This is, however, a misperception: the official western route plans to divert waters from the Yangtze and Yellow rivers, not from transnational rivers like the Brahmaputra. Additionally, these unofficial proposals are not being seriously considered by the central government.

Furthermore, there is no consensus on the actual impacts from the plans on the downstream region’s water supply. To some Indian scholars, China’s water ambitions and perceived weaponization of water have caused alarm. As little as seven percent of the Brahmaputra’s flow comes from China, so even if the radical Shuotian Canal and Red Flag River are constructed, the actual impacts on water flows downstream will be limited.

Nevertheless, the strategic implications of these projects should not be overlooked. To some, the potential ability to manipulate the water flows could provide China strategic leverage over India.

An alternative route for water supply

Rather than relying on these mega projects to address national water challenges, China should reduce rising water demand, improve water use efficiency, and tackle water pollution. Given agricultural water demand accounts for most of the country’s water usage, China should balance water and food security, and consider undertaking regional and structural reforms to its agricultural sector.

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In today’s hydro-diplomatic realities, transboundary Rivers have obvious political significance either as a source of cooperation or as a cause of tension among riparian states. If any country attempts to act unilaterally in a common basin, hydrological interdependence causes discord. 

The Yarlung Zangbo better known as Brahmaputra River Basin (BRB), which is shared by four countries: China (50.5%), India (33.6%), Bangladesh (8.1%), and Bhutan (7.8%), provides life-supporting services to over 80 million people, including more than 200 indigenous multi-ethnic tribes.

Due to complex hydro-political setup as well as adverse impact of climate change, Water diplomacy on the Brahmaputra river would become much more complicated in the future. In addition to that, As China, India and Bangladesh continue to grow demographically, economically as well as with increased industrial consumption it is apparent that countries will face water scarcity than ever before which will further deteriorate the already worse situation.

Of the basin stakeholders Bangladesh is critically reliant (about 91%) on external sources for water and at least 60% of Its population relies on the Brahmaputra’s catchment basin. The river delivers over 65% of the country’s river water each year.

India’s concern is that Chinese hydro-project activities near politically contentious Arunachal Pradesh could firm up China’s claim over the region what China regards as ‘southern Tibet. Moreover, India is currently in a water-stressed situation with per capita water availability of 1,545 cubic meters in a year (population census -2011) and is going to face a severe water-scarce challenge in near future.

China, which has about 20% of the world’s population, has only 7% of the world’s fresh water resources, with 80 percent of the water being in southern China. Water scarcity is a national threat as a result of this uneven distribution. In such a confrontational scenario, it’s highly unlikely that the countries will make any compromises on their water demands in the Brahmaputra river, rather they will take a very conservative stance in any water negotiation. so, this is not surprising that, the riparian states’ competition for control over water flows will escalate and eventually a conflictual situation will emerge in this front.

On July 1 the Chinese Communist Party’s 100th anniversary celebration with the achievement of building a 16,000 MW Baihetan Dam (World’s 2nd biggest) posed a grave concern for India because The National People’s Congress (NPC), China’s Top legislative body has adopted a new Five-Year Plan (2021-25) that gives green signal to the construction of a 60-gigawatt Mega-hydropower plant at Medog, close to Arunachal.

Though China continues to assure India and Bangladesh that It’s planned hydro- project is based on run-of- river (RoR), which do not involve storage or diversion, India, its Asian rival remained concerned that such large-scale Chinese projects will ‘choke off’ the flow of the Brahmaputra and trigger flash floods or create water scarcity in northeast India in times of Sino-India conflict.

Bangladesh worries about this but it’s more complex and proximate concern is India’s projected 10-GW hydropower dam with a large water storage capacity which would likely divert water from the river. There is a speculation that Indian dam will have a direct significant effect on Bangladesh as lion’s share of the Brahmaputra sourced within Indian borders and only 30 to 40% comes from Tibet.

Besides, regarding water security, Bangladesh’s threat perceptions emanate from Delhi’s Brahmaputra tributary diversions through the River-Linking Project (RLP), Specifically Manas-Sankosh-Tista-Ganga (MSTG) Link and controversial use of River resources through Farakka and Gazaldoba Barrage on Ganga and Teesta respectively.

However, water experts and environmentalists indicate that The combined hydro-projects of China and India might have a wide range of socio-economic and environmental repercussions on Bangladesh. Because these projects have the potential to hold back massive amount of silt, deteriorate water quality, diminish ground water level, restrict navigation, Increase river salinity ultimately threaten economic livelihood. More importantly, in case of heavy rain in upstream, Floods and other water-related hazards will wreak havoc on Bangladesh, which is prone to flooding across 80% of its land area.

In a nutshell, if China builds a dam upstream, India will be alarmed. Similarly, if both India and China proceed with such dam projects, Bangladesh will definitely be concerned.

Considering all the hydro-political aspects, riparian Countries should explore the scope of benefit-sharing cooperation approach that might produce a positive-sum outcome by optimizing available benefits and equitably sharing them in order to achieve a win-win solution. The shared vision of achieving food security, sustainable economic growth and access to cost-efficient electricity can bring four riparian countries under the same umbrella to Cooperate with each other.

India can jointly work with Bangladesh to connect its National Waterway-2 with its National Waterway-1 which will give India the much-needed access to its north-eastern provinces cost-effectively and safely. Bhutan, the land-locked country of the basin can find immense opportunity to increase its international commerce and trade through the network of rivers. Multipurpose storage dams in China or India would have multiple benefits since they have immense potential to generate hydroelectricity, that can be distributed regionally via regional grid connectivity.

Apart from economic benefits, Joint investment, collective management and co-ownership of resources can create long awaited regional economic integration easing political tensions like the Senegal and the Columbia River basin countries.

So, in addition to state-level diplomacy, countries need to promote track-II and track-III diplomacy to establish a River Basin Commission under which they will seek to identify basket of benefits in the areas of water supply, Hydro-power plants and multi-purpose storage dam, energy production, water navigation, flood control, fisheries, tourism and so on. Platform like BCIM or SAARC can be a viable option for fostering negotiation.

In South Asia, The Permanent Indus Commission is a glaring example of river cooperation, which has managed to survive even after three wars, a number of military stand-offs and several other episodes of political friction since 1960 between the two nuclear rivals: India and Pakistan.

So, it is expected that India and China, the two biggest geopolitical forces in the region would not stick to zero-sum dilemma by engaging a hydro-power race in the Brahmaputra, rather they would consider adaptive hydro-diplomacy to form a “Brahmaputra Basin Commission.” along the lines of the Danube, Mekong, Indus, Senegal or Columbia basin Mechanism.

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Chinese authorities in a Tibetan populated region of Qinghai province arrested three men on Sunday for sharing photos on social media amid tightened security measures put in place for the 70th anniversary of the founding of the Yushu Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, according to a Tibetan source.

Identified as Rinchen Dorje and Kelsang Nyima, from Domda village in Yushu, also called Kyegudo, and Lhundup from Dza Sershul, the men were detained by police conducting random inspections in the area, a source in Yushu told RFA’s Tibetan Service.

The men were charged with sharing photos of local events on the WeChat social media platform with Tibetans living in exile, RFA’s source said, speaking on condition of anonymity for security reasons.

“They were part of a WeChat group called the United Association, which has members both inside and outside of Tibet,” the source said. “We don’t know where the men are being held at the moment.”

“Three days had been set aside to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the founding of Kyegudo, but because of the coronavirus pandemic and for several other reasons, the Chinese authorities decided to hold the celebration only for two days.”

“However, lots of restrictions were put in place forbidding people from discussing these events or sharing information about them with the outside world,” the source said.

Police deployed to Kyegudo town’s market square conducted inspections during anniversary events, and streets and playgrounds were also put under surveillance, the source said.

“During these random checks, these three men were taken away by the police after being handcuffed and put into a police vehicle without explanation,” he said.

China has imposed strict communication clampdowns in Tibet and Tibetan areas of western Chinese provinces aimed at stopping the flow of news about protests or other politically sensitive information to Tibetans living exile and other outside contacts, sources say.

Formerly an independent nation, Tibet was invaded and incorporated into China by force 70 years ago.

Chinese authorities maintain a tight grip on the region, restricting Tibetans’ political activities and peaceful expression of cultural and religious identity, and subjecting Tibetans to persecution, torture, imprisonment, and extrajudicial killings.

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Blinken met briefly with Ngodup Dongchung, who presented him with a scarf from the Dalai Lama, a senior State Department official said. Dongchung serves as a representative of the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA), also known as the Tibetan government in exile.

“The Dalai Lama obviously is a globally revered spiritual leader and so the gesture was gratefully received and appreciated,” said the official, who briefed reporters on condition of anonymity.

The meeting was one of the most conspicuous contacts between U.S. and Tibetan officials since President Barack Obama met the Dalai Lama in Washington in 2016.

China’s foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Chinese troops seized Tibet in 1950 in what Beijing calls a “peaceful liberation”. In 1959, the Dalai Lama fled into exile in India following a failed uprising against Chinese rule.

The CTA and Tibetan advocacy groups have received a boost in international support in recent months amid rising criticism of China’s human rights record, particularly from the United States. In November, Lobsang Sangay, the former head of the Tibetan government in exile, visited the White House, the first such visit in six decades.

A month later, the U.S. Congress passed the Tibet Policy and Support Act, which calls for the right of Tibetans to choose the successor to the Dalai Lama, and the establishment of a U.S. consulate in the Tibetan capital Lhasa.

INDIA TIES

In his first visit to India since joining U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration, Blinken met his Indian counterpart, Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, and other officials on Wednesday before calling on Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The two sides also discussed supplies of COVID-19 vaccines and the human rights records of both countries, the ministers told a joint news conference, as well as the Quad alliance, a security group that also includes Australia and Japan and has also angered China.

Asked about China taking umbrage at Indo-pacific security cooperation and the Quad, Jaishankar told the news conference: “For groups of countries to work together is not strange…. People need to get over the idea that somehow other countries doing things is directed against them.”

Speaking to a group of civil society leaders at a New Delhi hotel, Blinken said that the relationship between the United States and India was “one of the most important in the world”.

“The Indian people and the American people believe in human dignity and equality of opportunity, the rule of law, fundamental freedoms including freedom of religion and belief . . . these are the fundamental tenets of democracies like ours,” he said.

“And of course, both of our democracies are works in progress. As friends we talk about that.”

Modi’s government has faced allegations of suppressing dissent, pursuing divisive policies to appeal to its Hindu nationalist base and alienating Muslims, the country’s biggest minority.

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Washington: Chinese President Xi Jinping visiting Tibet last week is a threat to India, an influential US lawmaker has said, accusing the Joe Biden-led administration of not doing enough to stop the Chinese “march”.

Xi on Wednesday last made an unannounced three-day trip to Nyingchi in Tibet, close to the border with Arunachal Pradesh. Xi, who is also General Secretary of the Communist Party of China, met top officials of the Tibet Military Command and reviewed development projects in the region.

In an interview to Fox News, Republican Congressman Devin Nunes said: “Just last week, you had Xi Jinping, the Chinese dictator, on the border with India, in Tibet, claiming victory. This was the first time in 30 years, I believe, that a Chinese dictator had been to Tibet, and also threatening India, over a billion people also a nuclear power; threatening India that he’s going to build a big water project, possibly cut off water to India.”During his visit to Nyingchi, Xi visited the Nyang River Bridge to inspect the ecological preservation in the basin of the Brahmaputra river, which is called Yarlung Zangbo in Tibetan language.

China this year approved plans to build a huge dam over the Brahmaputra river during the current 14th Five-Year Plan, which raised concerns in the riparian states of India and Bangladesh.

“So, no matter what you plug into the propaganda machine, you can build all the narratives you want here in Washington, D.C., but then there’s reality. The reality is that the Chinese are on the march, and the (President Joe) Biden administration is letting them do whatever they want,” Nunes said.

A senior Republican in the House of Representatives representing the 42nd Congressional district of California, Nunes was the chairman of the powerful House Intelligence Committee from 2015 to 2019.

Xi’s visit to Tibet took place amidst the current India-China military tensions in eastern Ladakh.India and China have been locked in a military standoff at multiple friction points in eastern Ladakh since early May last year.

China claims Arunachal Pradesh as part of South Tibet, which is firmly rejected by India. The India-China border dispute covers the 3,488-km Line of Actual Control (LAC).

China is accused of suppressing cultural and religious freedom in Tibet. China has rejected the accusations.

Since becoming President in 2013, Xi has pursued a firm policy of stepping up security control of Tibet. Beijing has been cracking down on Buddhist monks and followers of the Dalai Lama, who despite his exile remains a widely admired spiritual leader in the remote Himalayan region.

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Xi on Wednesday last made an unannounced three-day trip to Nyingchi in Tibet, close to the border with Arunachal Pradesh. Xi, who is also General Secretary of the Communist Party of China, met top officials of the Tibet Military Command and reviewed development projects in the region.

In an interview to Fox News, Republican Congressman Devin Nunes said: “Just last week, you had Xi Jinping, the Chinese dictator, on the border with India, in Tibet, claiming victory. This was the first time in 30 years, I believe, that a Chinese dictator had been to Tibet, and also threatening India, over a billion people also a nuclear power; threatening India that he’s going to build a big water project, possibly cut off water to India.”

During his visit to Nyingchi, Xi visited the Nyang River Bridge to inspect the ecological preservation in the basin of the Brahmaputra river, which is called Yarlung Zangbo in Tibetan language.

China this year approved plans to build a huge dam over the Brahmaputra river during the current 14th Five-Year Plan, which raised concerns in the riparian states of India and Bangladesh.

“So, no matter what you plug into the propaganda machine, you can build all the narratives you want here in Washington, D.C., but then there’s reality. The reality is that the Chinese are on the march, and the (President Joe) Biden administration is letting them do whatever they want,” Nunes said.

A senior Republican in the House of Representatives representing the 42nd Congressional district of California, Nunes was the chairman of the powerful House Intelligence Committee from 2015 to 2019.

Xi’s visit to Tibet took place amidst the current India-China military tensions in eastern Ladakh.

India and China have been locked in a military standoff at multiple friction points in eastern Ladakh since early May last year.

China claims Arunachal Pradesh as part of South Tibet, which is firmly rejected by India. The India-China border dispute covers the 3,488-km Line of Actual Control (LAC).

China is accused of suppressing cultural and religious freedom in Tibet. China has rejected the accusations.

Since becoming President in 2013, Xi has pursued a firm policy of stepping up security control of Tibet. Beijing has been cracking down on Buddhist monks and followers of the Dalai Lama, who despite his exile remains a widely admired spiritual leader in the remote Himalayan region.

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Gyaltsen Norbu—selected by China in 1995 to serve as Tibet’s Panchen Lama—had gone to Sichuan’s Kardze (Ganzi) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture on July 12 to participate in a religious conference, according to a text message received by RFA from within the region.

“He was also seen making a visit to Ngaba Barkham, Dzoege, and Khungchu, where Tibetans were told to show up and greet him. But unlike other religious figures whom Tibetans revere and approach to receive blessings, no Tibetans showed up to welcome him,” RFA’s source said.

“The only people who came to see him were those whose attendance had been specifically arranged by the Chinese,” the source said.

Residents of the areas visited by the monk widely derided by Tibetans as “China’s Panchen” had also been restricted in their movements by authorities and told to keep the streets free of cars, the source added.

Speaking to RFA, Shel Gedhun Tsering—a former Tibetan political prisoner now living in Australia—confirmed the Panchen’s tour of the region, citing sources in the visited areas.

“My contacts back home told me that abbots and religious figures in monasteries in the region had been coerced into receiving and greeting the Panchen Lama, also being ordered to pose for pictures with him,” Tsering said.

The Chinese government now often uses Tibetan religious figures for political propaganda and publicity purposes, said Tsering Tsomo, director of the Dharamsala, India-based Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy.

“These visits are choreographed under the direct supervision of the Chinese government, and whatever Norbu says or does is aimed only at advancing the agenda of China’s ruling Communist Party. He acts only as a spokesperson,” Tsomo said.

Vanished into Chinese custody

Gyaltsen (in Chinese, Gyaincain) Norbu was named as Panchen Lama by China in May 1995 to replace a candidate who was selected as a young boy by Tibet’s exiled spiritual leader the Dalai Lama, and who vanished into Chinese custody together with his family and has not been heard from since.

Tibetan tradition holds that senior Buddhist monks and other respected religious leaders are reincarnated in the body of a child after they die.

Chinese authorities have had difficulty persuading Tibetans to accept their Panchen Lama as the official face of Tibetan Buddhism in China, though, and ordinary Tibetans and monks in monasteries traditionally loyal to the Dalai Lama have been reluctant to acknowledge or receive him.

Beijing has sought in recent years to control the identification of other Tibetan religious leaders, and says that the selection of the next Dalai Lama, who fled into exile in India following a failed 1959 Tibetan revolt against Chinese rule, must “comply with Chinese law.”

The Dalai Lama himself says however that if he returns, his successor will be born in a country outside of Chinese control.

Reported by Sangyal Kunchok for RFA’s Tibetan Service. Translated by Tenzin Dickyi. Written in English by Richard Finney.

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Xi, also General Secretary of the ruling Communist Party of China (CPC) and Chairman of the Central Military Commission, met top officials of the Tibet Military Command of the People’s Liberation Army, guarding China’s border with India in Arunachal Pradesh, and also called for “fully strengthening the work of training soldiers and war preparation,” the Global Times reported.

Xi, 68, made his first visit to Tibet as President from Wednesday to Friday. But his important visit was kept under wraps by China’s official media till the end of the tour on Friday due to the sensitivities of the trip.

As part of his trip, he first went to Nyingchi, a strategically located town close to the border with Arunachal Pradesh.

On Thursday, Xi went to Nyingchi Railway Station, learning about the overall design of the Sichuan-Tibet Railway and how the Lhasa-Nyingchi section has been operated since June 25.

It was the first time in recent years, a top Chinese leader visited the Tibetan border town. From there he went to the provincial capital Lhasa by the recently launched high-speed train.

He wound up his visit to the politically sensitive Himalayan region on Friday by meeting “representatives of troops stationed in Tibet”.

“Xi met with representatives of troops stationed in Tibet, calling for efforts to strengthen military training and preparedness in all aspects and make contributions to the lasting stability, prosperity and development of Tibet,” the state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

owever, the CPC-run tabloid Global Times said that Xi in his meeting with the PLA representatives “stressed that the local troops should fully strengthen the work of training soldiers and war preparation and contribute positive strength to promote the long-term stability and prosperity of Tibet”.

Xi’s first visit to Tibet took place amidst the current India-China military tensions in eastern Ladakh.

According to Xinhua, Xi visited the Tibet Autonomous Region in connection with the 70th anniversary of Tibet’s “peaceful liberation the first time in the history of the Party and the country.”

He extended congratulations to the 70th anniversary of Tibet’s peaceful liberation, visited officials and ordinary people of various ethnic groups and conveyed the CPC Central Committee’s care to them, the report said.

He said that at present, Tibet is at a new historical starting point of its development, and the CPC’s leadership must be upheld and the path of “socialism with Chinese characteristics” must be followed.

Xi said over the past 70 years Tibet has made historic strides in the social system and realised full economic and social development, with people’s living standards significantly improved.

“It has been proven that without the CPC, there would have been neither new China nor new Tibet,” Xi said.”The CPC Central Committee’s guidelines and policies concerning Tibet work are completely correct.”

China is accused of suppressing cultural and religious freedom in the remote and mainly Buddhist Himalayan region. China has rejected the accusations.

In his meetings in Tibet, Xi stressed fully implementing the CPC’s “fundamental guidelines governing religious work, respecting the religious beliefs of the people, adhering to the principle of independence and self-governance in religious affairs.

He also stressed governing religious affairs in accordance with the law and guiding Tibetan Buddhism to adapt to a socialist society, the Xinhua report said.

Since becoming President in 2013, Xi has pursued a firm policy of stepping up security control of Tibet. Beijing has been cracking down on Buddhist monks and followers of the Dalai Lama, who despite his exile remained widely admired spiritual leader and worshipped by Tibetans.

Xi also pushed the Tibetan government and the military to strengthen border security by improving the infrastructure of the border villages including building new dwellings for residents.

Xi’s policies on Tibet include the “sinicization” of Tibetan Buddhism, bringing it in tune with the policies of the ruling Communist Party.

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