China's Xi makes a rare visit to Tibet to mark 60 years of contested rule there

TAIPEI, Taiwan — Chinese leader Xi Jinping made a rare visit to Tibet on Wednesday to mark the 60th anniversary of the consolidation of Beijing’s long-contested rule over the Himalayan territory.

Xi arrived in Tibet’s regional capital of Lhasa, where he “received a warm welcome from people of various ethnic groups" who waved bouquets of flowers and danced “to joyful rhythms,” the Xinhua News Agency said.

The agency said Xi urged the building of a “modern socialist” Tibet “that is united, prosperous, civilized, harmonious and beautiful.”

Communist forces occupied Tibet in 1951. In 1965, Mao Zedong’s single-party dictatorship established the Tibet autonomous region. Decades of political repression followed, including the demolition of some Buddhist monasteries and the imprisonment of monk