Chinese President Xi Jinping visiting Tibet is a threat to India, says senior US Congressman

Washington, July 27

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 and 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, DC, 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. PTI