Chinese leader Xi Jinping visited Tibet’s capital, sending signals both of his own health and of Beijing’s insistence that it will control the choice of a successor to the Dalai Lama.
Some China watchers have suggested that Xi is either ailing or losing his grip on power, pointing to a prolonged period of absence from the public eye in recent months, but the visit to Lhasa, Xi’s first since 2021, “should put to rest any rumors,” Bill Bishop wrote in his Sinocism newsletter.
And while the Dalai Lama, the 90-year-old leader of Tibetan Buddhism, said last month that the search for his successor would not be influenced by China, Beijing has insisted that it will oversee the reincarnation.