Around the time when anti-Chinese protests took place in Tibet's regional capital Lhasa last week, Mr. Hu Jintao, who calls for establishment of a harmonious society in China, was re-elected president of the country at a session of the National People's Congress in Beijing. How he will handle Tibetan residents' grievances against Chinese rule will be the litmus test of whether he is true to his political goal, which China badly needs to attain as it faces widening economic and regional gaps and ethnic tensions.
The latest protests in Tibet started March 10, the 49th anniversary of a 1959 failed uprising against Chinese rule, which led the Dalai Lama, the spiritual leader of Tibet, to flee to India. The Chinese Liberation Army had entered Lhasa in 1951. China established the Tibet Autonomous Region in 1965. The latest protests are believed to be the largest since the ones in March 1989, when Tibet was put under martial law. At that time, Mr. Hu was in charge of suppressing the protests.
Han Chinese immigration to the region has brought about a demographic change and their influence in Lhasa has increased. It is not difficult to see Tibetan resentment against Han Chinese political and economic domination. Participants in the protests may have wanted to let the world know their grievances as the Beijing Olympics near. There are reports that anti-China protests also occurred in three neighboring provinces — Sichuan, Qinghai and Gansu.