Recent reports highlight a significant escalation in China's control over Larung Gar Buddhist Academy, the world’s largest Tibetan Buddhist study center located in Serthar County, within Tibet’s traditional Kham province, now part of Sichuan Province. Around 400 military personnel and helicopter surveillance were deployed on December 20, 2024, signaling heightened state control over this iconic site.
China’s military ambitions in 2024 reveal a clear and alarming trajectory towards global dominance, with its expanding military capabilities, opaque budget practices, and aggressive regional posturing posing significant threats to international stability. The People’s Liberation Army (PLA) continues to prioritize becoming a "world-class military" by 2049, but the means by which Beijing seeks to achieve this reveal a calculated disregard for international norms and a growing tendency towards coercion.
Hundreds of Tibetans were beaten and detained in February during rare protests against China’s planned Gangtuo dam on the Jinsha River, according to sources and footage verified by the BBC. The protests underscore growing tensions over Beijing’s controversial hydropower projects in Tibetan territories. “Our ancestors were here, our temples are here,” said one Tibetan protester. “It is very painful to move. What kind of life would we have if we leave?”
A bombshell report released today by the International Campaign for Tibet (ICT) uncovers the shocking extent of China’s destructive hydropower agenda in Tibet. Titled Chinese Hydropower: Damning Tibet’s Culture, Community, and Environment, the report paints a grim picture of irreparable damage to Tibet’s civilization, environment, and the livelihoods of millions across Asia. Through advanced Geographic Imaging Software (GIS) analysis and meticulous regional research, ICT reveals how Beijing’s unbridled hydropower expansion threatens not just Tibet but the very survival of 1.8 billion people downstream.
In a dramatic and bold assertion of sovereignty, Nepal has decisively shut down plans for a visit by the Chinese Communist Party-backed Panchen Lama, Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, citing its policy of neutrality on religious matters. This move has sparked intense diplomatic ripples, showcasing Kathmandu’s resolve to maintain its geopolitical balance amid mounting pressures from its northern neighbor.
