Chinese President Xi Jinping warned on Sunday, Oct. 13 to crush any attempt to divide China.

“Anyone attempting to split China in any part of the country will end in crushed bodies and shattered bones,” he told Nepal’s Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli in a meeting on Sunday, China’s state broadcaster CCTV reported.

“And any external forces backing such attempts dividing China will be deemed by the Chinese people as pipe-dreaming!” he was quoted as saying.

Nepal visit

Xi is the first Chinese president to visit Nepal in 22 years.

He arrived in Nepal on Saturday, Oct. 12 on a state visit.

Both sides are expected to sign a deal expanding a railway link between the Himalayan nation and Tibet.

CCTV also reported that Nepal’s Oli told Xi that the country will oppose any “anti-China activities” on its soil.

China has seen its political authority tested by increasingly violent protests in Hong Kong against what is seen as Beijing’s tightening grip on the Chinese-ruled city.

Xi in India

Xi was in India for talks with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi before arriving in Nepal.

Xi and Modi were trying to mend ties over the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir amid scattered anti-China protests from Tibetan groups.

China sent troops into remote, mountainous Tibet in 1950.

China officially labels that occasion as a peaceful liberation and has ruled there with an iron fist ever since.

The Dalai Lama, Tibet’s spiritual leader, fled to India in 1959.

This was after a failed uprising against Chinese rule.

China brands the Dalai Lama a dangerous reactionary who seeks to split off nearly a quarter of the Chinese land mass.

U.S.-China negotiations

China is trying to de-escalate a protracted trade war with the United States.

However, U.S. president Donald Trump said it would be difficult to negotiate with China if anything “bad” happens in Chinese authorities’ handling of the Hong Kong protests.

Trump said he discussed the issue of Hong Kong with Chinese Vice-Premier Liu He on Saturday.

The latest round of talks saw both sides reach a “phase-one deal”.

This outcome has raised optimism for a broader agreement, but many fundamental issues are unresolved and existing tariffs are still not lifted.

A week before these talks, Washington blacklisted 28 Chinese companies over Beijing’s treatment of predominantly Muslim ethnic minorities.

Besides Hong Kong, China has faced growing international condemnation for what it calls re-education and training centres in the remote western region of Xinjiang.

Beijing has been facing political challenges with protests in Hong Kong, besides U.S. criticism over its treatment of Muslim minority groups.

[Reuters]

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