LHASA, China -- China's Communist Party is ramping up investment in Tibet in an effort to spur economic growth and ensure social stability as it seeks to foster harmony between Tibetans and settlers of Han Chinese ethnicity, who make up the majority of the country's population.

The policy may be working despite Beijing's heavy-handed control of the restive western region. As a foreign journalist, I visited Tibet from the end of May to the beginning of June in a rare and tightly chaperoned tour arranged by Beijing. During the trip, I saw many signs of the Communist Party's efforts to maintain its grip on the region.

Political slogans calling for loyalty to the party and the nation were plastered all over the Tibetan Buddhist College, a religious training school in Lhasa, the capital of the region.

They urged students to comply strictly with the party's demands and stressed the importance of maintaining "the unity of the nation" and strengthening "racial solidarity."

Photos of Chinese President Xi Jinping featured prominently in every classroom. Written on the blackboard in one of the classrooms was another slogan with this message: "Let us celebrate the 70th anniversary of the liberation of Tibet," a reference to the forceful annexation of Tibet by China under an agreement signed in 1951 following the People's Liberation Army's incursions into the region to seize control.

Posters depicting Xi on the walls of a Buddhist College classroom where a living Buddha was taking lessons. (Photo by Shunsuke Tabeta)

The college, opened in 2011, is the highest institution of learning for Tibetan Buddhism. Previously, trainee monks studied Tibetan Buddhism at temples. The institution was established as a step to ensure the Communist Party's control of education in the region.

Eight "living Buddhas" are under training at an elementary school that is part of the college. Only about 20% of the curriculum, however, is dedicated to religious studies, and the rest to academic subjects such as Chinese and mathematics.

At junior and senior high schools, religious studies makes up 60%, but 20% is dedicated to learning about the Communist Party to instill in the children the importance of party rule.

"I have made friends with many other pupils at this school and I like learning with them," said a nine-year-old living Buddha under the watch of party officials.

The party started tightening control of the region after large-scale riots erupted in Tibet in 2008. Cameras are installed all around the Jokhang Temple, widely regarded as the most sacred and important shrine in Tibetan Buddhism, to monitor activity.

Security cameras are ubiquitous in Lhasa, particularly around Tibet's most sacred temple, to ensure that authorities can monitor all activity. (Photo by Shunsuke Tabeta)

There is also a security outpost by the front gates of the temple. "Since all areas where people walk are fully covered by the monitoring operations, it is safe," said a security official.

In 2019, China spent 13.3 billion yuan ($2.05 billion) on security measures in Tibet, including installing and operating security cameras, nearly eight times the amount spent in 2007.

The Communist Party places great importance on economic growth in the region to ensure social stability, a policy it believes will stave off disgruntlement and rebellion. Qizhala, chairman of the Tibet Autonomous Region, told The Nikkei that Beijing's investment in the region in the five years through 2025 is expected to have increased by more than 15% from the preceding five-year period.

China has shelled out a total of 1.63 trillion yuan in investment in the region. The government has built infrastructure such as a railway line and a highway connecting Lhasa with Xining, the capital of Qinghai Province in central China, as well as a hydropower plant. It has also poured a lot of money into the region's tourism industry.

As a result, the region's gross domestic product grew at double-digit rates for years. Even though growth rates slowed to single-digit figures from 2018 onward, the region is still among the fastest-growing in China.

Infrastructure work under way in Lhasa, Tibet, in the shadow of a large sign stressing the importance of the Communist Party rule. (Photo by Shunsuke Tabeta)

Per capita disposable income in Tibet's urban areas has tripled in the past 10 years, reaching 90% of the national average.

"My annual income from farming and livestock farming was less than 10,000 yuan but it increased to 400,000 yuan after I started running a guesthouse," said a man in his 50s from Nyingchi, a city in region's southeast parts.

The Communist Party had hoped that rising living standards will give its rule legitimacy. It may have been successful as I did not hear a complaint about the government at all during my trip.