And the coming months will provide much opportunity for miscalculation by China in its handling of Tibetan unrest.

ECONOMIST: China and Tibet

Unrest in Tibetan areas has been violently suppressed in recent months and activists say that security is tight in Lhasa, the Tibetan capital.

ECONOMIST: Chinese influence in Nepal grows

The party was quick to side with nationalists who lashed out at the West in the wake of unrest in Tibetan areas in March.

ECONOMIST: Populist politics in China

In the Jamestown Foundation's China Brief Mr Lam catalogues how China's vast law-enforcement apparatus amassed huge power under Zhou Yongkang, especially since the 2008 Olympics and the unrest in Tibetan areas that year.

BBC: China: Trouble at the top?

The riots in Lhasa of March 2008 and subsequent unrest across the Tibetan plateau triggered an anti-Western backlash online and in the media.

ECONOMIST: America and China

In Lhasa, the Tibetan capital usually off-limits to journalists as well the authorities have responded to the recent unrest with increased patrols by armed riot police.

ECONOMIST: Tibetans and the Chinese state