Chinese President Xi Jinping said yesterday that China faces increasing threats to national security and warned of the dangers of terrorism in a speech indicating that Beijing could impose tougher controls on its ethnic minorities.

Xi told a study session of the party’s decision-making Politburo “to resolutely stamp out the brazenness of the terrorists,” the state-run Xinhua news agency said.

Xi’s comments come at a sensitive time for China, as authorities battle unrest in the Tibetan regions and in Xinjiang, home to Muslim Uighurs.

Unrest in Xinjiang has led to the deaths of more than 100 people in the past year, prompting a tougher stance against the Muslim Uighur minority.

The government blames the violence in Xinjiang on Islamist militants and separatists who want to establish an independent state called East Turkestan in the far western region.

More than 120 Tibetans have set themselves on fire since 2009 to protest Beijing’s rule, with many calling for the return of their exiled spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama.

Beijing says the self-immolators are “terrorists”. Most have died from their injuries.