CHINA issued a white paper on Tibet yesterday, reaffirming the current regional ethnic autonomous policy, ahead of the 50th anniversary of the foundation of the Tibet Autonomous Region.

    Titled “Successful Practice of Regional Ethnic Autonomy in Tibet,” the white paper said since the democratic reform was carried out in 1959 and regional ethnic autonomy came into practice in 1965, Tibet has established the new socialist system and achieved historic leaps and bounds in its economic and social development.

    Tibet has taken a road that unites it with all China’s ethnic groups and struggles to develop equally, achieve prosperity, and make progress with them, it said.

    From 1952 to 2014, the Central Government provided Tibet with financial subsidies totaling 648.08 billion yuan (US$102 billion), accounting for 92.8 percent of Tibet’s public financial expenditure.

    Tibet’s GDP soared from 327 million yuan in 1965 to 92.08 billion yuan in 2014, a 281-fold increase, the paper said. Since 1994, the local GDP has grown at an annual rate of 12.4 percent on average, registering double-digit growth for 20 consecutive years.

    Tibet’s traditional culture is well protected and promoted, and freedom of religious belief in the region is respected and protected, while its ecological environment is protected, too, the white paper said.

    Tibetan language learning is efficiently protected. Bilingual teaching in Tibetan and Chinese is carried out in all schools in Tibet to inherit the Tibetan language in the course of learning.

    Numbers of Tibetan antelopes have grown from 50,000 to 70,000 in 1995 to more than 200,000, and black-necked cranes from 1,000 to 3,000 in 1995 to 7,000. Numbers of such rare and endangered species as wild yaks and Tibetan wild donkeys are also steadily growing, according to the paper. Currently, Tibet has 47 nature reserves, which cover 412,200 square kilometers, or 34.35 percent of the total land area of the entire region.

    “Tibet is now in its golden age,” the paper said.

    The paper said over the years, the 14th Dalai Lama clique, in plotting towards “Tibetan independence,” has constantly preached the “middle way,” peddled the concept of a “Greater Tibet,” and lobbied for “a high degree of autonomy,” so negating regional ethnic autonomy and its contribution to Tibet’s progress.

    “The 14th Dalai group’s separatist activities violate the Constitution of China and greatly damage the fundamental interests of all ethnic groups in Tibet, which is why they have met strong opposition from all Chinese people, including those of all ethnic groups in Tibet, and hence why they are doomed to fail,” the white paper said.

    (Xinhua)