The Information Office of China's State Council on
Sunday issued a white paper titled "Regional Ethnic
Autonomy in Tibet." The following is the full text of
the document:& nbsp;
Regional Ethnic Autonomy in Tibet
Information Office of the State Council
of the People's Republic of China
May 2004, Beijing
Contents
Foreword
I.
The Establishment and Development of Regional Ethnic
Autonomy in Tibet
II.
The Tibetan People Enjoy Full Political Right of Autonomy
III. The Tibetan People
Have Full Decision-making Power in Economic and Social
Development
IV. The
Tibetan People Have the Freedom to Inherit and Develop Their
Traditional Culture and to Practice Their Religious Belief
V. Regional Ethnic
Autonomy Is the Fundamental Guarantee for Tibetan People As
Masters of Their Own Affairs
Foreword
China is a united
multi-ethnic country. The Han-Chinese population makes up
more than 90 percent of the total population. The
populations of the other 55 ethnic groups, including the
Tibetan people, are relatively small, and such ethnic groups
are customarily called ethnic minorities.
In order to protect the equal and
autonomous rights of ethnic minorities, the Chinese
Government, in view of the reality that ethnic-minority
people live together over vast areas while some live in
individual concentrated communities in small areas, regards
exercise of regional ethnic autonomy in areas where
ethnicminorities live in compact communities as a basic
policy for solving the ethnic issue and a fundamental
political system for implementation of the people's
democracy. Regional ethnic autonomymeans, under the unified
leadership of the state, regional autonomy is exercised and
organs of self-government are established in areas where
various ethnic minorities live in compact communities, so
that the people of ethnic minorities are their own masters
exercising the right of self-government to administer local
affairs and the internal affairs of their own ethnic groups.
The Tibet Autonomous
Region is one of the five autonomous areasin China at the
provincial level where regional ethnic autonomy isexercised,
as well as an ethnic autonomous area with Tibetans as the
main local inhabitants. In the Tibet Autonomous Region there
are a dozen other ethnic groups besides the Tibetans -- Han,
Hui, Moinba, Lhoba, Naxi, Nu, Drung and others. They have
lived in the region for generations, and Moinba, Lhoba and
Naxi ethnic townships have been established there.
Since regional ethnic
autonomy was implemented in 1965 in Tibet,the Tibetan
people, in the capacity of masters of the nation and under
the leadership of the Central Government, have actively
participated in administration of the state and local
affairs, fully exercised the rights of self-government
bestowed by the Constitution and law, engaged in Tibet's
modernization drive, enabled Tibetan society to develop by
leaps and bounds, profoundlychanged the old situation of
poverty and backwardness in Tibet, and greatly enhanced the
level of their own material, cultural andpolitical life.
To recall the four
glorious decades of regional ethnic autonomyin Tibet, and to
give an overview of the Tibetan people's dramaticendeavors
to exercise their rights as their own masters and createa
better life under regional ethnic autonomy is beneficial not
only to summing up experiences and creating a new situation
for regional ethnic autonomy in Tibet, but also to
clarifying rights and wrongs, and increasing understanding
of China's ethnic policy and the truth about Tibet among the
international community.
I. The Establishment
and Development of Regional Ethnic Autonomy in Tibet
Tibet, situated on the
Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, is one of the border areas where
ethnic minorities live in compact communities. In view of
the then transport and communications conditions and
realities of Tibet and other border areas where ethnic
minorities live, Chinese central governments throughout
history have adopted administrative methods different from
those exercised in the heartland of the country. After Tibet
became part of the territoryof China in the 13th century,
the central governments of the Yuan,Ming and Qing dynasties
and the Republic of China, while assuming the responsibility
of approving the local administrative organs, and deciding
and directly handling important affairs concerning Tibet,
maintained, by and large, the region's original local social
setup and ruling body, widely appointed upper-strata
ecclesiastic and secular members to manage local affairs,
and gavethe Tibetan local government and officials extensive
decision-making power. This played a historically positive
role in safeguarding the unification of the country, but as
the feudal autocratic rulers in various periods exercised an
ethnic policy marked by ethnic discrimination and
oppression, keeping the original social system and
maintaining the power of the local ruling class for their
administration of Tibet, they did not solve,nor could they
possibly solve, the issue of ethnic equality and that of
enabling the local people to become masters of their own
affairs.
Even in the
first half of the 20th century, Tibet remained a society of
feudal serfdom under theocracy, one even darker and more
backward than medieval Europe. The ecclesiastical and
secularserf owners, though accounting for less than five
percent of the population of Tibet, controlled the personal
freedom of the serfs and slaves who made up more than 95
percent of the population of Tibet, as well as the
overwhelming majority of the means of production. By
resorting to the rigidly stratified 13-Article Codeand
16-Article Code, and extremely savage punishments, including
gouging out eyes, cutting off ears, tongues, hands and feet,
pulling out tendons, throwing people into rivers or off
cliffs, they practiced cruel economic exploitation,
political oppression and mental control of the serfs and
slaves. The right to subsistence of the broad masses of
serfs and slaves was not protected, let alone political
rights.
After the Opium
War of 1840, China was reduced to a semi-colonial,
semi-feudal country. Tibet, like other parts of China,
suffered from the aggression of imperialist powers, which
grabbed all kinds of special privileges by means of unequal
treaties, subjected Tibet to colonial control and
exploitation, and, at the same time, groomed separatists
among the upper ruling strata of Tibet, in an attempt to
sever Tibet from China. Therefore, the removal of the
fetters of imperialism and feudal serfdom became a
historically paramount task for safeguarding the unification
of the country and realizing the development of Tibet.
The founding of the
People's Republic of China in 1949 ended the dark history of
the semi-colonial, semi-feudal China, realizedunification of
the country, unity of ethnic groups and people's democracy,
and brought hope to the Tibetan people that they could
control their own destiny in the large family of the
motherland. It was expressly stipulated in the Common
Program of the Chinese People's Political Consultative
Conference (CPPCC), which had the status of the provisional
Constitution, that "All ethnic groups within the
territory of the People's Republic of China are equal, unity
and mutual assistance shall be practiced, discrimination
against and oppression of ethnic groups, and acts
undermining the unity of the ethnic groups shall be
prohibited; the people of all ethnic minorities shall have
the freedom to use and develop their own spoken and written
languages, and to preserve or reform their own ways and
customs and religious beliefs; and regional ethnic autonomy
shall be practiced in areas where ethnic minorities live in
compact communities." In the first Constitution of the
People'sRepublic of China, promulgated in 1954, the
principles of equality,unity and mutual assistance among all
ethnic groups, and the system of regional ethnic autonomy
were officially included in thefundamental law of the state.
Proceeding from the fundamental interests of the Tibetan
people, the Central People's Government has profoundly
changed the destiny of Tibet and realized and developed the
rights of the Tibetan people as masters of their ownaffairs
through great strategic decisions and measures such as
peaceful liberation of Tibet, promotion of democratic
reforms, establishment of the autonomous region, carrying
out socialist construction, reform and opening-up.
-- Peaceful liberation
laid the foundation for regional ethnic autonomy in Tibet.
On May 23, 1951, the "Agreement of the Central People's
Government and the Local Government of Tibet on Measures for
the Peaceful Liberation of Tibet" ("17-Article
Agreement" for short) was signed, and Tibet was
peacefully liberated. The peaceful liberation put an end to
imperialist aggression against Tibet, enabled the Tibetan
people to shake off political and economic fetters,
safeguarded the unification of state sovereigntyand
territorial integrity, realized equality and unity between
theTibetan ethnic group and all other ethnic groups
throughout the country as well as the internal unity of
Tibet, and laid the foundation for regional ethnic autonomy
in Tibet.
The
"17-Article Agreement" provides that
"According to the ethnic policy in the Common Program
of the CPPCC, under the unified leadership of the Central
People's Government, the Tibetanpeople shall have the right
to exercise regional ethnic autonomy."According to the
provisions of the "17-Article Agreement," the
Preparatory Group of the Preparatory Committee for the Tibet
Autonomous Region was established in November 1954, and
began preparations for the establishment of the Preparatory
Committee for the Tibet Autonomous Region. In March 1955,
the State Council held a special meeting to deliberate and
adopt the "Decision of the State Council on
Establishment of the Preparatory Committee for the Tibet
Autonomous Region," which expressly stipulates that
"The Preparatory Committee for the Tibet Autonomous
Region shall be responsible for preparatory work for the
establishment of the Tibet Autonomous Region, and an organ
with the nature of a political power and accountable to the
State Council, its principal task being to prepare for the
exercise of regional ethnic autonomy in accordance with the
provisions of the Constitution, the '17-Article Agreement'
and the actual situation of Tibet." In April 1956, the
Preparatory Committee for the Tibet Autonomous Region was
established in Lhasa, with the 14th Dalai Lama as the
chairman, the 10th Panchen Lama the first vice-chairman and
Ngapoi Ngawang Jigme the secretary-general. The
establishment of the Preparatory Committee enabled Tibet to
have aconsultative work organ with the nature of a political
power, and vigorously promoted the realization of regional
ethnic autonomy inTibet.
-- The Democratic Reform cleared the way for
regional ethnic autonomy in Tibet. When Tibet was peacefully
liberated, in consideration of the reality of Tibet, the
"17-Article Agreement,"while confirming the
necessity for reform of the Tibetan social system, provided
that "The Central Government will not use coercion to
implement such a reform, and it is to be carried out by the
Tibetan local government on its own; when the people
demandreform, the matter should be settled by way of
consultation with the leading personnel of Tibet." But
in face of the ever-growing demand of the people for
democratic reform, some people in the upper ruling strata of
Tibet, in order to preserve feudal serfdom,and supported by
imperialist forces, staged an armed rebellion allalong the
line on March 10, 1959, in an attempt to separate Tibet from
China. On March 28 of the same year, the State Council
announced the dismissal of the original local government of
Tibet,and empowered the Preparatory Committee for the Tibet
Autonomous Region to exercise the functions and powers of
the local government of Tibet, with the 10th Panchen Lama as
its acting chairman. The Central People's Government and the
Preparatory Committee for the Tibet Autonomous Region led
the Tibetan people in quickly quelling the rebellion,
implemented the Democratic Reform, overthrew the feudal
serfdom under theocracy, and abolished the feudal hierarchic
system, the relations of personal dependence, and all savage
punishments. As a result, a million serfs and slaves were
emancipated, and became masters of the country as well as of
the region of Tibet, acquired the citizens' rights and
freedom specified in the Constitution and law, and swept
away the obstacles, in respect of social system, to the
exercise of regional ethnic autonomy.
-- The establishment of the Tibet
Autonomous Region marked the full implementation of the
regional ethnic autonomy in Tibet. After the Democratic
Reform, the Tibetan people enjoyed all the political rights
enjoyed by people of all other ethnic groups throughout
China. In 1961, a general election, the first of its kind in
Tibetan history, was held all over Tibet. For the first
time, the former serfs and slaves were able to enjoy
democratic rights as their own masters, and participated in
the election of organs of state power at all levels in the
region. In September 1965, the First Session of the First
People's Congress of the Tibet Autonomous Region was
convened, at which the organ of self-government of the Tibet
Autonomous Region and its leaders were elected, and the
founding of the Tibet Autonomous Region was officially
proclaimed. Ngapoi Ngawang Jigme was elected chairman of the
People's Council of the Tibet Autonomous Region. Many
emancipated serfs took up leading posts in state organs at
variouslevels in the region. The establishment of the Tibet
Autonomous Region marked the establishment of the people's
democratic power in Tibet and the commencement of exercise
of regional ethnic autonomy in an all-round way. From then
on, the Tibetan people were entitled to enjoy the right to
administer their own affairs in the region and, together
with the people throughout the country,embarked on a
socialist development road. (More)
-- The reform and opening-up has opened a vast
horizon for the Tibetan people to fully exercise the right
of regional ethnic autonomy. After China adopted the policy
of reform and opening to the outside world, Deng Xiaoping
said expressly that the key to the exercise of regional
ethnic autonomy lay with development of the ethnic-minority
areas. In Tibet, he pointed out, "the key is how to
benefit the Tibetan people, how to accelerate the
development of Tibet so that it steps into the van of
China's fourmodernizations drive." This affirmed the
guiding principle for an all-round exercise of regional
ethnic autonomy in Tibet in the newera.
In 1984, the state promulgated and
implemented the "Law of the People's Republic of China
on Regional Ethnic Autonomy," making regional ethnic
autonomy a basic political system of the state, setting out
comprehensive provisions regarding the rights of
self-government of the ethnic autonomous areas in political,
economic, cultural and other spheres, and their relations
with the Central Government. It has thus provided a powerful
legal safeguard for the full exercise by the Tibetan people
of the right of self-government. From 1984 to 2001, in light
of the reality of the Tibet Autonomous Region, the Central
Government convened four Forums on Work in Tibet; set the
guiding principles, major tasks and development plans for
work in Tibet timely in the new era; made the important
decision to devote special attention to Tibet and get all
the other parts of China to aid Tibet; formulated a number
of special favorable policies and measures for speeding up
the development of Tibet; formed a mechanism for all-round
aid forthe modernization of Tibet, by which the state would
directly invest in construction projects in the region, the
Central Government would provide financial subsidies, and
the other parts of the country would provide counterpart
aid. All this powerfully propelled economic development and
social progress in Tibet, greatly enhanced the living
standards of the Tibetan people, and guaranteed the
realization of equality and the right of self-government of
the Tibetan people.
II. The Tibetan People
Enjoy Full Political Right of Autonomy
The Tibetan people enjoy, according to
law, the equal right of participation in the administration
of state affairs as well as the right of self-government to
manage affairs of their own regionand ethnic group.
The Tibetan people enjoy
the democratic right to be masters according to law. The
Chinese Constitution provides that all citizens of China who
have reached the age of 18 have the right tovote and stand
for election, regardless of ethnic status, race, sex,
occupation, family background, religious belief, education,
or length of residence. Since the establishment of the Tibet
Autonomous Region, the Tibetan people have actively
exercised the right to vote and stand for election bestowed
by the Constitution and law, participated in the election of
the deputies to the National People's Congress (NPC) as well
as the people's congresses at all levels in the Tibet
Autonomous Region, and participated, through deputies to the
people's congresses, in administration of state and local
affairs. In 2002, when re-election at the regional,
prefectural (city), county and township (town) levels took
place in Tibet, 93.09 percent of electors in the autonomous
region turned out to directly take part in the election at
the county level. In certain places, the participationrate
of local electors reached 100 percent. Among the elected
people's deputies, the proportion of deputies of the Tibetan
and other minority ethnic groups was more than 80 percent at
both regional and city (prefectural) levels, and more than
90 percent at both county and township (town) levels.
The Tibetan and other
ethnic-minority cadres make up the bulk of the cadres of the
Tibet Autonomous Region, and fully exercise their right as
the masters of society. The Constitution stipulatesthat
among the chairman and vice-chairmen of the standing
committee of the people's congress of an ethnic autonomous
area there shall be one or more citizens of the ethnic group
or ethnic groups exercising regional autonomy in the area
concerned; the chairman of an autonomous region, the prefect
of an autonomous prefecture or the head of an autonomous
county shall be a citizen of the ethnic group exercising
regional autonomy in the area concerned. Since the
establishment of the Tibet Autonomous Region,six terms
(including the current one) of the Standing Committee ofthe
Regional People's Congress and seven terms (including the
current one) of the Regional People's Government have had
Tibetansas the chairman. Since the establishment of the
Tibet Committee ofthe CPPCC in 1959, five terms of the
Regional Committee of the CPPCC have had Tibetans as the
chairman. According to statistics, at present, of the
chairman and vice-chairmen of the Standing Committee of the
People's Congress of the Tibet Autonomous Region,Tibetans
and people of other ethnic minorities make up 87.5 percent;
of the members of the Standing Committee of the Regional
People's Congress, 69.23 percent; of the chairman and
vice-chairmen of the Tibet Autonomous Region, 57 percent;
and of the Standing Committee members and members of the
CPPCC Tibet Committee, 90.42 percent and 89.4 percent,
respectively. Of the functionaries of the state organs at
the regional, prefectural (city) and county levels, Tibetans
and citizens of other ethnic minorities make up 77.97
percent; of the people's courts and people's procuratorates
at the regional, prefectural (city) and county levels, they
make up 69.82 percent and 82.25 percent, respectively.
In addition, a number of
Tibetan and other ethnic-minority citizens in Tibet directly
participate in the administration of state affairs, and some
serve in leading positions in state organsat the central
level. Of the deputies to the National People's Congress, 19
are from Tibet, of whom, 12 are Tibetans. In the Standing
Committee of the NPC of all previous terms, Tibetans suchas
the 14th Dalai Lama, the 10th Panchen Lama, Ngapoi Ngawang
Jigme, Pagbalha Geleg Namgyai, and Raidi once served, or are
serving, as vice-chairmen. At present, 29 Tibetans and
persons of other ethnic-minority groups from Tibet serve as
members of the CPPCC National Committee or members of its
Standing Committee. Ngapoi Ngawang Jigme and Pagbalha Geleg
Namgyai serve as vice-chairmen of the CPPCC National
Committee.
The local
organ of self-government in Tibet fully exercises thepower
of autonomy bestowed by the Constitution and law. According
to the provisions of the Constitution, the organ of
self-government of the Tibet Autonomous Region exercises the
functions and powers of the local organ of state at the
provincial level according to law as well as the power of
autonomy according to law;and implements the laws and
policies of the state in light of the existing local
situation. The People's Congress of the Tibet Autonomous
Region has the power to enact local regulations enjoyedby an
ordinary administrative region at the provincial level and
the power to enact regulations on the exercise of autonomy
as wellas separate regulations in light of the political,
economic and cultural characteristics of the ethnic group or
ethnic groups in the region. According to statistics, since
1965, the People's Congress of the Tibet Autonomous Region
and its Standing Committeehave enacted 220 local or separate
regulations, covering political,economic, cultural,
educational and other aspects, including the
"Regulations of the Tibet Autonomous Region on the
Protection and Management of Cultural Relics,"
"Regulations of the Tibet Autonomous Region on
Environmental Protection," "Regulations of the
Tibet Autonomous Region on the Administration of Mountain
Climbing in Tibet by Foreigners," "Regulations of
the Tibet Autonomous Region on Correspondence and
Visitation," "Resolutions on the Study, Use and
Development of the Tibetan Language in the Tibet Autonomous
Region," "Resolutions on Safeguarding
Unificationof the Motherland, Strengthening Ethnic Unity and
Combating Separatist Activities," and "Decision on
Severely Cracking Down onIllegal Imposition of 'Fines for
Lost Lives.'" The enactment and implementation of these
local regulations have provided an important legal safeguard
for protecting the special rights and interests of the
Tibetan people and promoting the development of various
undertakings in Tibet.
According to the "Law on Regional Ethnic
Autonomy," if a resolution, decision, order or
directive of a state organ at the higher level is not
suitable for the actual situation of the region, the Tibet
Autonomous Region has the right to flexibly implement or not
to implement such a resolution, decision, order or directive
of the state organ at the higher level, upon approvalby the
higher authorities. For instance, the organ of
self-government in Tibet has designated the Tibetan New
Year, the Shoton (Yogurt) Festival and other traditional
Tibetan festivals as official holidays in the region, apart
from the official national holidays. In addition, out of
consideration for the special natural and geographical
factors of Tibet, the Tibet Autonomous Region has fixed the
work week at 35 hours, five hours fewer than the national
statutory work week. Besides, subject to authorization, the
legislative body of the Tibet Autonomous Regionmay also
enact and implement flexible regulations and supplementary
provisions with regard to relevant state laws based on the
actual local situation. For instance, in 1981, in
consideration of the historical customs and other actual
conditions in marriage of the ethnic minorities in Tibet,
the Standing Committee of the People's Congress of the Tibet
Autonomous Region adopted the "Accommodation Rules for
the Implementation of the Marriage Law of the People's
Republic of China," which lowers by two years the
statutory marriage ages for men and women provided in the
"Marriage Law," and stipulates that polyandrous
and polygamous marriages formed before the promulgation of
the "Accommodation Rules" shall be valid if none
of the persons involved takes initiative to terminate the
marriage.The implementation of the state laws and policies
in a flexible manner as prescribed by law has effectively
protected the special interests of the Tibetan
people.
III. The Tibetan People Have Full
Decision-making Power in Economic and Social Development
The key to regional
ethnic autonomy is to speed up social and economic
development in ethnic autonomous areas and guarantee
minority people's equal rights to development. Over the past
40 years, the Tibet Autonomous Region, under the correct
direction and wholehearted support of the state, has fully
exercised the decision-making right guaranteed to it by law
in economic and social development, and formulated a series
of policies and measures suitable for the actual situation
in Tibet. This has greatly promoted the modernization drive
in Tibet and improved itspeople's living standards.
According to the
Constitution and the "Law on Regional Ethnic
Autonomy," the Tibet Autonomous Region has the power,
within the framework of the Constitution and law, to adopt
special policies and flexible measures according to the
local conditions to speed up its economic and cultural
development; under the direction of the state plan and in
accordance with its local features and needs,to map out its
principles, policies and plans for economic development, and
decide and manage independently its economic and social
development undertakings; to administer, protect and be
thefirst to utilize its natural resources; to administer its
own finances and independently arrange the use of its fiscal
revenue; to independently develop its educational and
cultural undertakingsand manage its educational, scientific,
cultural, health and physical education undertakings; and to
enjoy the state's preferential policies in the aspects of
finance, banking and taxation. In the past 40 years, the
Tibet Autonomous Region has fully exercised autonomy in
economic and social development in accordance with the law,
and formulated and implemented 10 Five-Year Plans for
Economic and Social Development in light of Tibet'sreality.
With the leapfrogging of stages of development as the target
of economic and social development and the improvement of
the infrastructure and the people's living standard as the
key, ithas independently arranged its economic and social
development projects, and has thus guaranteed the rapid and
healthy progress of Tibet's modernization drive and the
development of Tibet's society and economy in line with the
basic interests of the Tibetan people.
In accordance with Tibet's special
features and needs, the state has spared no effort to help
promote Tibet's economic and social development. The
ordinary people in Tibet are the direct beneficiaries of all
these support, aid and policies. Considering present-day
Tibet being born from the backward feudal serfdom, itsweak
economic and social foundation and its high altitude, for
many years the state has given Tibet special support and
help in terms of finance, banking and taxation, as well as
materials, technologies and personnel according to the
stipulations in the Constitution and the "Law on
Regional Ethnic Autonomy." Since the early 1980s, the
Central Government has convened four Forums on Work in Tibet
according to the needs and requirements of the Region, and
worked out a series of special preferential policies and
measures concerning the major problems in Tibet's economic
andsocial development. For instance, since 1984 the policies
of "long-term household land use and independent
management" and "long-termprivate ownership of
livestock and independent management" have been adopted
in the agricultural and pastoral areas of Tibet, which have
greatly raised farmers' and herdsmen's enthusiasm for
production, and brought about sustained improvement in both
production and the people's living conditions in the
agricultural and pastoral areas. Another example is that
Tibet is the only place in China to enjoy a preferential
taxation policy at a rate three percentage points lower than
in any other part of China, andwhere farmers and herdsmen
are exempt from taxes and administrative charges. In
banking, Tibet has all along enjoyed a preferential interest
rate on loans two percentage points lower than in any other
place in China, as well as a low rate on insurance premiums.
Also, farmers and herdsmen receive free medical care, and
their children go to school with board and lodging free of
charge.
Meanwhile, the state gives special support for
Tibet's development in terms of capital, technology and
personnel. From 1984 to 1994, a total of 43 projects were
undertaken, with a totalinvestment of 480 million yuan from
the state and nine provinces and municipalities. Between
1994 and 2001, the Central Government again financed 62
projects, involving an additional 4.86 billion yuan in
direct investment; and 716 projects have been financed
andconstructed with free aid from 15 provinces and central
ministriesand commissions, involving a total investment of
3.16 billion yuan.At the Fourth Forum on Work in Tibet, held
by the central authorities in 2001, it was decided to
further strengthen the support for Tibet's development by
investing 31.2 billion yuan in 117 projects during the 10th
Five-Year Plan period (2001-2005) with funds from the
Central Government, coupled with 37.9 billion yuan in
financial subsidy. Meanwhile, Tibet will receive aid from
other regions throughout the country in the construction of
71 projects, involving a total investment of 1.062 billion
yuan. According to statistics, in close to 40 years since
the Tibet Autonomous Region was founded, of Tibet's 87.586
billion yuan of financial expenditure, 94.9 percent came
from Central Government subsidies. In the last decade, well
over 2,000 cadres at various levels have been selected and
sent to help with work in Tibet, together with 10.166
billion yuan in financial help in the form ofcapital and
materials (not including the capital involved in the 117
Central Government's aid projects in the same period). The
support from the Central Government and other parts of the
countryhas greatly improved the production and living
conditions in Tibetand promoted its economic and social
development.
In the last
four decades, Tibet has progressed by leaps and bounds in
the system, structure and total volume of its economy,
ending the closed, manorial-system-based natural economy for
good and moving forward to a modern market economy. From
1965 to 2003, the GNP of Tibet increased from 327 million
yuan to 18.459 billionyuan, and the GDP per capita rose from
241 yuan to 6,874 yuan. A modern industrial system
comprising more than 20 categories and with distinctive
Tibetan characteristics has come into existence from
nothing. Burgeoning industries and trades such as modern
commerce, tourism, posts and telecommunications, catering
services,entertainment and IT that used to be unheard of in
Tibet, are now developing with great momentum. There was no
highway in Tibet in the old days, but today a road
transportation network has taken shape with national
highways and 14 provincial highways as the trunk lines, with
more than 41,300 kilometers open to traffic. Construction of
the Qinghai-Tibet Railway began in 2001; when it is
completed and opened to traffic, in 2007, the days when
Tibet is not accessible by rail will go beyond recall. In
2003, Tibet received 928,600 visits of tourists from both
home and abroad, andthe total income from tourism made up
5.6 percent of the GDP in Tibet. By the end of 2003, there
were 22 telephones for every 100 people in Tibet, with the
total number of fixed and mobile phone users reaching
601,700.
The
modernization drive has been developing in harmony with
theprotection of the environment. Tibet adheres to the
strategy of comprehensive, coordinated and sustainable
development, integrating environmental protection with
modernization efforts byplanning and developing them
simultaneously, and forming an efficient supervision and
control system for environmental protection and pollution
control. Attention has been given to ecological improvement,
and 18 state- and provincial-level nature reserves have been
built, covering 33.9 percent of the region's total land
area, effectively protecting Tibet's fragile plateau ecology
and the living environment in the urban and rural areas. At
present, the ecology in Tibet basically maintains its
pristine state, and it is the place where the environment is
best protectedin China.
The people's material and cultural well-beings
have improved bya large margin. Now, most of the farmers and
herdsmen in Tibet have basically solved the food and
clothing problem, and some people are now fairly well off.
The old Tibet had no school of themodern type, and the
attendance rate of school-age children was less than two
percent, with 95 percent of young and middle-aged people
being illiterate. By the end of 2003, Tibet had 1,011
schools of various types and levels and 2,020 teaching
centers, with a total of 453,400 students, the enrollment
proportion of primary schools rising to 91.8 percent and the
illiteracy rate dropping to less than 30 percent. Since
1985, the Central Government has established Tibetan
classes/schools in 21 provincesand municipalities, training
up to 10,000 college and secondary technical school
graduates.
Medical and
health-care conditions have improved markedly. Now,there are
1,305 medical and health institutions in Tibet, with 6,216
beds and 8,287 medical personnel, the number of beds and
medical personnel per 1,000 people being higher than the
national average. The people are now much better assured of
their health than before. Infant mortality rate has dropped
from 43 percent before 1959 to 3.1 percent, and the average
life span of the Tibetan people has increased from 35.5
years to the present 67 years. Tibet's population has grown
from 1.1409 million before 1951 to the present 2.7017
million, of whom the number of Tibetansrose from 1.2087
million in 1964 to 2.5072 million in 2003, makingup over 92
percent of the region's population.
IV. The
Tibetan People Have the Freedom to Inherit and Develop Their
Traditional Culture and to Practice Their Religious Belief
Over the past 40 years,
the Tibet Autonomous Region has fully exercised the right to
autonomy guaranteed to it by the Constitution and the
"Law on Regional Ethnic Autonomy," administered
and developed local cultural undertakings on their own,
protected and sifted the Tibetan cultural heritage,
developedand promoted Tibetan culture, and protected Tibetan
people's freedom of inheriting and developing their
traditional culture andpracticing their religious belief.
Tibetan language is
widely studied, used and promoted. The regional government
promulgated and implemented the "Stipulations of the
Tibet Autonomous Region on the Learning, Use and Promotion
of the Tibetan Spoken and Written Language (Interim)"
and its "Rules of Implementation" in 1987 and
1988, respectively, and revised the first as the
"Stipulations of the Tibet Autonomous Region on the
Learning, Use and Promotion of the Tibetan Spoken and
Written Language" in 2002. These stipulations and rules
make clear that equal attention be given to Tibetan and
Han-Chinese languages in the Tibet Autonomous Region, with
the Tibetan language as the major one, thus putting the work
of using and promoting Tibetan spoken and written language
on a legal basis.
Both
Tibetan and Chinese languages are used in all schools in
Tibet, with the Tibetan as the major one, and the textbooks
and teaching reference books from primary to high school
have been edited, translated into and published in Tibetan
language. All theresolutions and regulations of the people's
congresses at various levels in Tibet, and formal documents
and public announcements of the governments at all levels
and all governmental departments in the Tibet Autonomous
Region are printed in both Tibetan and Chinese languages. In
judicial lawsuits, Tibetan language is used when Tibetans
are involved and in the writing of legal documents. The
official seals, certificates, forms, envelopes, letter
paper, standardized writing paper and emblems of all units,
and the signsand logos of all government agencies,
factories, mines, schools, bus and train stations, airports,
shops, hotels, restaurants, theaters, tourist destinations,
stadiums and libraries, and all the road and traffic signs
and street names are all written in both Tibetan and Chinese
languages.
At present,
both radio and TV stations in Tibet have special
Tibetan-language channels. There are 14 magazines and 10
newspapers published in Tibetan in the autonomous region.
The Tibetan edition of the Tibet Daily is published every
day, using advanced Tibetan-language computer editing and
typesetting systems.In recent years, more than 100 titles of
books have been publishedin Tibetan every year, with a
circulation of several hundred thousand. The standardization
of specialized terms and informationtechnology in Tibetan
has made great progress. The encoded Tibetanlanguage has
reached the state as well as international standard, making
Tibetan the first ethnic-minority language in China to
haveattained international standardization.
The fine aspects of traditional Tibetan
culture are being carried on, protected and promoted.
Specialized institutions for salvaging, editing and
researching Tibetan cultural heritage have been established
by governments at all levels in the region.
Theseinstitutions have collected, edited and published the
Records of Chinese Dramas "Tibetan Volume,"
Collection of Chinese Folk Ballads "Tibetan
Volume," and other collections of folk dances,
proverbs, quyi ballads, folk songs and folk tales,
effectively salvaging and protecting the excellent parts of
traditional Tibetan culture. Life of King Gesar has been
called the "king of world epics," as it is the
longest of its kind in the world. The Tibetan people created
it, and it has been transmitted orally for centuries. A
special institution was founded in 1979 by the regional
government to carry out all-round salvaging and editing of
Life of King Gesar. The state has put it on the list of
major scientific research projects, and organized the
relevant research and publication work. After some 20 years
of effort, more than 3,000 audio tapes have been recorded,
almost 300 hand-copied and block-printed editions of the
epic have been collected, and 62 volumes of the epic in
Tibetan have been edited and published, with a distribution
in excess of three million copies. Meanwhile, over 20
volumes of its Chinese edition have been published so
far,and some of them have been translated into and published
in English, Japanese and French.
Since the founding of the Tibet Autonomous Region,
a number of regulations on the protection of cultural relics
have been promulgated and implemented. Altogether, some 300
million yuan hasbeen used to renovate and open over 1,400
monasteries and to give timely repair to a large group of
cultural relics. From 1989 to 1994 especially, the Central
People's Government allocated 55 million yuan and a large
quantity of gold and silver for the first-phase maintenance
project of the Potala Palace. From 2001, the state has also
earmarked 330 million yuan for the second-phase maintenance
project of the Potala Palace and the maintenance of the two
other great cultural sites of Norbulingka and Sakya
Monastery.
Traditional
Tibetan customs and habits are respected and protected.
Tibetans and all the other minority ethnic groups in China
enjoy the right and freedom to keep their traditional
lifestyles and to engage in social activities according to
their own customs and habits. While maintaining their
traditional stylesof costume, diet, and housing, they have
also absorbed some modernand new healthy customs in
clothing, food, housing and transportation as well as
weddings and funerals. Traditional festivals such as the
Tibetan New Year, Sakadawa (Anniversary of Buddha's Birth,
Enlightenment and Death) Festival, Ongkor (Bumper Harvest)
Festival, and Shoton (Yogurt) Festival, and many religious
celebrations in monasteries are observed, while accepting
different kinds of national and international festivals that
have been introduced in recent years.
Tibetans fully enjoy the freedom of
religious belief. Most of the people of the Tibetan, Moinba,
Lhoba and Naxi ethnic groups believe in Tibetan Buddhism,
while others believe in Islam and Catholicism. At present,
there are over 1,700 venues for Tibetan Buddhist activities,
with some 46,000 resident monks and nuns; four mosques and
about 3,000 Muslims; and one Catholic church and over 700
believers in the region. Religious activities of various
kinds are held normally, with people's religious needs fully
satisfied and their freedom of religious belief fully
respected.
The
transmission lineage system of reincarnation of a great lama
after his death is unique to Tibetan Buddhism, and this has
been respected by the state and governments at all levels in
Tibet.In 1992, the State Bureau of Religious Affairs of the
State Council approved the succession of the Living Buddha
of the 17th Karmapa. In 1995, according to religious rituals
and historical conventions, the Tibet Autonomous Region
completed the whole process of the search for and
confirmation of the reincarnation ofthe 10th Panchen Lama
through drawing lots from a gold urn and thehonoring and
enthronement of the 11th Panchen Lama, and reported it to
the State Council for approval. Since Tibet's Democratic
Reform, altogether 30 Living Buddhas have been approved by
the state and the government of the Tibet Autonomous Region.
Tibetan clergy has also carried out a reform of the sutra
learning system among the monks, which has greatly
stimulated sutra-learning enthusiasm among the monks, and
played an active role in inheriting and developing Buddhist
doctrines.
The
stupendous work of collecting, editing, publishing and
researching religious classics has progressed continuously.
Sutrasand Buddhist classics preserved in the Potala Palace,
Norbulingka and Sakya Monastery have been well protected.
Ancient documents and books, such as the Catalogue of the
Classics in the Potala Palace, Snowland Library, The Origins
of Religions in Tewu, etc., have been rescued, edited and
published. Since 1990, the Chinese Tripitaka: Tengyur
(collated edition) and the General Catalogue of the Tibetan
Tripitaka in the Tibetan and Chinese Languages havebeen
published. Of the Tripitaka, 1,490 sections of the Tengyur
have been published, in addition to offprints of Tibetan
Buddhist classics of rituals, biographies and treatises for
monasteries to satisfy the needs of monks, nuns and lay
followers. The Chinese Buddhist Association Tibet Branch
publishes its Tibetan Buddhism journal in the Tibetan
language. It also runs a Tibetan Buddhist college and a
Tibetan-language sutra printery. The state has also set up
the China Tibetan-Language Senior Buddhist College in
Beijing specially to foster senior personnel of Tibetan
Buddhism.
V. Regional Ethnic Autonomy Is the
Fundamental Guarantee for Tibetan People As Masters of Their
Own Affairs
It should be
recognized that regional ethnic autonomy has only been
instituted in Tibet for a short time, and it needs to be
improved and developed in the course of implementation.
Since Tibet had very little to start with in terms of social
development,and because of its high-altitude oxygen
deficiency and other harshnatural conditions, the level of
modernization in Tibet still lagsfar behind the coastal
areas in southeast China. Tibet remains thus far an
underdeveloped area in China. However, the basic fact is
that in the nearly 40 years since Tibet adopted regional
ethnicautonomy, it has turned from an extremely backward
feudal serfdom into a modern socialist people's democracy,
and during this process it has recorded rapid economic
growth and all-round socialprogress and steadily narrowed
the gap between it and other regions of China. As a member
of the big family of the Chinese nation, Tibetans have won
the right to jointly manage state affairs on an equal
footing with other ethnic groups, and the right to autonomy
as arbiters of their own destiny and masters of their own
affairs. They have become the creators and beneficiariesof
the material and cultural wealth of Tibetan society. The
ethniccharacteristics and traditional culture of Tibet are
not only fully respected and protected, but also publicized
and carried forward. Their contents are also being enriched
along with the progress of modernization to make it more
representative of the times. It is undeniable that the
development and changes Tibet hasundergone are visible to
everyone and have attracted worldwide attention.
Historical facts
indicate that the institution of regional ethnic autonomy in
Tibet was the natural result of social progressin Tibet, and
that it accords with the fundamental interests of the
Tibetan people and the inexorable law of development of
human society. To advance from a feudal, autocratic medieval
society to a modern, democratic society is the inevitable
law of development of human society from ignorance and
backwardness to civilization and progress. It is the
irresistible historical trend of modernization of all the
countries and regions in modern times. Aslate as the first
half of the 20th century, Tibet was still a feudal serfdom
under a theocracy. This, plus the policy of ethnic
oppression practiced by domestic reactionary ruling classes
over long years in various historical periods as well as
invasion and instigation by modern imperialist forces,
reduced Tibetan society as a whole to constant unrest. But,
after the founding of the People's Republic of China, the
Central Government realized the peaceful liberation of
Tibet, and instituted the Democratic Reformand regional
ethnic autonomy there, completing the task of the
anti-imperialist and anti-feudal national-democratic
revolution. As a result, Tibet broke away from the control
of imperialism, leapfrogged several forms of society, and
entered socialist society. Tibet saw the completion of the
greatest and most profound social transformation in its
history, and in its social development achieved a historic
leap never before seen. This is inline with the law of
development of human society and the progressive trend of
the times. It also reflects the requirements of social
progress in Tibet and the fundamental wish of the Tibetan
people.
To institute
regional ethnic autonomy in Tibet is the natural requirement
for safeguarding national unification and national
solidarity, and for the equal development and common
prosperity ofthe Tibetan people and people of other ethnic
groups in China. Over the long course of historical
development, the Tibetan peopletogether with people of other
ethnic groups in China have created a unified,
multi-national country, and formed the big family of the
Chinese nation, in which all the ethnic groups share weal
and woe, and are inseparable from each other. As an integral
part of Chinese territory, Tibet has for centuries gone
through thick and thin together with the motherland for
common development. In modern times, China was reduced to a
semi-colonial and semi-feudalsociety; Chinese territory,
including Tibet, was subject to invasion and devastation by
the big powers of the West, and China was confronted with
the deplorable fate of being carved up and dismembered.
After the founding of the People's Republic of China,under
the unified leadership of the state and with generous
support from other ethnic groups, the Tibetan people,
through peaceful liberation and Democratic Reform, have come
into their own and instituted regional ethnic autonomy. They
have displayed unprecedented initiative, zeal and
creativity, and brought Tibet onto the track of development
in step with the other parts of the country. Historical
facts indicate that without the unification and prosperity
of the country and without the unity and mutual aidof
different ethnic groups in China, there would have been no
new lease of life and no rapid development for Tibet. By the
same token, without the prosperity and development of Tibet,
the complete modernization of China and the great
rejuvenation of the Chinese nation cannot be achieved. The
institution of regional ethnic autonomy in Tibet has
integrated the unification of state sovereignty, the role of
the people as masters of the country and the local autonomy
of Tibet as an organic whole. This has provideda powerful
guarantee for the Tibetan people to realize equal
development and common prosperity together with other ethnic
groups in China.
The
institution of regional ethnic autonomy in Tibet is the
logical outcome of the Tibetan people's adherence to
development along the road of Chinese-style socialism under
the leadership of the Communist Party of China, and also the
basic institutional guarantee for Tibetans to be true
masters of their own affairs. Regional ethnic autonomy is a
basic policy of the Communist Party of China for solving
ethnic problems. It embodies the essential requirement of
Chinese-style socialism for equality, unity, mutualaid and
common prosperity among all ethnic groups. It is a basic
political system whereby the state guarantees that ethnic
minorities are masters of their own affairs. Practice has
proved that this system is commensurate with China's
national conditions and the reality of the Tibet region, and
is therefore full of vitality. Over the past 40 years, under
the leadership of the Communist Party of China, the
institution of regional ethnic autonomy in Tibet has
effectively guaranteed the equal rights of the Tibetans in
the big family of the Chinese nation and their right to
autonomy in Tibet. The Tibetan people are entitled, without
any discrimination, to the same equal rights as enjoyed
bypeople of other ethnic groups in China in political,
economic, cultural and social fields. They also enjoy the
right of self-government to manage all affairs concerning
their own region and ethnic group, as well as the right to
special help and protection from the state, as prescribed by
law. It can well be said that theregional ethnic autonomy
instituted in Tibet not only comprehensively embodies the
principles of equality, freedom from discrimination and
special protection as stipulated in the United Nations'
"Declaration of the Rights of People Who Are Minorities
in Terms of Nationality, Race, Religion or Language"
and other international documents on the protection of
rights of minorities,but also fully embodies the advantages
of Chinese-style socialism.Practice has proved that only by
adhering to the leadership of theCommunist Party, the
socialist road and the system of regional ethnic autonomy
can it be possible to truly make the Tibetan people masters
of their own affairs and guarantee them this status.Only
then can it be possible to safeguard and develop the
fundamental interests of the Tibetan people, and guarantee
the long-term stability and rapid development of Tibet.
It is thought-provoking
that the Dalai clique, disregarding thefact that the Tibetan
people have become masters of their own affairs and enjoyed
full democratic rights and extensive economic,social and
cultural rights, has constantly attacked Tibet's regional
ethnic autonomy, in the international arena, as being
"devoid of essential contents," and proposed the
institution of "one country, two systems" and
"a high degree of autonomy" in Tibet,after the
model of Hong Kong and Macao. This argument is totally
untenable. The regional ethnic autonomy in Tibet the Dalai
clique attacks is the very regional ethnic autonomy for
Tibet which the 14th Dalai supported and whose preparation
he was involved in. While preparing for the establishment of
the Tibet Autonomous Region, the Central Government
conducted full consultation with the Dalai and Panchen and
other members of the upper strata in Tibet. In 1956, the
Preparatory Committee for the Tibet AutonomousRegion was
established, with the Dalai as the chairman. In his opening
speech at the inaugural meeting, he said, "The
establishment of the Preparatory Committee for the Tibet
Autonomous Region indicates that the work in the Tibet
region has entered upon a brand-new stage." In his
report at the inaugural meeting he again declared that
"The establishment of the Preparatory Committee for the
Tibet Autonomous Region is not only timely but also
necessary" and that "we wholeheartedly support
thepolicies of regional ethnic autonomy, ethnic equality and
unity and protection for the freedom of religious belief
implemented by the Communist Party of China and the Central
People's Government."The Dalai's attack against the
regional ethnic autonomy in Tibet runs counter not only to
the reality of present-day Tibet but alsoto the words he
once uttered in all seriousness.
The situation in Tibet is entirely different from
that in Hong Kong and Macao. The Hong Kong and Macao issue
was a product of imperialist aggression against China; it
was an issue of China's resumption of exercise of its
sovereignty. Since ancient times Tibet has been an
inseparable part of Chinese territory, where theCentral
Government has always exercised effective sovereign
jurisdiction over the region. So the issue of resuming
exercise ofsovereignty does not exist. With the peaceful
liberation of Tibet in 1951, Tibet had fundamentally
extricated itself from the fetters of imperialism. Later,
through the Democratic Reform, the abolition of the feudal
serfdom under theocracy and the establishment of the Tibet
Autonomous Region, the socialist systemhas been steadily
consolidated there and the various rights of thepeople have
been truly realized and constantly developed. So the
possibility of implementing another social system does not
exist either. Regional ethnic autonomy is a basic political
system of China, which, together with the National People's
Congress system and the system of multi-party cooperation
and political consultation led by the Communist Party of
China, forms the basic framework of China's political
system. The establishment of the Tibet Autonomous Region and
the scope of its area are based on theprovisions of the
Constitution, and the "Law(s) on Regional
EthnicAutonomy" and decided by the conditions past and
present. Any act aimed at undermining and changing the
regional ethnic autonomy in Tibet is in violation of the
Constitution and law, and it is unacceptable to the entire
Chinese people, including the broad masses of the Tibetan
people.
It must be
pointed out that the local government of Tibet headed by the
Dalai representing feudal serfdom under theocracy has long
since been replaced by the democratic administration
established by the Tibetan people themselves. The destiny
and future of Tibet can no longer be decided by the Dalai
Lama and hisclique. Rather, it can only be decided by the
whole Chinese nation,including the Tibetan people. This is
an objective political fact in Tibet that cannot be denied
or shaken. The Central Government'spolicy as regards the
Dalai Lama is consistent and clear. It is hoped that the
Dalai Lama will look reality in the face, make a correct
judgment of the situation, truly relinquish his stand for
"Tibet independence," and do something beneficial
to the progress of China and the region of Tibet in his
remaining years. Enditem
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