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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Friday, March 29, 2002

Lawmakers from China's Tibet Visit Belgian Parliament

A visiting senior legislator from China's Tibet Autonomous Region on Wednesday invited Belgian lawmakers to visit his homeland so they can know better about it. Pierre Chevalier, chief of the Belgian parliament foreign affairs committee, told Raidi that some of his colleagues visited the Tibet Autonomous Region last year and were impressed by the economic development there.


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Tibetan Delegation Visits European Parliament
A visiting senior legislator from China's Tibet Autonomous Region on Wednesday invited Belgian lawmakers to visit his homeland so they can know better about it.

"You will see a clear picture there and get first-hand information in the Tibet autonomous region," Raidi, head of a seven-member parliamentary delegation from China's Tibet, told the Belgian parliament.

Raidi made the remark after briefing Belgian legislators on hisTuesday visit to the European Parliament. He said it is understandable that some parliamentarians of the 15-nation European Union still know little about Tibet because what they have learned about the autonomous region is only second-hand information.

Raidi, who is Chairman of the Standing Committee of the People's Congress of Tibet Autonomous Region of China, noted that mutual understanding is very important in relations between China and Belgium.

He and his delegation were accorded a warm welcome by the Belgian parliament. The delegation began an official visit to the European Parliament and Belgium on Monday.

At a welcoming banquet Monday evening, Raidi introduced the economic achievements and other earth shaking changes in Tibet, since the 1959 democratic reforms there, which put an end to the feudal system and serfdom still dominating the region in the firsthalf of the last century.

He said he himself was one of the millions of serfs who was saved from misery in 1959.

Pierre Chevalier, chief of the Belgian parliament foreign affairs committee, told Raidi that some of his colleagues visited the Tibet Autonomous Region last year and were impressed by the economic development there. He said Belgian parliament members areeager to know more about the development in every field in Tibet.

Chevalier hoped that Raidi's visit will contribute to promotingBelgium-China relations, and voiced his belief that bilateral tiesare at their best, noting that Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt is currently on a visit in China and held talks with Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji the day before.

Belgian Parliament to Strengthen Ties Tibet
The Belgian Federal Parliament hopes to make more contacts and strengthen ties with the People's Congress of China's Tibet Autonomous Region, according to local reports Wednesday.

Dheo Kelchtermans, the Belgian Parliament's chairman of the group on relations with the People's Republic of China, said that Belgian parliamentarians were very interested in China's Tibet and hoped to take advantage of the current visit to Belgium by the delegation of the People's Congress of Tibet Autonomous Regional to enhance cooperation between the two sides.

Some of the Belgian parliamentarians have been to China's Tibet and were surprised by the achievements of the people there, he said.

Raidi, chairman of the standing committee of the people's congress of the Tibet Autonomous Region, said that the region is now enjoying great economic development and political stability.

Raidi and his group of legislators from China's Tibet are currently on a four-day visit to the European Parliament and Belgium.


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