Tibet Delegation in New Zealand

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Monday, April 29, 2002

Tibet Delegation in New Zealand

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Gyaltso, vice-chairman of the Tibet Autonomous Regional People's Congress of China, said Monday that the society of old Tibet under feudal serfdom "was even darker and more backward than in Europe in the Middle Ages."

He made the comments while delivering a public address to the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs on Monday evening.

In his address entitled "Historical Progress of Tibet," Gyaltso said, "Before 1959, Tibet was in a state of feudal serfdom under theocracy. I lived under such a system for 20 years, and had personal experience of the sufferings that such a system had brought to the Tibetan people."

"While entering into modern times, this system became an extremely decadent social system that contradicted the progressive trend in the modern world, and it stifled the development of the social productive forces of Tibet, seriously hindered social progress, and relegated Tibet to the state of extreme poverty, backwardness, isolation and decline, to the point verging on total collapse," he said.

In 1959, he added, "democratic reform was carried out in Tibet, the million serfs were liberated politically, economically and spiritually, becoming masters of the land and other means of production, enjoying all political rights enshrined in China's Constitution, and gaining real personal freedom."

"In 1965, the Tibet Autonomous Region and the people's government were established, and regional ethnic autonomy was installed in Tibet. Since then, Tibet has entered into a new phase of development, the people of all ethnic groups in Tibet have enjoyed extensive rights, and their material and cultural well- being has been uplifted to a large extent," he said.

The senior official of the Tibet Autonomous Region briefed the audience about regional ethnic autonomy in Tibet, achievements in the areas of economy and social undertakings, and freedom in religious belief in Tibet in the past 50 years.

After answering questions raised by the audience, Gyaltso said, "Seeing is believing. We welcome all friends present here to visit Tibet someday, to see and to feel for yourselves the natural beauty, the unique culture and customs, and the daily progress of the Tibetan society."

Gyaltso and the delegation headed by him arrived in Wellington on Monday as guest of Speaker Jonathan Hunt of the New Zealand Parliament.

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