Social stability should be maintained in the ethnic minority regions so as to attract more investment and facilitate economic growth. This is a view shared by deputies from Tibet and Xinjiang to the Ninth National People's Congress, China's highest law-making body which has been in session here since Sunday.

While discussing the government work report by Premier Zhu Rongji during a joint panel discussion on Sunday of deputies from Tibetan Autonomous Region and Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, Dorje Cering, commissioner of the Qamdo Prefecture in Tibet Autonomous Region, said his personal work experience has shown that stability could result in marked growth in local economy.

"Crackdown on illegal activities for the sake of social stability in Qamdo prefecture has greatly spurred local economy and facilitated the influx of investment from outside," he said.

According to the Tibetan official, the number of private businesses run by outsiders in Qamdo have risen from approximately 3,600 two years ago to more than 5,800 in early this year, which have contributed to some one third of the region's tax income.

Meanwhile, this view is echoed by Dorje Cering, commissioner of the Ali Prefecture in Tibet, who cited own region as an example. Thanks to a series of policy incentives and stable social environment as a result of an effective drive against separatism and drug smuggling in Ali, there are now more investors from outside Tibet than local residents, the official said.

Moreover, Yao Yongfeng, a NPC deputy from northwestern Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, endorsed the viewpoint elaborated in Premier Zhu's government work report, which attaches great importance to ethnic unity in the development of western areas. Local ethic Uygur (Uighur) people in Yao's hometown Kashi, for instance, has profited from learning how to grow vegetables from immigrant farmers from eastern Shandong Province.