China Holds Seminar on Modernization of Tibetan RegionsA seminar on modernization of the country's Tibetan regions opened on November 8. Some 70 scholars and officials will attend the three-day event to give advice on development of the Tibetan ethnic group.Liu Shaoxian, a high-ranking official from Sichuan, a neighboring province to the Tibet Autonomous Region in southwest China, promised at the seminar that Sichuan will invest a total of 3 billion yuan (some 363 million US dollars) over the next ten years in primary and junior middle school education in the province's three Tibetan autonomous prefectures. China is currently carrying out a huge "developing the west" strategy. As home of the country's Tibetan ethnic group, Sichuan, Yunnan, Gansu, Qinghai and Tibet are on the list of regions that will be given development priorities. China's "Tibetan region" includes Tibet and ten Tibetan autonomous prefectures and two Tibetan autonomous counties in the neighboring provinces, accounting for one fifth of the China's total land area. According to the 1990 census figure, the population of China's Tibetan ethnic group is 4.6 million. Zhu Xiaoming, deputy secretary-general of the United Front Work Department of the CPC Central Committee, said at the seminar that the modernization of the Tibetan regions should not be regarded only as an economic issue, such other issues as education and environmental protection should also be attached great importance. Participants of the seminar agreed that the Tibetan regions have a bright future. "The Tibetan regions have a great development potential," said Li Guoqing, deputy director of the China Tibetology Center. |
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