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Major Projects for Tibet Development Planned
The fate of Tibet and the Tibetan people is and will continue to be closely linked to the whole Chinese nation, said President Jiang Zemin at a national meeting held on June 25-27 in Beijing.
"The coming five to 10 years will be an important period for the development of both Tibet and the entire country," said Jiang, who is also secretary-general of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and chairman of the Central Military Commission.
"We will continue to pay attention to two major issues in Tibet: economic development and social stability."
Jiang said that the development, stability and safety of Tibet are of "extreme importance" to China, and the whole party and all related departments should continue to be aware of this.
The president said the central government will continue to increase its direct investment in Tibet, and the investment will focus on infrastructure improvement.
Jiang said that local officials in Tibet should further emancipate their minds, work even harder, restructure the economic system, make full use of the market system and generally improve people's lives in Tibet.
Jiang also urged related departments and officials to carry out the CPC's policies on religion, protecting legal religious activities while punishing those who conduct separatist or other criminal activities under the guise of religion.
"To uphold and improve the leadership of the CPC is an essential guarantee for an even better tomorrow for Tibet," Jiang said.
The Central Committee of CPC and the State Council called the national meeting to discuss the development of Tibet
The meeting, the fourth of its kind in history, was attended by senior Chinese leaders from central government departments and local bodies.
Zhu Rongji, premier andmember of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, said at the meeting that the central government has decided to directly invest in 117 construction projects in Tibet, with a total investment of around 31.2 billion yuan (US$3.8 billion).
Zhu also said that some provincial governments will invest 1.06 billion yuan (US$130 million) in 70 construction projects in Tibet in the following several years, and that Tibet will continue to enjoy a range of preferential policies.
Li Ruihuan, chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference andmember of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, said at the meeting that all CPC members should study the policies and decisions of the CPC central committee on Tibet and work to help build Tibet into a more prosperous autonomous region in China.
Li Peng, chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, and Hu Jintao, Chinese vice-president, both members of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, presided over the meeting's two sessions.
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