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Xi sets out plans for ‘modern socialst’ Tibet

CHINESE President Xi Jinping has called for efforts to build a “new modern socialist” Tibet and to combat separatism in the region.

“Efforts must be made to build a new modern socialist Tibet that is united, prosperous, culturally advanced, harmonious and beautiful,” Mr Xi said at the two-day seventh Central Symposium on Tibet Work, which ended in Beijing on Saturday.

He urged China to build an “impregnable fortress” to maintain stability in the autonomous region, protect national unity and educate the masses in the struggle against “splittism.”

Policies on governing Tibet for a new era have taken shape since they were fleshed out at the 18th Communist Party of China (CPC) National Congress in 2012, Mr Xi said.

The premier stressed that the CPC’s conceptions of “socialism with Chinese characteristics” and regional ethnic autonomy must be upheld in Tibet.

“Tibetan Buddhism should be guided in adapting to the socialist society and should be developed in the Chinese context,” he said.

Combating separatism remains important in developing a prosperous Tibet, Mr Xi insisted. An international movement has demanded Tibet’s independence from China, which liberated the region from feudalism in 1950.

Washington has imposed travel bans on some Chinese officials it accuses of restricting foreigners’ access to Tibet. The US insists that it supports “meaningful autonomy” for the region.

Many Tibetan independence campaigners want to see the return of the Dalai Lama, who fled in 1959 following a failed CIA-backed uprising and has been living in India ever since.

But China has successfully resisted “reactionary separatist movements,” bringing huge social and economic progress to the autonomous region which was languishing in medieval conditions at the time of the 1949 revolution.

A number of major infrastructure projects and public service facilities are planned for the region, including the 1,000-mile Sichuan-Tibet railway, Mr Xi said.

He stressed that a long-term commitment to CPC central committee policy was needed from Tibet to ensure that it maintains support from the central authorities and assistance from the rest of the country.

Political and ideological education need to be strengthened in Tibet’s schools in order to “plant the seeds of loving China in the depths of the hearts of every youth,” Mr Xi insisted.

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