A senior official stressed the leadership of the Communist Party of China (CPC), the socialist system, and system of ethnic regional autonomy in the Tibet Autonomous Region, southwest China.

CPC's leadership is a fundamental assurance for development and progress in Tibet; the socialist road with China's own characteristics is abroad road for prosperity and affluence in Tibet; and the ethnic regional autonomy is the very system to ensure that the Tibetan people be master of their own, the official said.

"Tibet has achieved marked progress in various social sectors over the past 40 years," said Jia Qinglin, member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China(CPC) Central Committee, at Thursday's ceremony to mark the 40th founding anniversary of this southwest China autonomous region.

"Tibet is now in its best development period, which features the unity of various ethnic groups, stable social order and local people living and working in peace and contentment," he said.

Jia, who is also the chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), has led a central delegation to attend celebrations in Tibet.

In his speech, Jia recalled three profound social changes for Tibet in the middle of the 20th century. In 1951, Tibet was peacefully liberated to end the invasion by imperialism; in 1959, Tibet started its democratic reforms to end feudalist slavery; and in 1965, the Tibet Autonomous Region was established, with the system of ethnic regional autonomy adopted, marking that Tibet made a historic change in social system.

In 2004, Tibet achieved 21.15 billion yuan (about US$2.66 billion) in GDP, an increase of 18.6 folds compared with the figure of 40 years ago.

Over the past four decades, the central government has allocated a total of 96.87 billion yuan (about US$12 billion) for Tibet, to complete a large number of infrastructure projects. The Qinghai-Tibet Railway is expected to go into operation next year.

Meanwhile, efforts have been made to protect, inherit and display the excellent traditional culture of Tibet, while the autonomous region has also witnessed a development of advanced socialist culture over the past 40 years, according to Jia.

Jia attributed the great achievements in Tibet to the three-generation Party central leading collectives with Mao Zedong, Deng Xiaoping and Jiang Zemin at the core, respectively, and the new Party central leading collective with Hu Jintao as the general secretary, who have practiced correct leadership in Tibet in the different periods of time.

At the end of his speech, Jia pledged to accelerate economic and social development in Tibet, so as to meet the urgent demands by the Tibetan people of different ethnic groups.

Meanwhile, he urged armed forces and law-enforcement units in Tibet to guard the socialist material civilization, political civilization, ethic civilization, to help build up a harmonic society in Tibet.

(Xinhua News Agency September 2, 2005)