People of various ethnic groups living in Tibet have benefited from reform and development, said Qiangba Puncog, chairman of the Tibet autonomous regional government, on Wednesday.

"They are real beneficiaries," he stressed, citing figures of Tibet's development to refute the Dalai Lama's claim that the benefits of Tibet's development has been taken away by Han people and "cultural genocide".

"The Dalai Lama's claims are lies to instigate antagonism between various ethnic groups and to cheat the international community," he said.

Tibet has registered an annual gross domestic product (GDP) growth rate of over 12 percent for seven consecutive years. In 2007, the region's GDP reached 34.2 billion yuan (about 4.88 billion U.S. dollars) with 12,000 yuan per capita, he said at a news conference.

In the past five years, the central government has subsidized Tibet with 94.7 billion yuan and invested 60.1 billion in infrastructure construction, he said.

Currently, the average life expectancy of people in Tibet has increased to 67 from 35.5 in the 1950s .

He stressed the total population of Tibetans has risen to 2.5 million, accounting for 95 percent of total regional population, from 1.2 million in 1964.

The average income of farmers and herdsmen reached 2,788 yuan last year after maintaining a double-digit growth rate for five straight years, he said.