Tibet has nothing to hide: official
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Tibet has nothing to hide, and will make visits to the region easier in the future, said Qiangba Puncog, chairman of the Standing Committee of Tibet Autonomous Regional People's Congress in Beijing on Sunday.
He made the remarks at a press conference on the sidelines of the annual session of the National People's Congress, the country's top legislature.
"As always, we welcome tourists, journalists and government officials to visit Tibet and take a look there to better understand Tibet," he said.
"Seeing is believing," he said.
Commenting on Tibet's regulations on foreigners' access to the region, Qiangba Puncog said Tibet is "a very special place" due to its "high altitude, inconvenient traffic," among other inconveniences.
He told the press conference the current regulations could better ensure the safety of journalists, citing a traffic accident which killed 26 people and injured nine in Tibet on Saturday.
Asked to comment on the whereabouts of the "soul boy" picked by the Dalai Lama as the reincarnation of the 10th Panchen Lama, Padma Choling, chairman of the Tibet autonomous regional government, said the boy was now living a good life as an ordinary citizen in Tibet.
"Some of his elder sisters and brothers are in universities or have already started working," he said.
"The boy was a victim, he and his family are reluctant to be disturbed, and they want to live an ordinary life," he said.
Padma Choling said the 11th Panchen Lama approved by the Chinese government, Bainqen Erdini Qoigyijabu, is deeply loved and supported by people of all ethnic groups in Tibet.
The Panchen Lama goes back to Tibet every year and holds religious activities at Zhaxi Lhunbo Lamasery in Xigaze, the seat of successive Panchen Lamas, he said.
"The selection of the 11th Panchen Lama was approved by the central government through lot-drawing in 1995 in strict accordance with religious rituals and historical conventions in Tibetan Buddhism," Padma Choling said.
"The reincarnation cannot be decided by certain individuals," he said without specifically referring to the Dalai Lama, "it must follow strict religious rituals."
He said the Dalai Lama was the mastermind of a separatist group and the very source of instability of Tibet.
The Dalai Lama's lies to the world and media have adversely affected the development of Tibet, he said.
According to Qiangba Puncog, Tibet had witnessed the fastest-ever development in the history over the past eight years in the region's social and economic undertakings such as economic growth, people's well-being, infrastructure improvement, environmental protection and education.
The region scored an average GDP (Gross Domestic Products) growth rate of 12.3 percent over the past eight years, and was targeting another 12 percent increase this year.
The region would improve its infrastructure and public services to cater to the tourist boom, said Padma Choling, who added that Tibet received 5.61 million tourists last year, compared with 2.2 million in 2008.
"We are glad to see more tourists are coming, which is an impetus for the development of Tibet," said the official.
The local government will step up efforts to improve public services and tourist environment, as well as the protection of culture relics and natural environment, to cope with the changes brought by the tourist boom, he said.
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