The government plans to invest more than 500 billion yuan (US$60.5 billion) in planting trees and restoring grasslands in its 12 western provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities by 2010, said Li Zibin, vice-minister of the State Development Planning Commission.

"Such great efforts to improve ecology are rare in the world and will consequently go down in history," Li, also vice-director of the Western Development Office under the State Council, told a press conference held yesterday at the Party congress.

Li said environmental protection is the most urgent task for the development of the western regions, and is a concern of the whole Chinese nation.

The ambitious ecological protection plan is part of the government's "go-west" campaign, which was launched in 1999 to jump-start the economy and improve the environment of the western regions.

The west is rich in natural resources, spans almost three-fourths of the nation's territory and is home to one-fourth of its population. But its gross domestic product (GDP) only accounts for 40 percent of that of the booming eastern regions.

Li said the government has invested a lot in building roads, railways, power grids, oil pipelines and airports in the area, to create a better environment to attract more investment.

The vice-minister hosted the conference yesterday with leaders from four western regions: Tibet and Xinjiang Uygur autonomous regions, Shaanxi Province and Chongqing Municipality.

When asked about the whereabouts of the boy that was nominated by the Dalai Lama as 11th Panchen Erdeni in 1995, Raidi, Party executive deputy secretary of Tibet, said: "He is as fine as other boys in Tibet.

"I can tell you that just a few days before I came to Beijing, I sent people to see the boy's family. The boy now is 1.6 meters high, and 65 kilograms in weight. He studies well, and his parents are happy (with him)," he said.

Raidi said the Dalai Lama's choice of the boy as 11th Panchen Erdeni violated Buddhist rituals and historical precedence, and is "illegal and invalid."

At yesterday's conference, Raidi said the past 13 years had witnessed the most rapid development in Tibet's history.

Government support has enabled Tibet's GDP to grow annually by more than 11 percent during the period.

"In my home town, people now ride motorcycles to herd, while 13 years ago they had not even seen bicycles," said Raidi, adding that he expected the region to develop even faster with the government's west development campaign.

(China Daily November 13, 2002)