Xinhua Commentary: Regional ethnic autonomy drives Xizang's all-round progress

BEIJING, Aug. 20 (Xinhua) -- Over the past six decades, Xizang has achieved historic milestones in its economic and social development, showcasing the remarkable success of China's system of regional ethnic autonomy and the Communist Party of China's (CPC) approach to governing the plateau region.

Following the epoch-making democratic reform in 1959, the Xizang Autonomous Region was founded in September 1965, which signified a historic shift from feudal serfdom to socialism characterized by people's democracy. The region began to exercise comprehensive regional ethnic autonomy, ensuring that people of all ethnic groups are the masters of the country and of society, and unleashing their initiative, enthusiasm and creativity in driving development.

Regional ethnic autonomy is a basic political system of China, and it is a cornerstone in China's approach to addressing ethnic issues. Xizang is one of the country's five provincial-level autonomous areas where regional ethnic autonomy is exercised.

Democracy is evidenced by political participation. People of the Tibetan ethnic group and other ethnic minority groups account for 89.2 percent of all deputies to people's congresses at township, county, prefecture and regional levels in Xizang, as well as 68 percent of the region's deputies to the 14th National People's Congress, which is China's national legislature.

Figures highlight historic progress in economic and social undertakings in Xizang. The region's GDP reached 276.5 billion yuan (38.7 billion U.S. dollars) in 2024 -- 155 times its level in 1965. Xizang's average life expectancy has reached 72.5 years, compared with 35.5 years in the 1950s. Notably, the region has eliminated millennia-old absolute poverty and realized a moderately prosperous society in all respects alongside the rest of the nation.

Massive investments in social infrastructure have brought remarkable progress in addressing long-standing challenges in water access, electricity supply, transportation and telecommunication. The transformation of people's daily lives is evident -- moving from buckets of water to running tap water, from oil lamps to electric lights, and from dirt paths to paved roads. Xizang residents now have access to services such as the internet, rail travel and air travel.

Furthermore, China's paired assistance program in fields such as education and health care has significantly elevated public services standards across the region.

Xizang's development is also exemplified by its cultural endeavors, including its preservation and protection of the traditional cultures of all ethnic groups and its improvement of public cultural services. Freedom of religious belief is also fully guaranteed. The region also remains one of the areas with the best ecological environments in the world.

Xizang's social and economic progress -- especially the unprecedented development seen across all sectors since 2012 -- has brought substantial, tangible benefits to people of all ethnic groups. Their increasing sense of gain, fulfillment and security stands as vivid testament to this progress, and as an unassailable rebuttal to any falsehoods targeting the region.

Xizang's tremendous transformation attests to the strong vitality of the system of regional ethnic autonomy. It tells an enlightening story of miraculous human development.

By fully implementing the CPC's policies for governing the region in the new era, by upholding the system of regional ethnic autonomy, and by forging a strong sense of community for the Chinese nation, Xizang is poised to usher in a new chapter of lasting peace, stability and high-quality development within the broader national modernization drive. ■