China safeguards Tibetan people's full right to autonomy
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2004-05-23 15:42

While most Chinese have to work 40 hours a week, the people in Tibet only work 35 hours, and they are also entitled to enjoy such official holidays as the Tibetan New Year, the Shoton (Yogurt) Festival and other traditional Tibetan festivals, apart from the official national holidays.

All this shows that the Tibet Autonomous Region enjoys full autonomy in formulating laws and regulations according to local conditions under the country's Law on Regional Ethnic Autonomy, says a white paper titled the Regional Ethnic Autonomy in Tibet, issued by the Information Office of the State Council Sunday.

According to the law, if a resolution, decision, order or directive of a state organ at the higher level is not suitable for the actual situation of the region, the Tibet Autonomous Region has the right to flexibly implement or not to implement that resolution, decision, order or directive, upon approval by the higher authorities.

Subject to authorization, the legislative body of the Tibet Autonomous Region may also enact and implement flexible regulations and supplementary provisions with regard to relevant state laws based on the actual local situation, says the paper.

Statistics show that since 1965, the People's Congress of the Tibet Autonomous Region and its Standing Committee have enacted 220 local or separate regulations, covering political, economic, cultural, educational and other aspects.

The enactment and implementation of these local regulations have provided an important legal safeguard for protecting the special rights and interests of the Tibetan people and promoting the development of various undertakings in Tibet, the white paper says.

Meanwhile, the Tibetan people have actively exercised the right to vote and stand for election bestowed by the Constitution and law, participated in the election of the deputies to the National People's Congress (NPC) and the people's congresses at all levels in the Tibet Autonomous Region, and participated, through the deputies, in administration of state and local affairs.

In 2002, when re-election at the regional, prefectural (city), county and township (town) levels took place in Tibet, 93.09 percent of electors in the autonomous region turned out to directly take part in the election at the county level, the document says.

The Tibetan and other ethnic-minority cadres make up the bulk of the cadres of the Tibet Autonomous Region. At present, Tibetans and citizens of other ethnic minorities in the region make up 77.97 percent of the functionaries of the state organs at the regional, prefectural (city) and county levels.

A number of Tibetan and other ethnic-minority citizens in Tibet directly participate in the administration of state affairs, and some serve in leading positions in state organs at the central level. Among all NPC deputies, 19 are from Tibet, including 12 Tibetans, says the white paper.

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