BEIJING, May 23 (Xinhuanet) -- The Information Office of the StateCouncil, or the central government, published a White Paper on Regional Ethnic Autonomy in Tibet here on Sunday, which details the establishment and development of regional ethnic autonomy in Tibet as follows:

    After Tibet became part of the territory of China in the 13th century, the central governments throughout history, while assuming the responsibility of approving the local administrative organs deciding and directly handling important affairs concerningTibet, maintained, by and large, the region's original local social setup and ruling body.

    After the Opium War of 1840, Tibet suffered from the aggressionof imperialist powers, which groomed separatists among the upper ruling strata of Tibet, in an attempt to sever Tibet from China.

    The founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949 ended the dark history of the semi-colonial, semi-feudal China, realizedunification of the country, unity of ethnic groups and people's democracy, and brought hope to the Tibetan people that they could control their own destiny in the large family of the motherland.

    On May 23, 1951, the "Agreement of the Central People's Government and the Local Government of Tibet on Measures for the Peaceful Liberation of Tibet" ("17-Article Agreement" for short) was signed, and Tibet was peacefully liberated, which laid the foundation for regional ethnic autonomy in Tibet.

    In 1959, some people in the upper ruling strata of Tibet, in order to preserve feudal serfdom, and supported by imperialist forces, staged an armed rebellion all along the line on March 10, 1959, in an attempt to separate Tibet from China.

    On March 28 of the same year, the State Council announced the dismissal of the original local government of Tibet, and empoweredthe Preparatory Committee for the Tibet Autonomous Region to exercise the functions and powers of the local government of Tibet.

    The Central People's Government and the Preparatory Committee for the Tibet Autonomous Region led the Tibetan people in quickly quelling the rebellion, implemented the Democratic Reform, overthrew the feudal serfdom under theocracy, and abolished the feudal hierarchic system, the relations of personal dependence, and all savage punishments. As a result, a million serfs and slaves were emancipated.

    In 1961, a general election, the first of its kind in Tibetan history, was held all over Tibet. For the first time, the former serfs and slaves were able to enjoy democratic rights as their ownmasters.

    In September 1965, the founding of the Tibet Autonomous Region was officially proclaimed.

    After China adopted the policy of reform and opening to the outside world, Deng Xiaoping said expressly that the key to the exercise of regional ethnic autonomy lay with development of the ethnic-minority areas, which affirmed the guiding principle for anall-round exercise of regional ethnic autonomy in Tibet in the newera.

    In 1984, the state promulgated and implemented the "Law of the People's Republic of China on Regional Ethnic Autonomy," making regional ethnic autonomy a basic political system of the state, which has thus provided a powerful legal safeguard for the full exercise by the Tibetan people of the right of self-government.

    The Central Government also made the important decision to devote special attention to Tibet and get all the other parts of China to aid Tibet; formulated a number of special favorable policies and measures for speeding up the development of Tibet; formed a mechanism for all-round aid for the modernization of Tibet, by which the state would directly invest in construction projects in the region, the Central Government would provide financial subsidies, and the other parts of the country would provide counterpart aid. All this powerfully propelled economic development and social progress in Tibet. Enditem