Special report: Tibet: Its Past and Present    

    LHASA, April 18 (Xinhua) -- Tibet will continue to open to the world, an official of the southwest China autonomous region promised on Friday.

    "Tibet will maintain the opening-up policy as usual. Organizations and individuals from all over the world are always welcome to invest and carry out cooperation here if they have goodwill and sincerity," Ju Jianhua, director with the region's foreign affairs office, told a symposium.

    "But we resolutely oppose activities running counter to the claimed purposes of charity and public welfare under the disguise of joint cooperation," he stressed.

    Present at the meeting were 24 foreign experts, students and technicians from the United States, Germany and the Republic of Korea (ROK).

    Ju informed them about the March 14 riot in Lhasa, the regional capital, and expressed his gratitude to witnesses who told the truth about the violence to foreign media and refuted unfounded reports.

    An abundant amount of evidence showed the riot was masterminded, instigated and organized by domestic and foreign secessionist groups. They planned to create bloodshed to exert pressure on the Chinese government, disrupt the Beijing Olympics and undermine social stability, he emphasized.

    The riot killed 18 civilians and one police officer and injured hundreds. Damage to property was more than 280 million yuan (40 million U.S. dollars).