He said "after the March 14 riots in Lhasa, the various ethnic groups in Tibet will have a deeper understanding that stability will bring them fortune while turbulence will only bring them misfortune."

"The Dalai clique's attempts to seek Tibetan independence through disruption of the Beijing Olympics is doomed to fail," he stressed.

"No matter what happened, our determination to safeguard unification of the motherland, unity of various ethnic groups and social stability will remain unchanged," he said, stressing "nothing can shake this stance and determination,"

"We firmly believe that the Beijing Olympics will be a success, " he said.

By the end of 2007, 612 townships had been connected by roads, accounting for 89.6 percent of all townships in Tibet Autonomous Region, and all townships had been linked with telephones.

The government also took measures to solve the drinking water difficulties and ensure drinking water safety for 1.02 million farmers and herdsmen.

By now, over 110,000 households with 590,000 farmers and herdsmen have moved into new houses since the Tibetan regional government has launched a program in 2006 to build homes for 220,000 local farming and herding households by 2010.

Tibet also took the lead in adopting the free nine-year compulsory education, both in rural and urban areas.

About 230,000 needy farmers and herdsmen with an annual income lower than 800 yuan are all covered by the minimum living allowance system, he said.

In the past 20 years, the government has invested over 700 million yuan to renovate monasteries and cultural relics.

(Xinhua News Agency April 9, 2008)