Li Peng, chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC), said Thursday the Law on Regional Autonomy for China's Minority Nationalities should be implemented comprehensively so as to consolidate and strengthen national unity.
The country's top legislator made the remark at a meeting on publicity and implementation of the law, which was enacted in 1984 and revised early this year.
The Communist Party of China (CPC) has always regarded the ethnic minority groups as an integral part in the country' construction and development, Li said.
The three generations of the central leadership with Mao Zedong,Deng Xiaoping and Jiang Zemin at the core, respectively, all stressed the significance of minorities and ethnic issues and called for enhanced regional autonomy for ethnic groups, he said. Over the past 17 years, the law has played an important role in national unity and social stability, he said.
(People's Daily December 7, 2001)
