CHINA TO HASTEN TIBET DEVELOPMENT

Hong Kong (AFP) - China's top leaders have decided to speed up the development of Tibet, exploiting its natural resources and introducing "politically reliable cadres", the official Xinhua press agency reported Tuesday.

Speaking at a national conference on Tibet in Beijing last zeek, President Jiang Zemin said that while the overall situation was stable, "there also exist some factors of instability in Tibet." He warned, "Nobody is permitted to pursue independence or independence in disguised forms in Tibet."