Published by: World Tibet Network News, Monday, May 27 1996

Text of report by Xinhua news agency

Beijing, 26th May: China enjoys exceptional advantages in the research of Tibetology - because it is the very country in which Tibetology originated. Ngapoi Ngawang Jigme [Tibet official who signed 17-point agreement with PRC], vice-chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), made the remark at a recent forum marking the tenth anniversary of the China Tibetology Research Centre.

The vice-chairman called on the centre to "refute the fallacy that 'China has destroyed Tibetan culture and trampled human rights in Tibet', by applying full and accurate data and the latest scientific findings". Doje Cedain, director of the China Tibetology Research Centre, noted that "as one important member of the Chinese nation, Tibetan nationality has been living on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, in the southwestern part of China, for thousands and thousands of years." "The Tibetan nationality and other Chinese nationalities have been learning from each other for thousands of years and jointly created the civilization of the Chinese nation," he said. However, certain international anti-China forces and the Dalai Lama group have randomly distorted the history and the present condition of Tibet under the guise of Tibetology for quite a long time, in an aim to turn Tibet into a breakthrough point in their "splitting China" strategy.

Founded on 20th May 1986, the China Tibetology Research Centre concentrates on researching the history, the present condition and the future of Tibetan nationality, in a move to serve the unification of the motherland and the unity of all China's ethnic nationalities. "The fundamental aim of the centre is to promote the reform and opening up drive, as well as the modernization process, of Tibet and other Tibetan-inhabited areas," the director said.

The past ten years have seen the centre engaged in a series of key state research projects, including "Research into the Relationships between Tibet and the Central Governments Since the Yuan Dynasty" and "The Environment and Development of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau". A state-level publishing house, the centre's China Tibetology Publishing House, has published 222 books, most of which are about Tibet and the Tibetan nationality.

In June, 1995 when the 7th International Symposium on Tibetology was held in Austria, more than one hundred books published in recent years by the publishing house were exceptionally popular and all sold out before the end of the symposium.

Source: Xinhua news agency, Beijing, in English 1623 gmt 26 May 96