[Xinhua is a Chines official news agency]

Lhasa, 17th April, (Xinhua): The Tibet Autonomous Region has made great progress in eliminating illiteracy, and safeguarding Tibetans' freedom of religious belief and other rights and interests, said Danzim, a senior local leader.

During a meeting with US Ambassador to China James Sasser here today, Danzim, deputy secretary of the Tibet Autonomous Regional Committee of the Chinese Communist Party, said Tibet has formulated provisions on learning, using, and developing the Tibetan language.

Danzim, also president of the Tibetan People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries, noted the provisions are in line with the China's Law on Regional Autonomy of Ethnic Minorities.

The laws stipulates that China fully guarantees the rights of the ethnic minorities to inherit, use, and develop their own languages.

Danzim said that under the guidance of the regional provisions, primary and middle schools in Tibet give lessons in the Tibetan language, and the official documents of the Regional Party Committee and the government departments at all levels are written in both the Tibetan and Chinese languages.

Danzim said Tibetans account for 95 per cent of the 2.38 million people in Tibet. Half of Tibetans cannot read or write their own language. In contrast to this, he added, the regional illiteracy rate in 1959 was as high as 95 per cent.

However, Danzim noted, it proves impractical to teach only one language in school. It is not in conformity with the reality of Tibet, he said.

According to the opinion of a great number of school children's parents, the regional government's decision to allow grade 1-3 boys and girls to be taught only in the Tibetan language will do no good to their children's growth. Thus the regional government has reversed its decision made in 1987. As a result, both Tibetan and Chinese languages are being taught at school in the autonomous region.

The regional government has decided, after studying its present situation, to reduce the illiteracy rate to 40 per cent by the end of this century, Danzim said.

Sasser said that since the time of Sun Yatsen (1866-1925), the US government has recognized that Tibet is an inseparable part of China.

At Sasser's request to know the religious and human rights conditions in Tibet, Danzim said that the ethnic culture of Tibet enjoys special protection in the process of social and economic development.

The regional people's congress, or legislature, has adopted rules and regulations to protect the freedom of religious belief in accordance with China's constitution.

He pointed out that China and the West hold different views on human rights due to their differences in ideology and values.

"We believe that the most fundamental human rights should be the rights to development and subsistence. We will consent and actively push ahead everything that spurs economic growth, improves the people's living standard, and helps the progress of the Tibetan ethnic group," he said.

Danzim also briefed the guest about Tibet's achievements in economic development with the assistance of the central government and governments of other province-level areas in the country in the past few years.

Sasser said that he will recommend American businesses and enterprises to Tibet to explore cooperation possibilities.