Foreword

Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) held in 2012, the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core has practiced a people-centered approach to development. With a strategic vision to rejuvenate the Chinese nation, and to ensure that the Xizang Autonomous Region will realize moderate prosperity and modernization together with the rest of the country, the CPC Central Committee has attached great importance to the development of Xizang and focused its attention on the people in the region. The CPC Central Committee held the sixth and seventh national meetings on Xizang in 2015 and 2020 respectively, at which it established the guiding principles, overall requirements and priority tasks, pointing the way to lasting stability and quality development, meeting the people's aspirations for a better life, and realizing socialist modernization in the region.

The seventh National Meeting on Xizang has outlined the CPC guidelines for governing Xizang in the new era as follows:

• Uphold CPC leadership, socialism with Chinese characteristics, and the system of regional ethnic autonomy;

• Adhere to the strategy that stability in Xizang is paramount in the governance of the border areas and the country as a whole;

• Focus on safeguarding national unification and strengthening ethnic unity;

• Govern Xizang in accordance with the law, bring prosperity to Xizang and its residents, unite them in one mind, and lay a solid foundation for its long-term growth;

• Address both domestic and international imperatives;

• Focus on improving people's lives and strengthening unity in socio-economic development;

• Facilitate ethnic exchanges, communication and integration;

• Adapt religion to China's realities, and handle religious affairs in accordance with the law;

• Prioritize eco-environmental protection;

• Strengthen the Party, especially its political foundations.

These guidelines, grounded on the practice of socialism with Chinese characteristics and the actual situation of Xizang, demonstrate a keen understanding of work related to Xizang. They encapsulate the CPC's past successes in stabilizing Xizang and its plans for future development. Embodying Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, these guidelines provide answers to a series of questions on the future direction and strategy in governing Xizang and are to be followed in all undertakings related to the region.

Following the CPC's guidelines for governing Xizang in the new era, and with nationwide support, officials and the peoples of the various ethnic groups in the autonomous region have worked together and achieved all-round progress and historic success in various undertakings. Significant progress has been made in stabilizing the social environment, achieving rapid economic progress, and strengthening the Party organization in Xizang, which has led to a better life to its people, amity among all ethnic groups and religions, cultural prosperity, sound ecological systems, and secured borders. Together with the rest of the country, people in Xizang have witnessed the tremendous transformation of the Chinese nation from standing up and becoming prosperous to growing in strength, and are now embarking on a new journey of building a modern socialist country in all respects.