Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji Friday called for earnest efforts to
improve the living standards of
ethnic
minorities and speed up economic growth in where they live.
At
a meeting with participants in an on-going national meeting on
ethnic minorities, Zhu said China had developed a correct way of
solving the problems of ethnic minorities and had made great
progress in this respect.
In
the areas where ethnic minorities live in compact communities,
rapid economic growth had been witnessed and the people's living
standards improved remarkably, contributing to theunity of all
nationalities and social stability there, the premiersaid.
However, the ethnic minority people, mainly in central and western
China, still did not live a comfortable life because of historical
reasons. Thus, greater efforts should be made to boost the
strategic development of the western part of the country, he
added.
To
this end, effort should be concentrated on infrastructure
construction, environmental protection and development of resources
in these regions.
In
particular, Zhu said, more money should be put in developingroads
and telecommunications, radio and television facilities for a
coordinated growth of eastern and western China.
(Xinhua News Agency December 28, 2002)