Jia Qingling, chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese
People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), visited workers
on the worksite of the Lhasa Railway Station Tuesday.
Jia, who is also member of the Standing Committee of the
Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee Political Bureau,
is now heading a central government delegation to attend
celebrations for the 40th founding anniversary of the Tibet
Autonomous Region.
In meeting with the constructors, Jia said the Qinghai-Tibet
Railway, the highest and longest plateau railway project, is the
most challenging plateau engineering project in the world and the
first-ever "great feat" in the history of railway construction.
The building of the plateau railway project is a major decision
made by the Party Central Committee and the State Council, aiming
at accelerating the development of the country's western region and
boost economic and social development in Tibet, Jia said.
In his remarks, Jia praised the railway builders for their hard
work and achievements. He urged them to fulfill all tasks on time
so as to ensure that the plateau railway be put into official
operation by July 1, 2006.
On the same day, Jia Qingling also visited army and armed police
there.
He brought to the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) Tibet
Command Area and the Armed Police?division in Tibet a banner
inscribed by Chinese President Hu Jintao, who is concurrently CPC
general secretary and chairman of the Central Military
Commission.
Hu writes, "Let's join up to work hard to achieve common
prosperity and development."
He urged the Army and Armed Police to bear the historical duty
of protecting and stabilizing Tibet.
(Xinhua News Agency August 31, 2005)
