China's top political advisor Jia Qinglin has urged officials to maintain stability and improve social management in Tibet and other Tibetan-inhabited areas.

Enhanced ethnic unity, improved social management, and social harmony and stability were prerequisites of economic growth and people's well-being, said Jia, Chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), at a meeting on Tibet and other Tibetan-inhabited areas in the provinces of Qinghai, Gansu, Sichuan and Yunnan, all neighboring Tibet Autonomous Region.

The two-day meeting, which opened Wednesday, was attended by senior officials of central government departments and the five regions.

Also present at the meeting were Public Security Minister Meng Jianzhu, and Du Qinglin, head of the United Front Work Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China.

The fight against the Dalai Lama clique must be continued and deepened while each task in maintaining stability must be circumspectly deployed, said Jia, also member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee.

He said issues related to Tibetan Buddhism must be handled well, and government-backed mechanisms that safeguard people's rights and interests must be strengthened and improved.

Jia said that raising the living standards of the people, especially farmers and nomads, in Tibet and the other Tibetan-inhabited areas was a central task and plans must be made for leapfrog development in these areas in the next five years and beyond.

He called for greater funding to help these areas develop their characteristically advantageous industries and economic dynamism as well as stronger environmental protection and better living standards.

Jia said greater efforts must be paid to comprehensively strengthen and improve partner-aid programs to these areas.