If exiled Tibetans, under the "anti-assimilation" or "anti-sinicization" slogans, want to fight for Tibetans' cultural or political dominance, this would go against the historical truth and would be unfair to all other residents there, he said.

He said the Chinese government's ethnic policy is "enormously generous"and there are many examples to illustrate that China's ethnic minorities are given preferential treatments.

"The Tibetans, for example, may basically have two children ... (and) Tibetans in the countryside may have three or even more children" while the one-child policy is applied to the Han.

"The latest census showed that in the past 20 to 30 years, the population growth rate of Tibetans was much higher than that of the Han," he said.

Admitting that China's approach to ethnic minorities still has much room for improvement, he said if anyone wants to criticize China, such criticism should be concrete, constructive and based on expertise.

"It helps nobody if unqualified nonsense is disseminated as many Western media unfortunately have done and are still doing." he said.

The author is a senior writer at Xinhua news agency.

(Shanghai Daily April 29, 2008)