Tibet will continue to strengthen legislation and law enforcement to fight separatism and ensure national security and regional stability, a top Tibetan legislator said Thursday.

In face of the Dalai Lama clique's "incessant" sabotages, Tibet is "put onto the front line of the fight against splittism. Development and stability have always been top priorities for the region," said Legqog, director of the Standing Committee of the Tibetan Autonomous Regional People's Congress.

"We can't engage in construction amid an earthquake and pursue development in time of turmoil," he told Xinhua on the sidelines of the annual national legislative session in Beijing.

"Stability is the prerequisite for Tibet's development," he stressed.

Since he fled in 1959, the Dalai Lama has been desperately shuttling around the world to sell the so-called "Tibet issue", Legqog said.

"The Dalai Lama always says one thing and does another. He has never stopped activities to split the motherland and undermine ethnic unity in Tibet," Legqog said.

The fight against separatism in Tibet is a "long-term, intensive and complicated" one, he said. "The Dalai Lama's splittist activities have seriously undermined the core national interests and the people's fundamental interests."

The Tibet regional people's congress has accordingly introduced a series of laws, regulations and resolutions to better help the region check separatism activities, according to Legqog.

The resolutions and decisions adopted by the regional legislature played an important role in fighting splittism and sustaining stability in Tibet, he said.

After last year's March 14 riot in Lhasa, the standing committee of the regional people's congress instituted a resolution to denounce the violent crimes against people and their property in the riot, he said.

The riot led to the deaths of 18 civilians and one policeman. It also left 382 civilians and 241 police officers injured, businesses looted and residences, shops and vehicles torched.

Tibetan legislators also endorsed a motion in January this year setting March 28 as Serfs Emancipation Day to commemorate the emancipation of millions of serfs and slaves in Tibet 50 years ago.

The setting of Serfs Emancipation Day is an important move to wage a "tit-for-tat struggle" against the Dalai Lama clique, he said.

"The younger generation in Tibet may know little about history," he said.

Serfs Emancipation Day would also help "remind the younger generation of the bitter past, and make them cherish today's development, changes and new life," he said.

Fighting splittism and maintaining stability is an important duty of the regional people's congress and its standing committee, which will use its power on legislation, supervision and making decisions on major issues to safeguard unification of the motherland and strengthen ethnic unity, he said.

(Xinhua News Agency March 12, 2009)