A: The principle of the western development strategy in Tibet is to improve Tibetan people's living standards and uphold sustainable development. Tibet Autonomous Region has formulated a three-stage plan. First, a period of 5 to 10 years will be allotted to achieving an annual growth rate of 10 percent, to improving Tibet's comprehensive strength, to infrastructure construction and ecological environment construction, and to turning its favorable natural resources to economic advantage. Second, a further 10 years will be spent on ensuring an annual growth rate 2 to 3 percent higher than the national average, thereby bringing the Tibetan people up to the same standard of wealth as other Chinese western provinces and autonomous regions, as well as developing its economy at the same pace. Third, by the middle of the 21st century, it is expected that Tibet will have achieved basic modernization. To realize these targets, the regional government has put forward some key points for its development. These include the acceleration of infrastructure construction to release the current "bottle neck" restrictions, and the readjustment of Tibet's industrial structure, and the readjustment of Tibet's industrial structure to improve economic performance. The ecological environment will continue to be protected and enhanced, and agriculture and animal husbandry further developed. As a means to stimulating development of education and science, and promoting general social development, and reform and opening, more time and funds will be devoted to educating and developing Tibet's human resources. From these policies one can see that the regional government has attached great importance to improving people's living standards, protecting the environment and taking the road of sustainable development-all measures which will in no way lead to the colonization of Tibet or deterioration of the environment.