Editor's note: Qiao Basheng, a special commentator on current affairs for CGTN, is a professor at the Institute of China's Borderland Studies, Zhejiang Normal University, and an adjunct professor at Northwest University of Political Science and Law, China. The article reflects the author's opinions and not necessarily those of CGTN.

In some Western narratives, China's Xizang Autonomous Region is still labeled "closed" and "backward." To measure the distance between those labels and the real Xizang there is no better yardstick than facts.

Xizang's economic leap is a vivid demonstration of high-quality, sustainable growth, the new development philosophy of the snowy plateau. In 2025, the region’s GDP crossed the 300-billion-yuan ($44.7 billion) threshold, up 7.0% year on year, a historic feat. Eight major indicators, ranging from fixed-asset investment, general public budget revenue and expenditure to per capita disposable income of residents, posted the fastest growth in China.  

When the autonomous region was founded in 1965, its GDP was just 327 million yuan; the first 100 billion yuan took 50 years to reach, while the third took only four.  

Growth here is not only about speed but also about quality. Nine pillar industries, including clean energy, green manufacturing and cultural tourism, are flourishing; construction has begun on a hydropower project on the lower reaches of the Yarlung Zangbo River; the region received over 70 million tourist visits last year, generating over 81 billion yuan in spending. Over 99% of the days in a year enjoy good air quality, making Xizang one of the best-preserved ecological regions in the world. The philosophy that "lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets" finds its most powerful proof here.

The overall improvement in the wellbeing of the people vividly illustrates China's path of human rights development. In old Xizang, serfs were treated by their owners as "talking livestock." Today, the descendants of millions of serfs are the masters of this land. A happy life for the people is the most important human right, and the transformation of ordinary lives in Xizang is the plainest footnote to that statement.

In 2025, per capita disposable income in Xizang reached 33,600 yuan, while average life expectancy has risen from 35.5 years before the democratic reform to 72.5 years. Xizang was the first in China to provide 15 years of publicly funded education; a five-tier medical network covers both urban and rural areas; and e-commerce parcels with "free shipping to Xizang" now reach the doorsteps of farmers and herders.  

Development is not merely an economic proposition; it is a political one that brings people together. Xizang has advanced the four priorities of stability, development, ecology and border consolidation, ensuring that all development promotes ethnic unity and progress, safeguards national unity and opposes separatism, and improves livelihoods. By the end of 2019, all 628,000 registered impoverished residents of Xizang had been lifted out of poverty, a historic elimination of absolute poverty.

Poverty alleviation rebuilt people's lives; infrastructure rewrote the region's geographic destiny. Today Xizang's highway network totals 125,200 kilometers and bullet trains run on the plateau. An airport cluster operates more than 200 air routes, linking 84 cities at home and abroad. Power transmission lines known as "power sky roads" light up homes, and 5G signals reach the very summit of Mount Qomolangma, the highest peak on Earth.

The iconic landmarks of Xizang such as the Potala Palace, Jokhang Temple and Norbulingkaare inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List. Xizang's opera, the Epic of King Gesar and Xizang's medicinal bathing are inscribed on UNESCO's Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. Xizang's language education is integrated into the national education system. Registered monks and nuns enjoy full social security coverage. The allegation of "cultural genocide" collapses on its own.

The so-called Xizang question has never been about ethnicity, religion or human rights; it is a struggle between separatism and the fight against it. Any attempt to ignore Xizang's development achievements and split China runs counter to the trend of history, international law and the fundamental will of the people, who are bound by blood, sharing one destiny. It is doomed to fail.

Prejudice stems from ignorance; labels end where facts begin. As the plateau's development rises step by step, Xizang is writing a new chapter, a truth that no label of prejudice can obscure.

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