LHASA, China -- China's Communist Party is ramping up investment in Tibet in an effort to spur economic growth and ensure social stability as it seeks to foster harmony between Tibetans and settlers of Han Chinese ethnicity, who make up the majority of the country's population.
The policy may be working despite Beijing's heavy-handed control of the restive western region. As a foreign journalist, I visited Tibet from the end of May to the beginning of June in a rare and tightly chaperoned tour arranged by Beijing. During the trip, I saw many signs of the Communist Party's efforts to maintain its grip on the region.
