The Third Work Conference

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These occasional events are used by Beijing to mark important moments in Tibet policy—the first followed on Hu Yaobang's reform initiative in 1980 and the second, in 1984, announced a series (43) of mostly prestige projects in Tibet; some were financed by various Chinese provinces in an initiative called the 'Help Tibet' campaign.

The Third Work Conference last July served to reinforce the support of the central leadership for rapid economic growth and hardline positions on religious and nationalities policy. Unlike the 1984 meeting, emphasis was placed on "strengthening basic industries and the improvement of infrastructural facilities". As President Jiang Zemin explained to Xinhua, "a relatively longer period of time is needed to lay the foundation of socialist market economy in Tibet, due to the undeveloped commodity economy and other reasons".

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