"Tibet is having its best period of development," said Tsemonling Tenzin Trinley Rinpoche, a member of the 12th Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) National Committee, on Mar. 7 in Beijing.

As a member of the religious and ethnic circles of the national committee of the CPPCC for over 20 years, Tsemonling Rinpoche has witnessed the progress of the implementation of China's policies on ethnic and religious issues in Tibet.

He spoke highly of Premier Li Keqiang's government report, particularly the part about the positive role of religious people in promoting social economic development.

He believed that the Premier's remark would motivate religious people to take part in social activities and help establish civic awareness among monks and nuns so that they would like to take on the responsibility to vindicate national stability and promote social harmony while enjoying the fruits of reform.

Tsemonling Tenzin Trinley Rinpoche was born in 1950 and confirmed as the 5th Tsemonling Rinpoche in 1955, and cultivated Buddhism in the Sera Monastery. The revered Rinpoche was elected as member of the people's political consultative conference committee of Tibet Autonomous Region in 1977 and member of the national committee of CPPCC in 1988.

"The changes in Tibet is really delightful, and so is the central government's policy," said Tsemonling Rinpoche, adding that over the years the regional government had reinforced series of beneficial policies for monks and monasteries in Tibet, such as social insurance for monks and nuns, and meanwhile the central government also invested with finance, technology and personnel to protect and maintain ethnic culture, intangible cultural heritage, religious cultural relics and eco-environment.

According to statistics, Tibet Autonomous Region has allocated an annual subsidy of more than 13 million yuan (more than 2 million US dollars) to bring over 29,000 registered monks and nuns under the social insurance system since 2011.

At the same time, monastic nursing homes have also been built to ensure that monks and nuns can go to doctors when they are ill and can be taken care of when they are old. The regional government also invests 0.8 billion yuan (about 130 million US dollars) to the current more than 1,700 religious sites to improve the cultivation circumstance and life for the monks and nuns.

"Therefore, Tibet is having its best period to develop," Tsemonling Rinpoche concluded.