BEIJING, Sept. 6 -- China on Sunday issued a white paper on Tibet ahead of the 50th anniversary of the foundation of the ethnic autonomous region.

Titled "Successful Practice of Regional Ethnic Autonomy in Tibet," the white paper said since the democratic reform was carried out in 1959 and regional ethnic autonomy came into practice in 1965, Tibet has established the new socialist system and achieved historic leaps and bounds in its economic and social development.

Tibet has taken a road that unites it with all China's ethnic groups and struggles to develop equally, achieve prosperity, and make progress with them, it added.

As part of the Chinese nation, the Tibetan people fulfill the right to participate equally in the management of state affairs; they are thus managers of local social affairs and masters of their own destiny, creating and sharing the material and spiritual wealth of Tibet.

"Tibet is now in its golden age," the paper said.