Southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region has made great development along with the rest of the country since its peaceful liberation 70 years ago, said Cavince Adhere, a Kenyan researcher of international relations with a focus on China-Africa relations in a recent interview with China.

On May 23, 1951, the 17-Article Agreement was signed by the central government and the local government of Tibet on the peaceful liberation of Tibet.

Since then, the region has developed along with the rest of China. But for many years, Western anti-China forces have interfered in Tibetan affairs as a means of disrupting China, according to Adhere, who warned that Tibetan people "have to be careful to consolidate these gains and not lapse into these external forces that antithetical to their own development."

Produced by Xinhua Global Service