BRUSSELS -- Any visit to Tibet is liable to leave you breathless. At Tibetan altitudes, oxygen is only 60 percent of what it is at sea level, with the result that it takes several days to acclimate. Yet it is clear from the start that Tibetan reality, at least on the surface, is very different from its image in the West. Towns and cities are grids of paved streets lined with multistory blocks with Chinese and Tibetan labels. In the countryside, Tibetan two-story courtyard houses cluster among monasteries and temples.

The number of construction cranes -- as in China -- shows that the economy is booming. Just as a rising tide lifts all ships, Tibet, which constitutes one-eighth of China's land area but only a quarter of 1 percent of China's population, is benefiting. The 40th anniversary of Tibet's "liberation" is approaching. Since September 1965, the gross domestic product has grown 15-fold. China, partly due to international attention and interest, has pumped people and money into the economy. In the past 10 years 1 billion euro has been invested by the central government into infrastructure and services. This year Tibet will finally have a rail link with China.

Ninety-five percent of children attend school, and the number of people living below the poverty line has shrunk from nearly half a million to less than 70,000 in 10 years, according to local officials.