The area practicing regional autonomy for ethnic minorities in China accounts for 64 percent of the entire territory of the country, says a white paper issued on Monday by the Information Office of the State Council.

The white paper titled Regional Autonomy for Ethnic Minorities in China says that of the 55 ethnic minorities, 44 have their own ethnic autonomous areas.

The population of ethnic minorities practicing regional autonomy accounts for 71 percent of the total population of ethnic minorities in China, according to the fifth national census conducted in 2000.

By the end of 2003, China had established 155 ethnic autonomous areas. Of these, five are autonomous regions, 30 autonomous prefectures and 120 autonomous counties or banners, the white paper says.

Areas where the system of regional autonomy for ethnic minorities is practiced can be divided into three levels, namely, autonomous regions, autonomous prefectures and autonomous counties, according to how big the population of the ethnic group is and how large the area it occupies.

In places where ethnic minorities live in compact communities but where the establishment of autonomous areas is not feasible because the populations of the ethnic minorities and the areas they live in are relatively small, or because the populations are scattered, the Constitution provides that ethnic townships be established, so that the minority peoples there can also exercise the right to administer the internal affairs of the ethnic group and be the masters of their own areas.

By the end of 2003, China had established 1,173 ethnic townships in areas equivalent to townships where ethnic minorities live in compact communities. Ethnic townships have been established for nine of the 11 ethnic minorities where the regional autonomy policy is not implemented because the populations and areas of the ethnic minorities are relatively small, the white paper says.

The first National People's Congress, convened in 1954, included the system of regional autonomy for ethnic minorities in the Constitution of the People's Republic of China. All subsequent revisions to the Constitution reaffirmed the implementation of this system. The Law of the People's Republic of China on Regional Ethnic Autonomy, which was amended and issued in 2001, explicitly stipulates that "the system of regional autonomy for ethnic minorities is a basic political system of the state," according to the white paper.