...

Dalai Lama asks China to seek 'Middle Way' in Tibet

Other News Materials 10 March 2008 14:29 (UTC +04:00)

(dpa) - Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama on the 49th anniversary of the Tibetan uprising on Monday called on China not to diffuse autonomy in Tibetan regions through 'Han chauvinism', and instead adopt a mutually benefical policy through a 'Middle Way'.

The 14th Dalai Lama, 73, leader of the Tibetan Buddhist faith, said that due to the Chinese government's numerous actions in Tibet, the natural environment of the region had been severely damaged.

"As a result of their policy of population transfer the non-Tibetan population has increased many times, reducing native Tibetans to an insignificant minority in their own country," said the Dalai Lama from Dharamshala, where he established a Tibetan government-in-exile with support of India.

"Instead, they are governed by people who are oblivious of the regional situation, and driven by what Mao Zedong called 'Han chauvinism'," said the Tibetan spiritual leader.

Commemorating the 49th anniversary of the Tibetan people's peaceful uprising in Lhasa on March 10, 1959, the Dalai Lama expressed solidarity with the Tibetan people.

"For nearly six decades, Tibetans in the whole of Tibet known as Cholkha-Sum (U-Tsang, Kham and Amdo) have had to live in a state of constant fear, intimidation and suspicion under Chinese repression."

When China invaded Tibet in 1949, the Dalai Lama was completing his education. After attempts at negotiations with the Chinese government broke down, he fled to India in 1959 disguised as a soldier while Chinese troops cracked down on a Tibetan uprising against the occupation of their homeland.

In the years that followed his departure from Tibet, about 1 million Tibetans died in prisons and labour camps in Tibet, according to the Tibetan government-in-exile.

The Dalai Lama admitted that, "The problem of Tibet is very complicated. It is intrinsically linked with many issues: politics, the nature of society, law, human rights, religion, culture, the identity of a people, the economy and the state of the natural environment."

A comprehensive approach should be adopted to resolve this problem, said the Dalai Lama, in the form of "a mutually beneficial policy, the Middle-Way approach."

Since 2002, the Dalai Lama's envoys have conducted six rounds of talks with officials of the People's Republic of China.

The envoys have not been able to convince China of its alleged lack of legitimacy in Tibet.

"In spite of these unfortunate developments, my stand and determination to pursue the Middle-Way policy and to continue our dialogue with the Chinese government remain unchanged," said the Dalai Lama.

In the early years of his exile, the Dalai Lama took the cause of the Tibetan people to the United Nations. The UN General Assembly called on China to respect the human rights of Tibetans and their desire for self determination.

The Dalai Lama over the years has toned down the demand for a free Tibet.

In a statement in 2005, on the occasion of the 46th anniversary of the Tibetan uprising against Chinese occupation, he said he was committed to not seeking independence for Tibet from China.

His attempts at peaceful negotiations with China for autonomy for Tibet won him the Nobel Peace Prize in 1989.

The spiritual leader said that though he has been in semi-retirement, he has, "a historical and moral responsibility to continue to speak out freely on their behalf," despite Chinese government's criticism.

While acknowledging China's emergence as "a powerful country due to her great economic progress," and supporting the opportunity for China to hold Olympic games, the buddhist leader hoped that China will uphold the principles of freedom of speech, expression, equality and friendship.

The Dalai Lama's address on Monday coincided with the departure of many Tibetan exiles and volunteers for a protest march from Dharamshala to Tibet, likely to end in early August just as Olympics games begin in Beijing in China.

Latest

Latest