DHARAMSALA, India – The Dalai Lama called on China to prove to the world it is a “responsible” power by resolving the fate of Tibet, on the 45th anniversary of the failed uprising that sent him into exile.
“A peaceful resolution of the Tibetan issue will have wide-ranging positive impacts on China’s transition and transformation into a modern, open and free society,” the 68-year-old Tibetan spiritual leader said Wednesday in a statement from his base in the northern Indian hill station of Dharamsala.
“Unless Beijing addresses the lack of basic civil and political rights and freedoms of its citizens, especially with regard to minorities, China will continue to face difficulties in reassuring the world that it is a peaceful, responsible, constructive and forward-looking power.”
The Dalai Lama asked China to resume dialogue with his government-in-exile, which sent delegations to Beijing in September 2002 and in May 2003.
“I consider it of highest importance to maintain the momentum and to intensify and deepen this process through regular face-to-face meetings and substantive discussions,” he said.
His appeal came 45 years to the day after thousands of Tibetans took to the streets of Lhasa after rumours spread that Chinese troops planned to kidnap the Dalai Lama, then 23.
The monk, whose predecessors ruled Tibet supreme as incarnations of the Buddha, fled the Potala Palace in disguise on March 17, 1959, entering India after a 13-day journey with aides through the mountains.
Tibetan activists say thousands died as Chinese troops crushed the uprising.
The Dalai Lama stressed he was willing to meet Chinese President Hu Jintao, who led a crackdown on dissent when he was administrator of Tibet from 1988 to 1992.
“The fact that President Hu Jintao has personal knowledge about the situation and problems in Tibet can be a positive factor in resolving the Tibetan issue,” the Dalai Lama said.
He also paid tribute to the European Union and the United States for the “growing realisation” that the “issue of Tibet is not one of human rights violations alone but of deeper political nature which needs to be resolved through negotiations.”
The Dalai Lama has built an international network of supporters while in exile and was awarded the 1989 Nobel Peace Prize.
The Dalai Lama said late last year that China had difficulty believing he was only seeking “genuine autonomy” for Tibet and not independence.
China’s foreign ministry said Wednesday “the door for negotiations with the Dalai Lama is always open” but repeated another of its key demands — that he recognise Taiwan as part of China.
