COPENHAGEN, June 4 – The Dalai Lama said on Wednesday China was showing a more positive attitude on the Tibet issue amid contacts between Beijing and envoys of the exiled Tibetan leader.
“The Chinese government’s official attitude (is) more positive,” Dalai Lama told a new conference after talks with Danish Foreign Minister Per Stig Moeller.
Two envoys of the Dalai Lama visited China and Tibet in September last year, in what was described as a landmark trip, and met Chinese government officials, the first direct contact between the two sides since 1993. The two envoys embarked on a second trip to China late last month.
“Since the first delegation…it looks (like a) good start,” the Dalai Lama said.
The spiritual leader stressed that Tibet was not seeking independence from China.
“At this moment we are making efforts to build confidence because the Chinese government is always so suspicious,” he said. “We Tibetans are following the One China principal. We are not seeking independence.”
The Dalai Lama runs a government-in-exile in Dharamsala in India after fleeing Tibet in 1959 following a failed uprising against Chinese rule. He now seeks greater autonomy for the Himalayan region.
The Dalai Lama said he expected to return to China and Tibet at some point in the future.
Beijing, which imposed Communist rule on Tibet after its troops entered in 1950, established direct contacts with the Dalai Lama in 1979 and allowed him to send representatives on four fact-finding missions, the last of which was in 1985.
But it suspended official dialogue in 1993 and has maintained only sporadic, unofficial contacts until last year.
The Dalai Lama will meet with Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen on Friday.
