By Eric Olsen
ANN ARBOR, Mich. April 19 – A group of Canadian lawmakers met with the Dalai Lama on Friday and said they assured the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader of support in finding a just solution to the turmoil besetting his homeland.
“I think his holiness is actually China’s greatest asset,” said Rob Anders, a Conservative MP from Calgary-West.
“He is asking for just some local rule and autonomy . . . I think that China should wisen up and look at the Dalai Lama as a solution rather than as a threat.”
Beijing has accused the Dalai Lama of orchestrating March 14 riots in Lhasa and the unrest that followed in other ethnic Tibetan areas, as part of a bid for Tibetan independence and to ruin the coming Olympic Games.
The Dalai Lama, 72, says he wants autonomy for Tibet, not a separate state, and has denied he was behind the unrest, which China says killed 19 people.
Exiled Tibetans give a far higher death toll.
The Canadian lawmakers who met with the Dalai Lama for less than an hour in Ann Arbor where he has several appearances planned at the University of Michigan were members of the Parliamentary Friends of Tibet.
Consiglio Di Nino, the Ontario Conservative who chairs the group, told reporters “We are here to support and reassure him . . . we know these are some difficult times and we just want to reinforce to him that (all his friends) are there to support him and do whatever we can to help him achieve a stated objective of some meaningful dialogue for a just and honorable solution to the Tibetan problem.”
The Dalai Lama emerged with the lawmakers after the meeting and said “I want to express my deep appreciation to all our supporters.”
