Don’t Want Independence But Full Autonomy Of Tibet As Part Of China: Dalai Lama

<p style="font-weight: 400;"><strong>McLeod Ganj, Dharamshala</strong>: Seated in a golf cart and surrounded by the Special Frontier Force (SFF), His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama reached the office premises of his residence located amidst the mighty mountainous McLeod Ganj in Himachal Pradesh&rsquo;s Dharamshala to meet hundreds and thousands of devotees who have come from all around the world just to get a glimpse of him and seek his blessings. Immensely popular for his non-violent movement against China&rsquo;s invasion of Tibet in 1950, the Dalai Lama remains firm on his &lsquo;middle way&rsquo; approach that seeks to create an autonomous region within China. &nbsp;</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">&ldquo;We do not want independence. My message to China is that we want to have full autonomy, a part of the People's Republic of China. Then, you see, we can help millions of Chinese politically, not separation, but remain part of People's Republic of China, and I try to brainwash the Chinese (in this way),&rdquo; Dalai Lama, 88, said responding to a question on the future of Tibet and if he is hopeful of its freedom, even as the hordes of devotees lined up near his office compound and chants of Buddhist prayers reverberated from the Himalayas. &nbsp;</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">Addressing a select group of journalists visiting his sprawling residence atop a hill at McLeod Ganj, the Dalai Lama said he would continue to follow the &lsquo;middle way&rsquo; approach and the &ldquo;scientific way&rdquo; of using human intelligence and not always using faith to promote their cause.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">&ldquo;I think the Chinese are also now changing. Many people love me. Similarly, many Chinese love me. So they want me to go back. But I do not want to stay (in) Lhasa. Dharamshala (is) now very suitable for my physical condition,&rdquo; he said, reiterating the fact that he learned about Buddhism from the Nalanda University and so &ldquo;half of his body&rdquo; is from India.</p> <h3 style="font-weight: 400;"><strong>Dalai Lama, Tibet Movement And India-China Ties</strong>&nbsp;</h3> <p style="font-weight: 400;">The Dalai Lama, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1989, continues to preach preservation and work towards preserving the Tibetan language, religion, culture as well as ethnicity. His struggles began in 1950 when China invaded Tibet. He visited Beijing in 1954 where met the top Chinese leadership from Mao Zedong, to Deng Xiaoping and Chou Enlai, to discuss the issues faced by Tibetans with them. However, as matters turned worse, he escaped to India in 1959 and has been living here ever since by creating a Tibetan government-in-exile.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">The Tibetan movement and giving refuge to the 14th&nbsp;Dalai Lama have always been one of the most contentious issues in India-China bilateral ties. In July, on the Dalai Lama&rsquo;s birthday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi wished him, a practice that he began in 2021 even as the relationship between New Delhi and Beijing experienced a free fall since the Galwan clash in June 2020 when 20 Indian soldiers got killed by China&rsquo;s People&rsquo;s Liberation Army (PLA).</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">Bilateral ties between India and China are undergoing one of their worst times due to the ongoing standoff at the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh since April-May 2020. Chinese President&nbsp;<a href="https://ift.tt/FLZpyc1" data-saferedirecturl="https://ift.tt/JYGcROv Jinping</a> did not attend the G20 Summit hosted by New Delhi earlier this month. This was the first time that Xi had not attended a G20 Summit since coming to power in 2013, and also the first time ever that a Chinese president was absent from the summit since the grouping was upgraded to the level of Heads of State or Heads of Government in 2008.</p> <p style="font-weight: 400;">China has recently stated that it has begun the search for a new Dalai Lama in Tibet, someone who would not be viewed as a separatist by Beijing but someone from their own who will recognise the rule of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). On the other hand, the Dalai Lama has declared that when he reaches the age of 90 he will consult leading Tibetan religious leaders and the Tibetan people and will take a call on his successor then. He has also thrown up several options that the next Dalai Lama can be a woman or the tradition of the Dalai Lama, which has been going on since 1391, is at all needed in contemporary times.</p>

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