By IANS,
Dharamsala (Himachal Pradesh): The world’s trend is towards openness and more democracy and the new Chinese leadership will have to follow it, Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama said here Saturday.
“The world’s trend is towards openness and more democracy, more freedom and rule of law. No matter how powerful the Chinese government is, they cannot escape the world trend and they have to follow that trend,” the Dalai Lama said at the three-day meeting of the Special International Tibet Support Group that began here Friday.
On the new leadership in China, he said: “As Deng Xiaoping said, seeking truth from facts, so the fact is like that. They have to adopt a policy based on reality. Unrealistic policy will not solve problems.”
On Tibet, the Nobel Peace laureate said: “I am retired and whatever the elected Tibetan leadership says about Tibet is absolutely correct. Things are quite serious in Tibet. There is a problem and the problem is neither good for the Tibetans nor the Chinese. Use of force will never bring a satisfactory solution to the problem.”
Expressing concern over deteriorating ecology in Tibet, the spiritual leader said a lot of damage has been caused to Tibet’s environment through deforestation and exploitation of natural resources.
“One of my Indian friends said due to Tibet’s high altitude and dry climate, if its ecology is damaged, it will take much longer to recover,” he said.
The Dalai Lama was forced to flee his homeland with 80,000 Tibetans March 17, 1959, after the Chinese invasion of Lhasa, Tibet.
His Tibetan government-in-exile, that never won recognition from any country, is based in Dharamsala.