Dalai Lama wants Tibet to remain part of China

Exiled Tibetan leader the Dalai Lama has said he wants the region to remain part of China so it can benefit from that country’s economic boom.

“I am not in favour of separation. Tibet is a part of the People’s Republic of China … Tibetan culture and Buddhism are part of Chinese culture,” he told the South China Morning Post.

“Tibet is underdeveloped and materially backwards. We want modernisation. So for our own interest, we are willing to be part of the People’s Republic of China, to have it govern and guarantee to preserve our Tibetan culture, spirituality and our environment,” the Dalai Lama was quoted as saying.

“As the material development of China moves forward, we gain materially,” the newspaper quoted him as saying.

The newspaper quoted an unnamed official with the Dharmsala, India-based exiled Tibetan leadership as saying the Dalai Lama wants Tibetan autonomy on religious and cultural policy, but not political, economic or diplomatic matters.

The comments from the Dalai Lama, denounced by Beijing as a “splittist,” struck a conciliatory note but didn’t appear to offer any new initiatives.

They were consistent with the Dalai Lama’s statements over the past decade that Tibet can remain part of China and that what he really wants is cultural autonomy so that Tibetans can preserve their unique Buddhist society.

The Dalai Lama’s envoys have met three times with Chinese officials, most recently in September.

The Dalai Lama has said the Tibetan side is willing to start negotiations at any time without preconditions.

Chinese communist troops marched into Tibet in 1950. Beijing says it has been Chinese territory for centuries and has spent decades trying to suppress pro-independence sentiment.

The Dalai Lama fled to India in the late 1950s.