The Dalai Lama said on Saturday he has given up on efforts to convince Beijing to allow greater autonomy for Tibet under Chinese rule, a remark that was reinforced yesterday by a senior aide, Tenzin Taklha.
The Tibetan spiritual leader said he would ask the Tibetan people to decide on how to take the dialogue forward.
China has repeatedly accused the Dalai Lama of leading a campaign to split Tibet from the rest of the country. The Dalai Lama has denied the allegations, saying he is only seeking greater autonomy for the Himalayan region to protect its unique Buddhist culture — a policy he calls the “middle way.”
PHOTO: AP
“I have been sincerely pursuing the middle way approach in dealing with China for a long time now but there hasn’t been any positive response from the Chinese side,” he said in Tibetan at a public function on Saturday in Dharamsala, the north Indian town that is home to the Tibetan government-in-exile.
“As far as I’m concerned I have given up,” he said in an unusually blunt statement.
“The issue of Tibet is not the issue of the Dalai Lama alone. It is the issue of 6 million Tibetans. I have asked the Tibetan government-in-exile, as a true democracy in exile, to decide in consultation with the Tibetan people the future course of action,” he said.
The Tibetan spiritual leader has called for a special meeting of Tibetan exiles in the second week of next month to discuss the future of the Tibetan movement.
“Because of lack of response from Chinese we have to be realistic, there is no hope,” Talkha said.
“His holiness does not want to become a hindrance to the Tibetan issue, and therefore has sent a letter to the parliament regarding what options he has,” the aide said.
However, the Dalai Lama is not going into retirement, Taklha also said.
Karma Cheophel, speaker for the Tibetan government-in-exile, earlier said the Dalai Lama had “hinted he is now on full retirement,” sparking some rumors in the Indian media.
The Dalai Lama’s candor is seen as a vindication for the many exiled Tibetans who say his conciliatory “middle way” approach to seeking greater autonomy has not worked.
“I think the statement by his Holiness is an eye opener for the Tibetan people,” said Tsewang Rigzin, the president of the Tibetan Youth Congress.
“We are not against the middle way approach of his Holiness, the fact is that China is not sincere and has never been sincere in talking about the middle way,” he said.
The Dalai Lama’s address on Saturday was his first public speech since undergoing gallstone surgery.
Taklha said he hoped the eighth round of talks between Tibetan envoys and Chinese officials will be held by the end of this month.
Those talks are still on track, said Chhime Chhoekyapa, another spokesman for the Dalai Lama.
The two sides have met to try to ease tension in Tibet since violent riots broke out there in March. Most Tibetans have supported the Dalai Lama’s push for autonomy for the region. However, many Tibetans, especially younger generations, see the talks as a Chinese ploy.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese
RIVER TRAGEDY: Local fishers and residents helped rescue people after the vessel capsized, while motorbike taxis evacuated some of the injured At least 58 people going to a funeral died after their overloaded river boat capsized in the Central African Republic’s (CAR) capital, Bangui, the head of civil protection said on Saturday. “We were able to extract 58 lifeless bodies,” Thomas Djimasse told Radio Guira. “We don’t know the total number of people who are underwater. According to witnesses and videos on social media, the wooden boat was carrying more than 300 people — some standing and others perched on wooden structures — when it sank on the Mpoko River on Friday. The vessel was heading to the funeral of a village chief in