The people of Tibet should not be taken in by the Dalai Lama’s lies and clearly understand the importance of Chinese Communist Party rule in the region, Beijing said ahead of March’s 60th anniversary of him fleeing into exile.
The official Tibet Daily said in a lengthy commentary released online late on Thursday that the 83-year-old Dalai Lama had never given up promoting Tibetan independence, dismissing his intentions to seek a “middle way” of genuine autonomy.
“Whether it’s the ‘middle way’ or a ‘high degree of autonomy,’ the aim is to try and negate the leadership of the party, negate the socialist system and negate the ethnic autonomous region system,” the paper said.
The Dalai Lama has tried to use hostile forces in the Western media to spread his “rumors and slander” against China to promote Tibetan independence, ignoring the freedoms and respect accorded to the people of Tibet, it said.
“In the face of the lies of the 14th Dalai Lama, the various peoples of Tibet should be even more aware that socialist new Tibet replacing the theistic and feudal system of old Tibet was a historical necessity, and a victory for the truth and the people,” the paper wrote.
There was no immediate reaction from the India-based exiled Tibetan government.
The Dalai Lama yesterday gave a lecture in Mumbai on ancient Indian knowledge, but did not directly mention current relations with China.
“Violence always brings suffering,” he said in comments streamed live on Facebook. “Basic human nature is more compassionate.”
Separately on Tuesday, the US Senate passed the Reciprocal Access To Tibet Act, which now goes to the White House for US President Donald Trump to sign into law.
That act seeks to promote access to Tibet for US diplomats and other officials, journalists and other citizens by denying entry into the US for Chinese officials deemed responsible for restricting access to Tibet.
Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Lu Kang (陸慷) said that the bill is an interference in China’s domestic affairs and Beijing had already made “stern representations” to the US about it.
Many foreigners visit Tibet every year, with almost 40,000 trips by Americans there since 2015, including by senior US politicians, showing there was no reason for this bill, he told a daily news briefing.
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