The Dalai Lama, the exiled spiritual leader of Tibet, said on Sunday that the Himalayan kingdom should remain within China for the sake of the territory's economic development.
But the 70-year-old leader said the Tibetan people themselves would have to determine their future if China continued to deny them "meaningful" autonomy.
"If [the] Chinese government provides us meaningful autonomy, self law, then it is in our own interest to remain within the People's Republic of China," said the Dalai Lama, who has lived in India since he fled Chinese troops in 1959, basing his government-in-exile in the northern Indian hilltop town of Dharamsala.
"As far as economic development is concerned, we'll get immense benefit" if Tibet remained as part of China, he told a 16,000 strong gathering in Washington, where he is on a 10-day visit that included talks with US President George W. Bush.
"Tibet is economically backward although spiritually highly advanced. But spiritual [strength] alone cannot fill our stomach. So we need economic development," the Dalai Lama said.
"If this approach should fail, then of course it is up to the Tibetan people -- I'm going to ask the Tibetan people what to do," he said.
Beijing formally established a Tibetan Autonomous Region in 1965, but the Dalai Lama has said there is no genuine autonomy and has been waging a non-violent campaign to press China to provide greater rights for his 6 million people.
China sees its occupation of Tibet since 1950 as a liberation of the region that has saved the Tibetan people from feudal oppression.
The Dalai Lama, a Nobel Laureate, said that "ultimately the Tibetan people -- not me -- would decide."
A random survey in Tibet years ago showed the people wanted to remain within China but demanded genuine autonomy, he said.
The gathering on Sunday included hundreds of Himalayan, Tibetan and Mongolian Buddhists who came to the US capital to belatedly mark the Dalai Lama's 70th birthday on July 6.
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