MOSCOW, November 11 – Tibet’s exiled spiritual leader the Dalai Lama would like to return to his homeland within the next three years, the president of the Russian republic of Kalmykia told reporters Tuesday.
Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, who met the Dalai Lama in Tokyo last week, said the Buddhist leader had told him he intended to “return to the Tibet autonomous district of an integral and indivisible China,” the Interfax news agency quoted him as saying.
The Dalai Lama “stressed during our November 7 meeting that he is standing for China’s territorial integrity and sees China as a single country. This is his fundamental position. The Dalai Lama is not advocating independence for Tibet or putting forth any separatist slogans. He asked me to convey his words to the Chinese authorities,” Ilyumzhinov said.
“He is seeking talks with the Chinese authorities on a permanent basis.”
Two rounds of talks between the Dalai Lama and Chinese representatives have already taken place, in September 2002 and May 2003, he noted.
“The Dalai Lama expected a further round to take place in October. He expected China to invite him. He is interested in resuming these talks.”
Ilyumzhinov, who heads one of three Russian Buddhist republics, has twice received the Tibetan spiritual in Kalmykia, but an attempt to invite him for a third visit earlier this year when the Russian authorities, at Chinese insistence, refused to issue him with a visa.
China occupied Tibet in 1951. The Dalai Lama has lived in India since fleeing the Tibetan capital Lhasa in 1959 with thousands of supporters after an abortive revolt against Chinese rule.
Ilyumzhinov said that some members of the Dalai Lama’s entourage “disagree with the conditions for a return put forward by China” and that the Buddhist leader himself “has some questions that concern him and which he would like to discuss.”
These include the balance of the Tibetan population between the native people and those coming from other parts of China, and ecological issues.
Ilyumzhinov said he had informed the Dalai Lama during a three-and-a-half hour meeting of his impressions of his visit last month to Tibet, and showed him photographs and video recordings he had taken there.
“He recognized many places he has not visited for over 50 years. He was very moved by what he saw and even asked if there was still a pavilion near his residence,” he said.
Ilyumzhinov said he had attempted to provide objective information about the situation in Tibet.
“I told him that religion is supported by the state, that there is investment in Tibet, there are already four airports there, and that telecommunications and the infrastructure are developing there, he said.
The Kalmyk president, who has been acting as an informal intermediary between the Dalai Lama and Chinese authorities, also spoke with officials in Beijing.
