BEIJING/BERLIN – The Dalai Lama’s critical remarks about China’s human rights record and its policy towards Tibet during a visit to Germany drew criticism from Beijing yesterday.
The Buddhist leader should end his advocacy of Tibetan independence, Nyima Cering, vice chairman of Tibet Autonomous Region, told journalists, according to a report from the official Chinese news agency Xinhua.
Negotiations with the Dalai Lama would be pointless if he stuck to his “secessionist stance”, he said.
Nyima Cering said channels of communication with the Dalai Lama were open.
“The Dalai Lama is not only a religious figure. He is first and foremost a politician. We are against the Dalai Lama and his separatist activities, not his religion,” he said.
During his 11-day visit to Germany, taking in the northern port of Hamburg and the south-western city of Freiburg, the Dalai Lama repeatedly criticised China’s human rights record.
“The economy is booming but the democratisation of China is not making any progress,” he said in Freiburg on Saturday.
The 72-year-old Buddhist leader, who in 1989 received the Nobel Peace Prize, urged the international community not to look away from human rights violations in China but to press for reform.
He said he had met with great interest and enthusiasm during his trip to Germany, which began in Hamburg on July 19. It was reported to be his longest ever trip abroad.
Before returning to his home in exile in India on Sunday, the Dalai Lama called for a dialogue between different religions.
He stressed that Islam needed to be included. The violent acts of “individual fanatics” should not lead to dialogue being broken off, he said.
