The Dalai Lama insisted on Friday he is not seeking independence for Tibet, as he pressed ahead with a five-country Western tour two months after deadly violence erupted in his homeland.
“We want to live in peace with our Chinese brothers and sisters,” the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader told a news conference in the western city of Bochum on the second day of a visit to Germany.
“We are not seeking independence,” but merely greater autonomy and more respect for Tibet culture, religion and language, he said.
The Nobel peace prize winner said although he was opposed to all forms of violence he admitted there were some in Tibet who favoured a different course.
After Germany the 72-year-old will go to Britain, Australia, the US and France in a three-month tour that will keep the issue of Tibet in the headlines in the run-up to the Olympic Games in Beijing in August.
On Thursday, the Dalai Lama accused China of “suppression” through its military crackdown on violent protests in the Himalayan region in March that Tibetan leaders say left more than 200 people dead.
He said it was in China’s best interest to improve relations with the Tibetans but that its policy had created resentment well beyond Tibet’s borders.
China’s reaction to the Tibet unrest drew international condemnation and heaped pressure on Beijing ahead of the Olympics, with pro-Tibet activists disrupting the global relay of the Olympic torch.
Beijing, which is adamant Tibet is part of China, says Tibetan “rioters” and “insurgents” killed 21 people and accused the Dalai Lama of being behind the violence and fomenting trouble ahead of the Olympics.
Amid international diplomatic pressure, representatives of the Dalai Lama held talks this month with China to try to defuse tensions.
In Germany the Dalai Lama will meet neither Chancellor Angela Merkel, who is in Latin America, nor Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, nor President Horst Koehler.
Critics accused the German government, which has designated Development Minister Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul to meet the 72-year-old, of appeasing China after a chill in relations caused by Merkel receiving him last year.
The schedule this time has left neither side happy, with the Dalai Lama’s representative in Europe branding Steinmeier’s decision not to meet him “an unhappy one” and China protesting about Monday’s meeting with Wieczorek-Zeul.
