Dharamsala November 3 – His Holiness met with reporters from various news agencies on the second day of his Japan tour giving interviews to TV and fielding questions from the press. His Holiness reiterated his support for the Middle Way Approach which calls for a genuine autonomy within the People’s Republic of China. The Tibetan leader said that Tibet would benefit if it remained as an autonomous region under China. He said that the future of Tibet rests with the Tibetan people and not with him.
With his envoys currently touring China, the Tibetan leader said the “situation can change in a few days. I always have faith in the Chinese people. They’re realistic, generally speaking, and hard-working.”
Tibetans in Tibet are not happy, he said. “Material conditions may have improved, but inner conditions are far worse than before. Now, morally, I cannot pretend that things are all right. We have to accept reality. After all, the Tibetan issue is the Tibetan people’s issue, not the Dalai Lama’s issue.”
He said he hoped the Chinese government would acknowledge the reality of Tibetans’ suffering but that it was not the case. “The situation inside Tibet is almost like a military occupation. Everywhere. Everywhere, fear, terror. I cannot remain indifferent.”
He welcomed the train link between China and Tibetan capital Lhasa calling it a sign of ‘economic development’. He called China a very ‘important nation, an ancient nation.’ “Manpower, military power, material power–they’re all there. But moral power, moral authority–that is lacking. In the long run, this is very bad for the image of China.”
He said that China’s censorship of media is keeping the Chinese people ignorant of the events in Tibet. “People there have no chance to access reality. If the Chinese people knew thoroughly what happened in Tibet, I think many of them would feel quite sad.”
He said how happy he was when the Chinese government responded to the tragedy of the earthquake in Sichuan “very transparently.” But so far that spirit has not been carried into other areas, including the Tibet problem. “I do not consider myself the ruler of Tibet,” he said, “but rather the free spokesman for the Tibetan people. For those of us outside Tibet, in foreign countries, it is our moral responsibility to speak out on behalf of the Tibetan people.”
Based on a report sent by Office of Tibet, Japan,
