NIORT, France – China is likely to find it easier to resolve the problem of Tibet than that of Taiwan, the Dalai Lama, spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhism, said in France.
“My middle-of-the-way approach, to call for real self-government within China, is something that is possible and provided for by the Chinese constitution,” he said in Niort, 400 kilometres (250 miles) south of Paris, where he had come to inaugurate a pavilion dedicated to Tibet at an exhibition.
The island of Taiwan has been ruled separately from the rest of China since the end of a civil war in 1949, and Beijing, which considers it a breakaway province, has declared it would invade if Taiwan declared independence or descended into chaos.
“The essential thing is that they trust in the sincerity of my initiative,” the Dalai Lama, 69, who has lived in exile since 1959, said. He said he was trying to establish “a relationship of confidence” with the Chinese leadership, which was “extremely distrustful” of him.
“China is going through a period of transition… and my suggestion of the middle way is in entirely in line with a stable transition,” he said.
Claiming that Chinese intellectuals in think tanks thought the middle way was a pragmatic solution “it would be relatively easier for China to solve the question of Tibet than that of Taiwan.”
The Dalai Lama fled into exile in India 45 years ago after Tibetans aborted an uprising against the Chinese, who have occupied Tibet since 1951. The Chinese have refused to deal directly with the Dalai Lama, branding him a separatist.
