Dalai Lama remains hopeful of winning over the Chinese

Fifty one years after leaving the country of Tibet due to the Chinese government taking over, the Dalai Lama has not lost hope of arriving at a mutually beneficial agreement with the Chinese.

Today, he once again expressed his firm belief that one day he would be able to gain the support of the leaders in China to facilitate a true autonomy for the native people living in Tibet. He made it clear that he was keen to arrive at this kind of an autonomous arrangement without formally separating from China.

Reports say that the Tibetan spiritual leader, venerated all over the world, reiterated that his mantra was not to seek independence, just as the Chinese mantra was that Tibet is part of China. He is persistent on arriving at a middle path solution – that of autonomy while still being part of China.

The Dalai Lama is said to have cited the examples of many world changes that have been happening in the past 60 years, as a sign of encouragement that what he wishes for Tibet is not such an impossible dream. In the past six decades, much has changed in the political scenario in China. The one-party system has changed and a totally unexpected turn of events has occurred – with Communist China becoming Capitalist Communist.

If such a sea change could occur, it is very possible to anticipate that things could change on the Tibetan front too, he says. The information that was posted on the website of the Tibetan government-in-exile, states that the Dalai Lama is hopeful for this kind of a slow change in perception and attitude to happen over the course of the next ten to fifteen years.

He once again pointed out that the issue of Tibet was not about his own institution. It is actually about the lives and rights of six million Tibetan people. And as long as these rights were not acknowledged and addressed, the movement to restore justice would continue to be a work in action. He reportedly said that Buddhism and the Tibetan culture is of much more importance than the institution of Dalai Lama. He also affirmed that the key to sustaining this effort was to nurture and preserve Tibetan culture, language and religion.

Up until the present time, the Chinese government has viewed the Dalai Lama as a hostile component that is focused on separating Tibet from the Chinese homeland. The Chinese government has never been supportive of the Dalai Lama presenting and working for the cause of autonomy for Tibet with world leaders.

The Tibetan government-in-exile, which is headed by the Dalai Lama, is yet to be recognized as an official government by any country in the world. The Dalai Lama and many supporters left Tibet and were given political asylum in India after China took control of Lhasa in 1959.