TOKYO — The Dalai Lama said Monday that his efforts to secure Tibetan autonomy from China have failed to bring positive changes and that he is unsure whether new talks between his envoys and Beijing over the fate of the Himalayan region will produce any breakthroughs.
The exiled Tibetan spiritual leader has spoken in unusually blunt and pessimistic terms recently about the prospects for his homeland. The 73-year-old Nobel Peace Prize laureate said Monday the situation in Tibet was worsening and that criticism among Tibetans of his negotiating approach toward China was growing.
The Dalai Lama has followed a “middle way,” which rejects calls for outright independence but seeks greater autonomy to preserve Tibet’s unique Buddhist culture.
China, which has governed Tibet since Communist troops occupied it in the 1950s, has repeatedly accused the Dalai Lama of leading a campaign to split the Himalayan region from the rest of the country.
The Dalai Lama, who fled to India amid a failed uprising against Chinese rule in 1959, has denied the allegations.
“The whole world knows the Dalai Lama is not seeking separation, except the Chinese government,” he told a news conference in Tokyo on Monday, urging China’s leaders to have a “more spiritual mind” in dealing with Tibetan issues.
“Things are not improving inside Tibet,” he said in Tokyo. “Our approach failed to bring some positive changes inside Tibet. So criticism is also increasing.”
Despite the comments, a new round of talks is due to be held between his envoys and the Chinese government, the first since Beijing hosted the Olympics in August.
Envoys of the spiritual leader arrived Thursday in Beijing, but the Dalai Lama did not say when the talks would begin and declined to elaborate on them. The Associated Press
