CHINA HAS issued its latest strong rebuke to calls for more autonomy by the Dalai Lama, saying the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader’s calls ignore the religious and political freedoms that China allows Tibetans and saying his movement could cause ethnic splits.
China has already called off a long-planned summit with the European Union in Lyons over French president Nicolas Sarkozy’s announcement that he will meet the Dalai Lama in Poland on Saturday.
State news agency Xinhua ran two commentaries attacking the Dalai Lama, who is seeking “high-level autonomy” for his mountain homeland, giving Tibetans self-rule under Chinese sovereignty.
“By waving the banner of implementing ethnic regional autonomy in China, insisting on political demands for a so-called ‘greater Tibet’ and ‘high-level autonomy’, the Dalai Lama is totally violating the fundamental interests of the Tibetan people,” one of the editorials said, adding: “This has no future.”
Tibetan exiles held talks in the north Indian hill station of Dharamsala last month, which produced a communique calling for “all Tibetans to enjoy genuine autonomy”.
Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao said Mr Sarkozy’s proposed meeting with the Dalai Lama had caused “a lot of dissatisfaction” among the Chinese people.
