【afp】Dalai Lama defends visit to disputed Indian state

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Dalai Lama defends visit to disputed Indian state
By Kyoko Hasegawa (AFP) – 3 days ago
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5gyoygmEXAifgKogyVgUt6ZXg8eJg

Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama speaks to the press in Tokyo

TOKYO — Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama Saturday said he was surprised at China's protest against his planned visit to an area of India claimed by Beijing, hinting he backed India on the border issue.

The Dalai Lama also criticised China's one-party rule and its state-controlled media, while praising India's "successful" democracy.

The Buddhist monk, who arrived in Tokyo Friday for a week-long stay in Japan ahead of his November 8 visit to Arunachal Pradesh state in northeast India where China and India fought a border war in 1962.

"I was surprised" at China's criticism of the planned visit, the Dalai Lama told reporters when asked about the motive behind his trip.

"Because in (19)62, the People's Liberation Army already reached that area, already occupied... then India sort of pushed them back. The Chinese government unilaterally (made) ceasefire, withdrawal," he said. "So what's the problem?"

The Dalai Lama, who fled to India in 1959 after China crushed an anti-Chinese uprising in Tibet, is viewed as a "splittist" by Beijing, although he says he wants autonomy rather than full independence for his Himalayan homeland.

China has said it is "firmly opposed" to the Dalai Lama's trip to Arunachal Pradesh.

"One reason why India is successful in democracy is ... that (for) more than 2000 years India (has had) this strong tradition to respect different views," the Dalai Lama said, stressing the importance of respecting different religions and the views of non-believers.

He also criticised China's one-party state and lack of media freedom.

"People in China (have) no free information, too much sensation. And their own newspaper, media -- all their information is one-sided propaganda," he said.

The Dalai Lama called for journalists from the international media to visit China to "find the reality" in the western regions of Tibet and Xinjiang, home to the Tibetan and Uighur ethnic minorities, respectively.

Deadly unrest broke out in Tibet in March 2008 and July this year in Xinjiang as part of long-standing friction between China's majority Han population and ethnic minorities.

The Dalai Lama suggested the next Tibetan leader should be democratically elected.

"That's none of my business," said the 74-year-old, asked about his thoughts on his successor.

"In 2001, we already achieved elected political leadership," he said, referring to the election of the leader of the Tibetan government in exile based in northern India.

"At that time the four centuries-old tradition that the Dalai Lama institution is the head of both the spiritual and the secular, that already ended."

The Dalai Lama was traditionally chosen by looking for spiritual signs and testing the reactions of young children to determine if they could be the reincarnation of the spiritual leader.

The Dalai Lama has flirted with breaking with tradition by choosing his successor, fearing that China would try to install its own choice to tighten control of his homeland.

China sent troops into Tibet in 1950 and officially "liberated" it the following year.

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