Dalai Lama Attacks Beijing
(The Financial Times | March 10, 1994)
The Dalai Lama yesterday attacked China for paying "lip service" to his attempts to negotiate on the future of Tibet and said Tibetans might have to adopt a new approach to their freedom struggle. The exiled leader's statement, issued from his home in Dharamsala, India, is likely to increase tension during this week's visit to Beijing by Mr Warren Christopher, US secretary of state.
Tibet is among the human rights issues on which the US is demanding progress before China's most-favoured nation (MFN) trading status is renewed this year. The Dalai Lama said he had "left no stone unturned" in seeking an agreement on the basis of a statement in 1979 by Mr Deng Xiaoping, China's leader, that "except for independence of Tibet, all other questions can be negotiated". But Beijing had repeatedly rejected his overtures. He said: "I must now recognise that my approach has failed to produce any progress either for substantive negotiations or in contributing to the overall improvement of the situation in Tibet." The Dalai Lama acknowledged that his failure to press for complete independence had disappointed many Tibetans. He said conditions in Tibet had worsened dramatically with increased suppression and marginalisation of Tibetans and the destruction of culture and the environment.
Friends of Tibet (INDIA),
PO Box 16674, Bombay 400050
www.friendsoftibet.org