Censorship at heart of Tibet/China issue: Dalai Lama
Published on Sun, Feb 21, 2010 at 12:12
The Dalai Lama, the exiled spiritual leader of Tibet, said the United States and other countries could help his campaign for a free Tibet by promoting an open society in China.
"Censorship ... is the source of the problem," the Dalai Lama said in an interview with Reuters on Saturday in Beverly Hills.
The Dalai Lama fled Tibet in 1959 after a failed uprising against Chinese rule. He now lives in exile in India and advocates "meaningful autonomy" for Tibet within China.
"The Chinese people have no opportunity to know our issue," said the Buddhist monk, who Beijing has branded as a dangerous separatist for demanding Tibetan self-determination.
"Once China becomes an open society -- freedom of speech, freedom of press, freedom of information -- all this unnecessary fear and doubt will reduce," he said. "That's the real answer for this problem.
"American can help in this change," he said, adding that the lack of free information has helped the Chinese government portray him as a demon and a terrorist.
"Do I look like a demon?" the winner of the 1989 Nobel Peace Prize joked, holding his fingers beside his head to make devil horns.
Tibetans living near the Dalai Lama's birthplace in northwest China celebrated the meeting with a rare display of fireworks.
President Obama met with the Dalai Lama weeks after the US had finalized the sale of a 6 billion dollar arms package to Taiwan ignoring China's protests.
Google last month threatened to pull out of China if the government did not agree to stop censoring its Chinese-language service.
