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FRANKFURT: The Dalai Lama lashed out Thursday at the
recent “suppression” of anti-Chinese unrest in Tibet, as he
arrived in Germany at the start of a tour of Western powers in the
run-up to the Beijing Olympics.
“The Chinese political
authorities’ reaction, as before, was suppression. So it is very
sad,” the Tibetan spiritual leader said after landing in
Frankfurt.
He called for autonomy for the
Himalayan region and stressed that Tibetans wanted to live in
harmony with China.
“Genuine harmony must come on
the basis of trust, trust very much based on equality.
“So far these are lacking. We
need genuine autonomy.”
A better relation with Tibet, he
added, was “in the own interest of the people of this huge
country.”
The 1989 Nobel peace laureate’s
salvo against Beijing kicked off a tour that will also take him to
the United States, Australia, Britain and France and only conclude
days before the end of the Olympics on August 20.
It is expected to keep the plight
of Tibet high on the international agenda in the wake of the deadly
violence that shook the capital Lhasa in March.
China’s reaction to the unrest
drew international condemnation and heaped pressure on Beijing over
its human rights record ahead of the Games.
--AFP
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