China calls Dalai Lama splittist, says open for dialogue only to discuss his future
DHARAMSALA, 11 Nov: China has yet again accused His Holiness the Dalai Lama of ‘splitting the motherland’ and declared that Beijing is open for dialogue with the Tibetan spiritual leader, but only to discuss his future.
“The Central Government of China’s policy on contact and negotiations with the 14th Dalai Lama is consistent and clear, and the door for contact and negotiations remains open,” the Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin has said at a media briefing on Wednesday in Beijing.
He further clarified that dialogues are open only to discuss the Dalai Lama’s future.
“I would like to stress that the only matter that can be discussed is the future of the Dalai Lama himself, not to do anything with Tibet.”
Accusing the Tibetan Nobel Laureate of being a splittist, he added that “What the Dalai Lama should do is to stop secessionist activities and take concrete measures to win the trust of the central government and the Chinese people.”
Wang, who is the highest-ranking Chinese official to be widely sanctioned over human rights violations has declared the Tibetan government-in-exile ‘an out and out separatist political group.’
“The so-called Tibetan government-in-exile is an out and out separatist political group. It is against China’s constitution and laws, it is an illegal organisation. No country in the world recognises it.”
The Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman made the remarks in response to a statement made by the Dalai Lama at an online press conference hosted by the Tokyo Foreign Correspondents Club earlier that day.
The octogenarian Tibetan leader, praising India as a centre of religious harmony has stated that he prefers “to remain here in India, peacefully,” and that he has no particular plans to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping while expressing his wish to visit the Himalayan homeland to meet old friends.
Though the Dalai Lama has declined to comment on Xi’s consolidation of power that will see him remain in office for a third five-year term, he has stated that the “Chinese Communist leaders, they do not understand the variety of different cultures. In reality, too much control will harm people.”
