Thu, Apr 23, 2009 page5

• China ‘acting like a child,’ Dalai Lama says

  WAR Of WORDS The Dalai Lama said China was on the path to becoming a global superpower in every way except that it lacks the required moral authority

  • AFP
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  The Dalai Lama yesterday accused China of “acting like a child” in cracking down on Tibetans and other minorities, saying it lacked the moral authority of a genuine superpower.

  The Tibetan spiritual leader told reporters in Japan that while China could boast military, economic and population muscle, it feared even small signs of dissent.

  Addressing a Tokyo news conference on a stopover before a speaking tour of Europe and the US, he said he saw China as “such a big nation, acting like a child.”

  

  Exiled Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama gestures at a news conference in Narita, Japan, yesterday.

  PHOTO: REUTERS

  He said the government routinely arrested individuals with different views, but stressed that “such a big nation of over 1 billion people [should have] no need for such sort of fear.”

  He added: “One or two persons have different views and immediately they are in trouble with the government. No. You’re a big nation. You should have more self-confidence.”

  He said he believed that while Tibetans were poor, they have openness on their side.

  “One weakness of the Chinese government is that it is not transparent, always telling distorted information,” he said.

  The Tibetan leader said China was on the path to becoming a superpower and already had the “power of population, power of military and power of economy.”

  “Now the fourth condition to becoming a superpower is moral authority,” he said. “That is lacking. Moral authority is very, very essential. Trust is key. State secrets destroy trust. That is the greatest obstacle to authority.”

  The Dalai Lama was speaking 50 years after arriving in Indian exile after fleeing China’s crackdown against a 1959 uprising in the Himalayan territory and more than a year since forces again cracked down on protesters.

  Asked about sentences handed down to Tibetans for arson during the riots, including the death penalty, the Dalai Lama said that, while criminals should be punished, he did not trust China’s courts.

  “All these sentences are politically motivated, so we have great reservations,” he said. “The PRC [People’s Republic of China] as a whole is without rule of law, no independent judiciary.”

  While the Dalai Lama says he is only seeking greater autonomy for Tibetans under Chinese rule, Beijing calls him a separatist and pressures world leaders not to meet with the Nobel Peace laureate.

  He retorted yesterday that China’s rulers “are very much short-sighted” and — employing a term commonly used against him by Beijing — said their actions themselves were “splittist.”

  “We have sincerely committed to remain part of the PRC for our own interest, for our economic development, provided [we have] minimal autonomy to safeguard our culture, our spirituality and the environment,” he said.
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