The Dalai Lama, Tibet’s spiritual leader, slammed Chinese leaders on Wednesday, saying that they ‘don’t understand the variety of different cultures’ in China and that the Han ethnic group wields too much power.
He also stated that he had nothing against ‘Chinese brothers and sisters’ as fellow humans, and that he supported the ideas of Communism and Marxism in general.
The 86-year-old Dalai Lama was responding to a question about whether the international community should consider boycotting the Beijing Winter Olympics due to the suppression of minorities, including those in Xinjiang’s western region.
‘I know Communist Party leaders since Mao Zedong. Their ideas are good. But sometimes they do much extreme, tight control,’ he stated from his base in India, adding that he believes China will change under a new generation of leaders.
‘Regarding Tibet and also Xinjiang, we have our own unique culture, so the more narrow-minded Chinese Communist leaders, they do not understand the variety of different cultures.’
After entering Tibet in 1950 in what it calls a ‘peaceful liberation,’ China seized control of the region. Since then, Tibet has become one of the country’s most restricted and sensitive regions.
The Dalai Lama, who fled to India after a failed uprising against Chinese rule in 1959, is regarded by Beijing as a dangerous ‘splittist’ or separatist. He has spent decades trying to gain international support for his remote, mountainous homeland’s linguistic and cultural autonomy.
The Dalai Lama laughed as he related an anecdote about how he once considered joining the Communist Party but was talked out of it by a friend.
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