Published by: World Tibet Network News, Saturday, October 26, 1996

By Gillian Handyside

STRASBOURG, France, Oct 24, 1996 (Reuter) - The Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, said Thursday he was not seeking independence from China for his Himalayan country and that constructive engagement with Beijing was the best approach.

"(Independence) is our legitimate right, historical right. But despite that I feel if we join with another big nation we might get greater benefit," he told a news conference during a visit to the European Parliament.

Tibet, though highly developed spiritually, was landlocked and materially backward and in the long run could find it to its advantage to maintain economic relations with China. "Spirituality alone cannot fill the stomach," he said.

On the other hand, he said, it was vital to insist repeatedly on the benefits of democracy and protest China's "intentional and unintentional" cultural genocide in Tibet and the contamination of its fragile environment.

"I feel the greatest obstacle... is Chinese fear," the Dalai Lama said. "So the only way is is through a friendly manner and with persuasion, without causing more distrust."

But he stressed that the Tibetan people were suffering and continued international pressure on Beijing was needed.

"Please pursue our Chinese brothers and sisters to bring negotiations to the table," he urged.

China's response so far had been very negative, the Dalai Lama said, but he was optimistic that economic development and increasing communications with the outside world were encouraging change in China and support for Tibetan autonomy.

"(The Chinese) are mainly interested in simply trying to show the world nobody can influence them... This won't help to solve the problem. Sooner or later they have to find a more constructive policy," he said.

China protested to the European Union Thursday about the Dalai Lama's three-day visit to the EU assembly in Strasbourg.

"The European Parliament has provided a platform for the Dalai Lama's splittist activities to split the motherland," a Foreign Ministry spokesman told a Beijing news briefing.

The Dalai Lama fled Tibet in 1959 after an abortive uprising against Chinese rule and won the Nobel Peace Prize 30 years later for his peaceful autonomy campaign.

China has denied accusations of widespread human rights abuses since its troops marched into the region, which it considers a historic part of China.

To check the influence of the Dalai Lama, China has called on officials in the restive region to preach atheism and instill socialist beliefs.

"To carry out atheistic education is a neccesary condition for... opposing the Dalai Lama's disastrous teachings aimed at causing chaos in Tibet and splitting the motherland," the Tibet Daily said in its Oct. 14 edition.

"Many people have been fettered by religion and cannot break free of its bewitchment," the newspaper said.