By Alice Dembner, Globe Staff

02/02/97 - BOSTON GLOBE

WATERTOWN - A Chinese political scientist yesterday urged the Tibetan exile movement to give up its goal of independence from China and press instead for more limited autonomy. That strategy, University of Vermont assistant professor Zheng Shiping suggested, is the best way to break the stalemate over the fate of the Tibetan region of China.

But a Tibetan scholar in exile said his people would not renounce their decades-long quest for freedom from Chinese rule. Tibetan human rights lawyer Lobsang Sangay said the Tibetans' leader, the Dalai Lama, had long made clear his willingness to discuss other options, including self-rule, but the Chinese have refused to negotiate.

The two men faced off in a debate moderated by Susan Weld, a specialist on China, and John Watt, administrator of the New England China Network, that was aimed at starting a dialogue outside of official channels that might help resolve the fate of 6 million Tibetans in China and 130,000 exiles in India and other nations. The program, sponsored by Primary Source, a Watertown-based teacher resource center, was also part of an effort to educate schoolteachers about China.

The debate came just days after the State Department criticized China for human rights violations, including the reported deaths of three Buddhist monks who were detained in Tibet. Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright plans to visit China this month, but it is not clear if the United States will get involved in the Tibetan controversy.

Yesterday, Zheng argued that the Tibetans need to make a conciliatory move.

"If you don't engage the Chinese government soon, you are going to become irrelevant, you are going to be sidelined," said Zheng, a native of Shanghai who is now a permanent US resident. "For China, one solution might be `one country, two systems.' You, Tibetans, give up your claim to independence and we'll give you full autonomy. ... If you want to negotiate with the Chinese government, you cannot raise the issue of independence.''

But Sangay, who was born in a Tibetan exile camp in Darjeeling, India, and is now a fellow at Harvard University, said the Tibetans need a sign of good faith from the Chinese.

``Hong Kong is a litmus test,'' he said. ``They have promised autonomy for Hong Kong, but are already revoking'' some of their promises.

He called for a referendum on self-rule for Tibetans, although he noted that few Tibetans living in China feel free to speak against the communist government.

The audience of about 70 teachers and Asia watchers was largely sympathetic to the Tibetan cause.