By Nelson Graves

NEW DELHI, Feb 20 (Reuter) - Tibet's government-in-exile on Thursday accused Deng Xiaoping of decades of repression and said the death of China's paramount leader offered a chance to his successor to solve the region's longstanding problems.

The government-in-exile, headed by Tibet's spiritual leader the Dalai Lama, said in a statement released in the Indian capital that Deng, who died on Wednesday, was "directly responsible for decades of repression and suffering in Tibet."

"No living Chinese leader today may have as much personal interest in retaining China's stranglehold on Tibet as did Deng," the statement from the Central Tibetan Administration in the northern Indian town of Dharamsala said.

It said Deng was personally involved in China's major campaigns against Tibet, and cited the invasion of the region, communist reforms, the crushing of the 1959 uprising and the suppression of independence demonstrations.

"Therefore any admission of China's failures in Tibet would have amounted to a personal loss of face and reputation for Deng," it said.

In a more conciliatory statement from Dharamsala, the Dalai Lama said Deng's death was a great loss for China. "He was a revolutionary and a great leader of China with an exceptional courage, perseverance, capability and leadership ability."

Tibet's most revered spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama fled his homeland to India in 1959 after the failed uprising against Chinese rule.

Based in the Himalayan town of Dharamsala, the Dalai Lama's government-in-exile is not recognised by any country. In 1988, the Dalai Lama tempered his calls for Tibetan independence by proposing a five-point plan for autonomy which would let China control Tibet's foreign affairs.

The Dalai Lama too noted that Deng was personally involved in all of the major campaigns in Tibet, starting with its "occupation" in 1949, and regretted that over 18 years the Chinese government had not responded to the Tibetan god-king's proposals.

"On my part, as soon as we receive a positive indication from Beijing, I am ready to enter into negotiations anytime andKions," the Dalai Lama said.

The government-in-exile's statment said Deng's much-heralded economic reforms benefited China.

"But in the case of Tibet, the reforms have been used as an impetus for the transfer of Chinese population, which is now threatening to reduce Tibetans into an insignificant minority in their own country," it said.

It said the crushing of student-led demonstrations in Beijing's Tiananmen Square in 1989 and the declaration of martial law in Lhasa the same year showed Deng did not tolerate political dissent.

"The absence of Mr Deng provides new opportunities and challenges for both the Tibetans and the Chinese," the Dalai Lama said.

"We hope that Deng's successor, Jiang Zemin, will find courage to solve the Tibetan problem in the spirit of tolerance, reconciliation and compromise," the government-in-exile said, referring to Deng's anointed heir and Communist Party chief.

The government-in-exile said if the world community put its moral force and political pressure behind Chinese democrats, the transition of power in China could be achieved peacefully for the well-being of peoples "under China's colonial subjugation."