BEIJING, June 4 (Reuter) - Tibet's exiled spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, marked the eighth anniversary of China's bloody 1989 Tiananmen crackdown on Wednesday with a call to the Beijing leadership to end the suffering of those under their rule.

"On this anniversary...I appeal to the leadership in China to act with wisdom, in a spirit of tolerance, reconciliation and compromise to bring an end to the suffering of the Chinese people and those under their rule, including Tibetans," the Dalai Lama said in a statement.

The statement was made available to Reuters by facsimile from the Washington-based International Campaign for Tibet.

The Dalai Lama said the brutal Chinese army crackdown on student-led, pro-democracy demonstrations centred around Beijing's Tiananmen Square on June 3-4, 1989 awakened the world to China's intolerance of any dreams of freedom.

"This tragic outcome of a peaceful movement made the world focus its attention not only on the Chinese people's inherent desire for democracy and human rights but also on the totalitarian Chinese government's intolerance of any open display of people's yearning for freedom," the Dalai Lama said.

But the exiled god-king was optimistic. "I still consider the Tiananmen Square tragedy as only a temporary setback for the Chinese democracy movement," he said.

"Brute force, no matter how strongly applied, can never subdue the basic human desire for freedom. People do not like to be bullied, cheated or lied to by either an individual or a system," the Dalai Lama said.

The Dalai Lama won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1989, just months after the Tiananmen crackdown that left hundreds dead.

"I wish to pay my respects to those who died for freedom, democracy and human rights in your great nation," the Dalai Lama said.

"I pray also for those of your compatriots who are imprisoned because of their courageous advocacy of these universal and inherent human values," he said.

He called for a non-violent movement to win democracy in China and urged freedom loving people of the world to support the movement.

The Dalai Lama has lived in exile in India since he fled Tibet in 1959 with tens of thousands of followers after an abortive uprising against communist rule.

China has in recent years launched a media blitz to try to discredit the exiled god-king in his Himalayan homeland.