By Jim Laurie, ABCNEWS Correspondent

ABC News

The first thing you notice about Tibet's holiest leader is not his flowing red-and-gold robes or his shaved head. Those you expect. What you notice is his laugh. It is a deep, ready, hearty laugh. A laugh that belies the tragedy the Dalai Lama says has enveloped his homeland.

The Dalai Lama contends that the Chinese government is slowly strangling Tibetan and Buddhist culture. For nearly 10 years, Beijing has engaged in a policy of population transfer, moving more and more ethnic Chinese into the Tibetan capitals of Lhasa and Shigatse. Today, more than half the population there is Chinese, not Tibetan.

Seeking Compromise

During an exclusive ABC News interview in Taiwan, the Dalai Lama told me he wants to start a dialogue with Beijing to "save our culture, save my people." To do so, Tibet's senior spiritual leader says he does not seek independence, but a "middle way" with China. He wants only "sufficient autonomy to guarantee the survival of my people.... The political status I do not consider very important."

Still, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesmen call the Dalai Lama a "splittist." They accuse him of campaigning to achieve independence for Tibet and, as the Chinese put it, "split the motherland." China has made repeated efforts to neutralize his influence since 1950, when Chinese troops moved in to replace Tibet's centuries-old ruling Buddhist theocracy. The Dalai Lama went in to exile in India after the People's Liberation Army of China put down a civilian uprising in 1959.

Yesterday and Today

When I visited Tibet in 1981, the Dalai Lama was revered as god-king. People openly told me how much they loved him. Worshippers placed his photograph on the altars of temples and monasteries everywhere. A gift of his photograph would easily move the Tibetan faithful to tears.

Today, worshipping the Dalai Lama is sternly forbidden. Photographs of him have been banned. Buddhist monks supporting him have been arrested. At Drapchi, the main prison in Lhasa, nearly 300 political prisoners, including monks and nuns, are said to be held-three times the number imprisoned in 1990.

Yet the Dalai Lama's remarkable laugh emerged even as he spoke to me of his frustration with the Chinese government, which has banished him from the Chinese mainland and rejected his overtures to negotiate. "They create the impression that we Tibetans are anti-Chinese. That's not the case." He says, "We are not against China. We are not against the Chinese people. We are not against Chinese culture."

Looking Forward

But outbreaks of violence in Tibet have undermined his case in China's eyes. Although the 62-year-old spiritual leader condemns the incidents, the leadership in Beijing associates him with riots in 1987 and 1989 and with the bombings of Chinese government buildings in 1996. Many believe China's leaders are waiting for him to die in exile so they may more easily control Tibet.

The Chinese government has already chosen its next Tibetan leader. In 1995 it orchestrated the selection of a 6-year-old boy as the reincarnation of the Panchen Lama, the second most important holy figure in Tibetan Buddhism. The Dalai Lama's choice for that position was rejected and put under house arrest.

But the concerns of his followers soon will have a broader audience.

Two Hollywood studios are making movies about the Dalai Lama's life. And he approves of the projects. "I had reservations about them at first," he told me, "but now I'm curious about what actor will portray the Dalai Lama." And after a burst of that hearty laugh, he said, "The films about me will be useful to increase awareness among the general public about Tibet and will benefit the nearly 2 million Tibetan people."