NEW DELHI, June 28 (Reuter) - The office of Tibet's spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, predicted on Saturday that China would violate human rights and trample democracy once it regains control of Hong Kong.

"In Hong Kong, human rights and democracy will be the first casualty of reunification with China," the Dalai Lama's office in the Indian capital said in a 15-page statement on Hong Kong's reversion to China at midnight on June 30.

The statement said Chinese rulers could not be trusted to keep their promises to ensure a high degree of autonomy for Hong Kong under an arrangement called "one country, two systems."

It said "one can't help wondering if China can be trusted to adhere to any agreement which does not serve its purpose," accusing Beijing of violating a 1951 accord which it said promised the same one-country, two-systems formula for Tibet.

The Dalai Lama, Tibet's spiritual leader, fled his homeland to India in 1959 after an abortive uprising against Chinese rule. Currently over 100,000 Tibetans live in exile in India.

Tibet and China signed a 17-point agreement in 1951 that promised to leave Tibet's political, cultural and religious system unchanged by communist reforms.

But the Dalai Lama's office said China violated "each and every provision of the agreement that was favourable to Tibet."

It said China had proposed a similar agreement with Taiwan, but the Taiwanese rejected it. The statement said "the people of Hong Kong would do well to understand the Taiwanese fear."

It said "the Tibetan experience with the 17-point agreement does not give the people of Hong Kong much cause for optimism. As it is, China has already started interfering politically in the economic life of the territory."

The statement said China would replace Hong Kong's democratically-elected legislature with one dominated by handpicked nominees.

It said Hong Kong's future chief executive, Tung Chee-hwa, "has alluded that human rights and democracy activists will find the going tough under the new masters."

"His (Tung's) proposals for legal reforms provide for the curtailment of democratic rights and civil liberties in the territory," it said.

The statement said China did not have a history of tolerating dissent and criticism. "Is it, therefore, any wonder that fears for a Tiananmen Square-type massacre persist despite the assurance of Tung-Chee-hwa to the contrary?"

It was referring to the crackdown against pro-democracy demonstrators in Beijing's Tiananmen Square in 1989.

Hong Kong will be the litmus test for China's willingness to allow the devolution of power, the statement said.

"If Chinese leadership could demonstrate the necessary vision and wisdom, it will undoubtedly open up better prospects for resolving outstanding problems like Tibet," it said.