HONG KONG, June 29 (UPI) -- The dalai lama has predicted Chinese human rights violations after Beijing gains control of Hong Kong on July 1.

In a 15-page statement, the office of Tibet's spiritual leader and Nobel Peace Prize winner predicts China will "violate human rights and would trample democracy" once it regains authority over Hong Kong.

The statement said, "In Hong Kong, human rights and democracy will be the first casualty of reunification with China."

The news of the statement was carried on the front page of Sunday's edition of the Hong Kong Standard.

Chinese rulers could not be trusted, the statement warned, to keep their promises to ensure a high degree of autonomy in Hong Kong. It says, "One can't help wondering if China can be trusted to adhere to any agreement which does not serve its purpose."

The dalai lama, long an opponent of China and its policies, accuses Beijing of violating a 1951 accord which promised the same one-country, two-system formula for Tibet as is being announced for Hong Kong.

He was only 14 when newly victorious Chinese Communist troops arrived in Tibet to reclaim control over the isolated region, which had enjoyed de facto independence since the fall of the Ching dynasty in 1911.

The dalai lama assumed full political power, but was unable to exercise it as the Chinese began trying to assimilate Tibet into China.

Push came to shove in March 1959 and Tibetan tribesmen staged an armed revolt that was crushed by the Chinese in three days. The dalai lama and 100,000 followers escaped through the Himalayas on horse, mule and foot. He eventually established his headquarters in Dharmsala, a northern Indian town 100 miles from the Chinese border and 900 miles from the Tibetan capital of Lhasa.