Published by: THE WORLD UYGHUR NETWORK NEWS 16 September 1997

South China Morning Post, 9/16/97

P. Seidlitz and F. Mezzetti in Prague

The Dalai Lama hopes the congress will strengthen not only the Chinese leadership, but also reforms. Tibet's exiled spiritual leader, speaking at the summer residence of Czech President Vaclav Havel, said "positive signals" had been received recently, indicating that China was looking for a solution to the Tibet question. "Since the reforms launched by Deng Xiaoping, China has changed not only economically but mentally. Pursuing them further will only improve the attitudes of Chinese people and their leaders towards Tibet."

The Dalai Lama is in Prague to attend Forum 2,000, a gathering of Nobel Peace Prize winners.

He said he saw sense in President Jiang Zemin's "stability and unity" slogan.

"When Deng Xiaoping died in February I prayed for him and now I pray for Jiang Zemin that the congress will strengthen stability and unity in China. Destabilisation in China would not be good for Tibet," he said.

"A successful and self-confident leadership can be flexible, a leadership which has to face dramatic domestic problems can only adopt a harsh stance."

The Dalai Lama rejected claims that he is trying to split China and achieve independence for Tibet.

"We are not seeking total independence for our country, only a degree of autonomy. I know perfectly well that full Tibetan independence is unacceptable to China, and would not even be good for Tibet," he said.

"Contacts were frozen in the aftermath of the Tiananmen events but in recent years we have received positive signals. I am ready to go to Beijing tomorrow to meet Jiang," he said.