World Tibet Network News Friday, May 1, 1998 (II)

NEW YORK, April 30 (AFP) - The dalai lama, Tibet's exiled spiritual leader, said here Thursday the Himalayan territory faced extinction because of Chinese communist rule.

"We are at a critical period. The next few years (will be) a very, very critical period," said the dalai lama at a ceremony honoring director Martin Scorcese and screenwriter Melissa Mathison for their Tibet film "Kundun."

"There's a real danger that we will disappear," the dalai lama said.

"At the same time, there's great hope of changes, because of the Chinese. China is in the process of changing; comparatively, it is much more open than one year ago," the dalai lama said in hesitant, soft-spoken English.

"Today I feel the ground of real hope," he continued. "One of the reasons is the greater number of Chinese who realize the true situation is the pressure from outside"

The Tibetan spiritual leader said he paid his respects on Tuesday to a compatriot who immolated himself to protest the use of police force to break up an anti-China hunger strike in New Delhi.

Thupten Ngodub, 50, died of 100-percent burns in a New Delhi hospital on Wednesday. He will be cremated on Friday in Dharamsala, a northern Indian hilltop town, which is the Dalai Lama's home and the base of the Tibetan government-in-exile.

"I made some little contribution for his peace of mind," said the Dalai Lama, adding, "You shouldn't have any mean feelings toward the Chinese. In your other rebirth, all the merits you created will be there."