World Tibet Network News Saturday, May 2, 1998

By BARBARA CROSSETTE

NEW YORK, May 2, 1998 (NY TIMES) -- Tibet's spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, distanced himself from militant Tibetans and some international human-rights organizations Thursday by saying that the Clinton administration was on the right track in muting public criticism of China.

In an interview with several reporters on the first day of a two-week visit to the United States, the Dalai Lama, an internationally recognized Buddhist leader as well as the Tibetans' spiritual and political head, also said he believed that "China is in the process of changing, changing for the better." He held out hope that quiet diplomacy could lead to talks about the status of Tibet.

The remarks by the Dalai Lama, who spoke in English, were made against a background of increasing pressure on him from Tibetan exiles who are demanding a more active resistance to the Chinese, and the Chinese government, which has stepped up attacks on him "on a scale not seen since the Cultural Revolution," an American human-rights leader said Thursday.

In Beijing on Thursday, the Chinese government responded with an abrupt brush-off to a plea from Secretary of State Madeleine Albright for a dialogue with the Dalai Lama.

The Foreign Ministry spokesman, Tang Guoqiang, characterized the Dalai Lama's promise that all he wants is some autonomy as a ruse "to fool international opinion." Independence is still his aim, the Chinese officials said.

But the Dalai Lama said in the interview Thursday in his suite at the Waldorf Towers that he needs an alternative to violence to offer Tibetans who have become frustrated and "emotional." China's army occupied Tibet in the 1950s, forcing the Dalai Lama into exile in 1959.

In New Delhi, India, this week a Tibetan exile died from self-immolation to protest conditions in Tibet. A hunger strike has been spreading in India among Tibetans, a number of whom say they have waited long enough for action.

"This year I think there were nine cases of bomb explosions in Tibet," the Dalai Lama said. "Although they used the explosives on buildings, not human beings, there is a danger, a shift." He has long said that a campaign of violence in Tibet was both contrary to his beliefs and foolhardy in the face of Chinese military power.

"The Chinese government, their top priority is stability and unity," he said. "In order to achieve that, the best thing is dialogue. Superficial stability and unity under the gun is not genuine." He reiterated his call for enough autonomy to protect Tibetan Buddhism and culture in its homeland.

The Dalai Lama said that he had noticed movement in China despite the shriller public condemnations of him.

"Even compared to one year ago," he said, "it is now more open to expression. Recently I noticed some articles and also books regarding the Tibetan issue by some Chinese. Although they are limited publications, I think this is a very, very encouraging sign."

Although the Dalai Lama's own government-in-exile, based in India, pressed the United States to introduce a resolution condemning China at the U.N. Human Rights Commission in Geneva in April, the Dalai Lama was not critical of the U.S. decision not to do so.

"To engage the Chinese leaders directly, without public condemnation," he said, "there is a possibility to achieve a better effect. Once you state a critical view publicly, then the Chinese government side would find it more difficult. And of course China, a big nation, should not be isolated."

The Dalai Lama said that he had maintained some informal links with Chinese officials and individuals with an interest in Tibet. In Boston, during a visit to Brandeis University, he will meet the Chinese dissident Wei Jingsheng and a number of Chinese scholars.

The Dalai Lama will spend two weeks in the United States, visiting New York, Boston and Atlanta, among other cities.