World Tibet Network News Tuesday, May 19, 1998

NEW DELHI, May 19 (AFP) - The Dalai Lama on Tuesday said he had beens addened by India's nuclear tests and endorsed an earlier call by China fora ban on all nuclear weapons. But the Dalai Lama also said that as long as some of the major world powers continued to posses nuclear weapons it was not right to "outrightly condemn India's action."In a statement issued here the Dalai Lama, who leads a Tibetan government-in-exile in the Indian town of Dharamsala, said he was against stock piling weapons of mass destruction."He has consistently called for the need for efforts to ban nuclear weapons of mass destruction with the objective of achieving demilitarisation,ultimately leading to a nuclear-free world."He strongly endorses the call by the People's Republic of China, made someyears ago, for a ban on nuclear weapons by all countries.""After all India is a large country with its own security perceptions." He hoped that a situation could be created "in that part of the world whereby countries such as India need not

have to seek the nuclear option."Instead they could concentrate their resources and talents on social and economic advancement of their people," he said. The Dalai Lama has been living in India since he fled his homeland in 1959 after a failed anti-Chinese uprising. India is also home to more than 100,000 Tibetan exiles.