World Tibet Network News Tuesday, June 9, 1998

VIENNA, June 9 (AFP) - Tibet's spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, said in an interview published Tuesday that he is prepared to quit politics if he wins autonomy for his homeland.

Speaking ahead of his arrival in Austria for a four-day visit, he also said he had few hopes that a visit to Beijing by US President Bill Clinton this month will help the Tibetan cause.

If China gives Tibet autonomy, the Nobel Peace laureate told the Kurier newspaper, he was "ready to hand over all my authority to an interim government charged with organizing elections within two years.

"I would return to living as as ordinary citizen even if many Tibetans would he happy to see me as the head of government," he added.

"For years my country has been the theatre of cultural genocide," he said, adding that if Tibet won its autonomy "hundreds of thousands of Tibetan refugees would return to the country."

He added that Clinton's visit to China, scheduled from June 25 to July 3, "will not provide a solution" to the Tibetan problem, even though "we have been given assurances that the issue will be broached in Beijing."

The Dalai Lama was due to arrive in Vienna Tuesday from Germany, where he had been visiting since Saturday.

In Austria he will visit parliament as well as travel to the Salzkammergut region near Salzburg and Graz in the south of the country, before leaving on Friday.