Government and Policy

Tibet rules out talks with 'exile govt'

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2011-05-19 13:53
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BEIJING - Tibet's top government official on Thursday called the 14th Dalai Lama's "exile government" an illegal organization and ruled out talks with or about it.

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Padma Choling, chairman of the Tibet autonomous region, said his government is the only legal government representing the Tibetans and that none of the world's countries recognize the "exile government."

Choling said Tibet's feudal serfdom system, which is ruled by a conjoined political and religious authority, was abolished in 1959.

"You said the Dalai Lama has picked a successor. But what he is going to succeed, and from whom?" Choling said while answering questions at a press conference held by the State Council Information Office in Beijing.

"I am the eighth chairman of the Tibet autonomous region, the only legitimate government elected by Tibetans since 1965," Choling added.

Choling said that if talks with the Dalai Lama are held, the Chinese government will only talk about the future of the Dalai Lama and the people around him and that the Chinese government will not talk about the "exile government."

The door is open for talks with the Dalai Lama as long as he truly relinquishes his stance of "Tibetan independence" and stops participating in separatist activities, Choling said.

"The key is not what he says, but what he does," Choling said. "The Dalai Lama knows the central government's stance for sure."

The Tibetan official said the Dalai Lama's retirement will only have limited effects on Tibet, comparing his retirement to "a wave in a swimming pool." He said the regional government and the Tibetans are confident and capable of maintaining social stability regardless of what the Dalai Lama says or does.

"Whether he retires or not, the Dalai Lama is not allowed to sabotage the happy lives of the Tibetans," Choling said. The official said the Dalai Lama has not done anything good for the Tibetans since fleeing the country in 1959.

The government blamed supporters of the Dalai Lama and the "Tibetan independence" movement for provoking deadly riots in Lhasa and other Tibetan regions in March 2008.

Choling told Thursday's press conference that tourism, retail and other affected sectors have all recovered from the unrest. Statistics show that Tibet's social and economic development surpassed the government's five-year target from 2005 to 2010 by the end of last year.

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