Government and Policy

'Dalai's retirement will have little effect'

By Cui Jia (China Daily)
Updated: 2011-05-20 07:48

BEIJING - Tibet's top government official said on Thursday that the Dalai Lama's retirement will only have a limited effect on the autonomous region while ruling out talks with the Dalai's "government-in-exile".

Padma Choling, chairman of the Tibet autonomous region, said the retirement of the 14th Dalai Lama will be like "a ripple in a swimming pool".

He said the regional government and 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 Tibetans," Choling said at a press conference held by the State Council Information Office to mark the 60th anniversary of the peaceful liberation of Tibet.

The 14th Dalai Lama fled to India and created the self-declared "Tibetan government-in-exile" in 1959. The 76-year-old religious figure was blamed for fomenting the March 14 bloody riot in 2008 in Lhasa, capital of the Tibet autonomous region, leaving at least 18 people dead and 400 injured.

Choling said his government is the only legal government representing Tibetans and that none of the world's countries recognizes the "government-in-exile."

"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 the press conference.

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

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

"He has not done anything good for the Tibetans since he fled," said Choling. "It might be actually a good thing for Tibetans if he sincerely decided to retire and just be a devoted Buddhist."

In 1951, the Dalai Lama sent a group of representatives to sign the 17-Article Agreement with Beijing to peacefully liberate Tibet. The region's feudal serf system, which was ruled by a conjoined political and religious authority with the Dalai Lama at its core, was abolished years later.

This May marks the 60th anniversary of the peaceful liberation of Tibet.

Choling denied claims that the 17-Article Agreement was the result of coercion on the part of Beijing. He told reporters on Thursday that the Dalai Lama telegraphed Chairman Mao in 1951 saying the agreement was supported by all Tibetans.

The Dalai Lama has distorted history and refers to Tibet's peaceful liberation as an "invasion" by the Chinese army because he wants to use it as an excuse to advance his separatist agenda, Choling said.

The official said the Dalai Lama is always welcome back to China as long as he gives up his attempt to separate China and admits Taiwan is a part of China.

"The door is wide open for him if he wants to return and it all depends on the Dalai Lama himself," Choling said.

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

Choling said Tibet has achieved the miracle of a leap of more than 1,000 years in the space of 60 since the peaceful liberation of Tibet in 1951. "In such a short time the region has transformed from a feudal serf system to socialism and from a closed, impoverished and backward society to an open, prosperous and civil one."

The regional GDP has grown about 112 times from only 129 million yuan ($20 million) in 1951 to nearly 51 billion yuan in 2010.

He said the economic development of Tibet is shared by people from all ethnic groups, with Tibetans making up about 90 percent of the population.

From 1952 to 2010, the central government provided 300 billion yuan in financial subsidies to Tibet with an annual increase of more than 22 percent. It has also held five conferences on the work of Tibet, formulating a series of special and preferential policies for the region since 1980.

Xinhua contributed to this story.