International News
Tibet won t fall apart if Dalai Lama dies: China
Posted on: Tue March 08, 2011
International Highlights
BEIJING : A Chinese government official said Monday there will be small shock waves in Tibet when the Dalai Lama dies but that the Communist leadership will not allow serious instability. Tibet s former governor, Qiangba Puncog, told reporters in Beijing that the exiled spiritual leader still has religious clout but no political influence in China.
Of course there will be some small shock waves due to religious factors, but we will take that into consideration and will surely guarantee long-term political stability in Tibet, said Puncog, who now heads the regional legislature.
Although the Tibetan region is quiet now, it was rocked by violent anti-government riots three years ago that killed at least 22 people and set off a wave of protests across Tibetan areas of western China. China blamed followers of the Dalai Lama for fomenting the violence, but the Buddhist leader denies the charge.
The 76-year-old Dalai Lama, who fled Tibet amid an abortive uprising against Chinese rule in 1958, remains deeply revered among many Tibetans despite Beijing s decades-long campaign to vilify him and undermine his influence. Successive rounds of talks between Chinese officials and representatives of the Buddhist leader have made no apparent progress toward bringing the sides together. Beijing accuses the Dalai Lama of seeking to separate Tibet from China despite his claims to be working only for a high degree of autonomy under Chinese rule.
Courtesy : Business Recorder