THE DALAI Lama has warned that a death sentence has been served on his people and that Tibetans face great danger as they try to achieve greater autonomy from China.
Revered as a god-king by Tibetans but reviled by Beijing as a dangerous "splittist", Tibet's spiritual leader was speaking after a week-long meeting of nearly 600 leading exiles, who vowed continued support for his non-violent Middle Way policy.
"Tibet is going through a death sentence, its spirit is being killed," the Dalai Lama told reporters at his temple in the northern Indian hill station of Dharamsala. It has been the base of exiled Tibetans since they fled Tibet in 1959 following a failed coup against the Chinese in Lhasa.
The room in which he spoke was hung with thankas and the 73-year-old leader was seated in his maroon and saffron robes between two large statues of Tibetan Buddhist deities. His speaking style is conversational, peppered with jokes and pieces of Buddhist teaching, but his overall tone was serious.
"My trust in Chinese officials has become thinner and thinner," he said. "In the next 20 years, if we are not careful in our actions and planning, there is great danger to the Tibetan community. It could lead to the danger of failure."
The Dalai Lama called the special meeting after the failure of eight rounds of talks with Beijing. However, he sought to distance himself from proceedings to allow the delegates to reach their own decision. The Dalai Lama, whose real name is Tenzin Gyatso, is held in such reverence that delegates would have followed any policy he suggested.
Overall, his remarks were light on specifics ahead of further talks with international supporters of the Tibetan movement.
The exiled Tibetans were fearful of losing international support and heightening tensions with Beijing still further, so the meeting decided to stick with the Middle Way as the best way of achieving autonomy for Tibet, allowing exiled Tibetans to return and also protecting Tibetan religion, language and culture.
However, they said their patience was not unlimited.
The decision came as a disappointment for those groups, particularly younger delegates, who had sought a policy shift towards an unequivocal demand for full independence.
Lhadon Tethorg, a pro- independence delegate and New York executive director of Students for a Free Tibet, said she was happy the issue of a more aggressive approach had been discussed. "Independence is on the table now," she said.
This was recognised in the communiqué issued after the meeting, in which the Tibetans said their patience was not unlimited and they might push for independence for their Himalayan homeland if China refused to grant it autonomy soon.
The Tibetan issue has taken on much greater political significance in China since protests against Chinese rule in the Tibetan capital, Lhasa, in March erupted into violence that spread to other areas of western China with Tibetan populations.
Tibet's government-in-exile said more than 200 Tibetans were killed in a subsequent Chinese crackdown. Beijing says the riots mostly killed ethnic Han Chinese and were the work of gangsters sponsored by the Dalai Lama and his "clique".
The Dalai Lama urged Tibetans to improve relations with Chinese people, saying China was changing and this could be to the advantage of the Tibetan movement.
China has said many times that Tibet is Chinese and that it will not accept autonomy for Tibet. It has held the territory in an iron grip since People's Liberation Army troops entered in 1950. The prospect of any meaningful independence movement forming within Tibet itself is slight, especially since the March riots.
The Dalai Lama was also asked by the delegates not to retire, a possibility that he has mentioned several times. He insisted he was in "semi-retirement" already and had handed over many responsibilities to the government- in-exile's prime minister, Samdhong Rinpoche.
"I am a human being and I also have human rights," he said. "The majority of decisions are taken by the prime minister. I act as his senior adviser." However, his religious role would continue until his death.
He is the 14th in succession in the institution of the Dalai Lamas. The first Dalai Lama was made in the 15th century and he said it was also a possibility that he could be the last. He also spoke up for the possibility of a woman taking up the position. There has been some pressure to choose a successor as he is getting older and was recently hospitalised for a gall bladder operation.
The Tibetan exiles fear that if the Dalai Lama dies without nominating a successor, China might install its own choice as it did in the case of the Panchen Lama, the second-highest ranking Buddhist leader in Tibetan hierarchy, in 1995.
One of the strongest candidates for the position is the Karmapa Lama, the third highest lama after the Dalai Lama, who escaped from a Tibetan monastery eight years ago and is being coached for a wider role. His position has also been recognised by Beijing, which could make him an acceptable compromise candidate.
In an audience at the weekend, the 24-year-old Karmapa Lama played down speculation about an expanded political role.