His Holiness the Dalai Lama

China belongs to its 1.3 billion people not to the Communist Party: His Holiness the Dalai Lama

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June 21, 2012 11:38 am

Speaking at the University of Westminster where he had been invited to give the CR Parekh Lecture on the Values of Democracy and Tibet, His Holiness said “Look at India and China, both have huge populations, but the difference is that India is a democracy with a functioning judiciary, a country where there is freedom of speech and a free press. Meanwhile, the Chinese communist party are so concerned about the disintegration of their country that they forcefully restrict the unique aspects of minority groups. I recommend Chinese I meet to look at pluralistic India and learn from it”
His Holiness asserted that, just as America belongs to its 300 or so million citizens, not to either the Republican or Democratic parties, and China belongs to its 1.3 billion people not to the Communist Party, the world belongs to the 7 billion people who live here. He said democracy is the best way for a country to be ruled by its people for its people.
For one thing, leaders who are elected are necessarily accountable. In this context he said, the 1.3 billion Chinese people have a right to know the reality of their situation and, on that basis, have the ability to know right from wrong and take their own decisions. However, he quoted a friend who had observed that in New Zealand, a country of only 3 million, power is in the hands of all the people, whereas in China with its population of 1.3 billion, power is in the hand of only nine men.
Addressing representatives of NGOs and Tibet Support Groups shortly afterwards, he was asked whether it was better to support the preservation of Tibetan culture or to take up political issues. He asked in return what is the main factor that has kept the Tibetan spirit alive and suggested that it was Tibetan Buddhist Culture.

He also made the interesting point that the Tibetan exile administration has referred to the Three Provinces of Tibet since they were in the transit camp at Misamari in Assam in 1959. The term Greater Tibet that seems to so enrage the Chinese is in fact a Chinese invention. He said that to recognise only the so called Tibet Autonomous Region as Tibet would mean that he, the Speaker of the Tibetan Parliament in Exile, who was sitting next to him, and several others in the room would no longer count as Tibetans. Moreover, the entire 6 million Tibetan people participate in and employ Tibetan literature and its language. He expressed his appreciation of the work Tibet Support Groups and allied NGOs do and requested them to continue.
After lunch His Holiness gave an interview to the BBC’s Andrew Marr in the course of which they discussed the history and future of the lineage of Dalai Lamas, His Holiness’s meetings with Chairman Mao Zedong, whether he might have worked more effectively for Tibet if he hadn’t escaped and the implications of the present spate of self-immolations in Tibet.
At the Royal Albert Hall, nearly 6000 people gave His Holiness a rousing welcome.
Tomorrow, His Holiness will speak at the London School of Economics about Resisting Intolerance: an Ethical and Global Challenge, and will attend an inter-religious gathering at Westminster Abbey and meet with Parliamentarians at the Palace of Westminster.