Asian Window

The Dalai Lama has accused China of having brought “hell on earth” to his homeland Tibet. On the 50th anniversary of a failed Tibetan uprising against Chinese rule, the exiled spiritual leader delivered a speech in Dharamsala. He said said China’s rule “thrust Tibetans into such depths of suffering and hardship that they literally experienced hell on earth.” Full story and China’s reaction here and here.

The full text of the Dalai Lama’s speech is posted on the official Web site DalaiLama.com:

We Tibetans are looking for a legitimate and meaningful autonomy, an arrangement that would enable Tibetans to live within the framework of the People’s Republic of China. Fulfilling the aspirations of the Tibetan people will enable China to achieve stability and unity. From our side, we are not making any demands based on history. Looking back at history, there is no country in the world today, including China, whose territorial status has remained forever unchanged, nor can it remain unchanged.

China’s official news agency Xinhua called the speech utter distortion of Tibet history. In a report from Beijing, it said:

Unfortunately, the Dalai Lama has not only been on the wrong side of history, but also has got the history upside down. Miseries of “hell on earth” and “untold suffering” occurred nowhere but in the slavery Tibet symbolized by the Dalai Lama.

Peter Jackson: The day I saw the Dalai Lama flee into exile

From The Independent:

On 18 March, an Indian journalist, Shri Krishna, who had contacts with senior members of the Indian government, called us urgently to his house. He told us there had been riots in Lhasa and the Dalai Lama was heading for the Indian frontier. We broke the news in a Reuters report. The Dalai Lama and his party reached the frontier after nearly two weeks of trekking.

As it happened, my wife Adrienne and I had been to Gangtok, capital of Sikkim, on the border with Tibet, the previous year. We had lunch with the Chogyal [king] and his sister, Princess Kukula, who was married to the high-level Phuenkhang family of Tibet. We knew the princess was in Delhi. More:

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