Lodi Gyari: Standing With The Dalai Lama
|
Lodi Gyari is the special envoy of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Tibet's exiled spiritual leader.
As His Holiness the Dalai Lama's chief negotiator, Gyari has twice traveled to meet Communist Party officials in Beijing since this spring's widespread protests in support of Tibet's push for self-rule. Those protests, which centered on the Olympic torch's trip to Beijing, also set off counter-demonstrations in China and elsewhere.
Despite that unrest, Gyari told Steve Inskeep, "China sometimes takes the position that, 'Oh, there's no problem in Tibet. Everything's fine. Tibetans are very grateful, there's prosperity, there's this, there's that.'"
And when rallies and demonstrations break out, Gyari said, China's communist government treats them as threats to law and order, often leading to a crackdown.
"This is not going to resolve the issue," Gyari says he told Chinese negotiators at a recent meeting. "The more you suppress, the more [there is] resentment."
Instead, he urged them to accept His Holiness the Dalai Lama's offer of cooperation with China's leaders.
"We can provide them legitimacy," Gyari said. "But if - and only if - Tibetans are given the opportunity to live in dignity."
Gyari, who was born in Tibet, fled China's takeover of his country when he was a boy in 1959 - the same year His Holiness the Dalai Lama fled Tibet.
"I remember walking to India with only one shoe," Gyari said, "because somewhere on the road I was too exhausted and my one foot got stuck in the mud and when I pulled my leg it came back without a shoe."
His Holiness the Dalai Lama has said that he is not seeking separation and independence of Tibet. But the Chinese government's unease over more protests led it to demand that the Dalai Lama repudiate any efforts to disrupt the Olympics.
Gyari said His Holiness the Dalai Lama has done just that.
"Because the Olympics, we certainly believe, is important for the Chinese as a people," Gyari said.
The two sides have agreed to meet again after the summer Olympics.
"This is the great opportunity for [China] to prove" itself, Gyari said. "To prove, one, that China does things by herself, not because of international pressure; two, that they're serious, and they were not doing all these talks for the sake of the Olympics."
Gyari also cited the chance for His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Chinese President Hu Jintao to prove that they are serious about a mediated solution.
"I think the October meeting is very important," he said.
--This interview is reproduced from the courtesy of morning online edition of NPR
[an error occurred while processing this directive]