His Holiness the Dalai Lama raises concern over threat to Tibet’s culture and ecology [Saturday, 30 April 2011, 11:54 a.m.]

His Holiness the Dalai Lama meets with members of the press in Tokyo, Japan, on 29 April 2011

“Political tsunami has been going on in Tibet. Now these days there is a real danger of Tibetan Buddhist culture being destroyed. Some kind of cultural genocide is going on in Tibet. Media people should go there and investigate and see what is happening there,” His Holiness said about the situation in Tibet in response to reporters’ queries in Tokyo yesterday. “Another aspect of Tibetan problem is ecology. Some Chinese ecologists have said that the high plateau of Tibet is the third pole; global warming effect on Tibetan plateau is as dangerous as that of North and South poles. Major Asian rivers originate from Tibet. Lives of millions of people in Asia including China depend on these rivers. This is not a problem of six million Tibetans,” His Holiness said. Responding to questions on his decision to devolve his formal responsibilities to the elected Tibetan leadership, His Holiness said “he has been committed to democracy and freedom.” Regarding his decision to relinquish formal responsibilities, he said that the world belongs to humanity; it does not belong to religious leaders and governments. “Japan belongs to Japanese people; China belongs to 1.3 billion Chinese, not to the communist party. Since 2001 we have a directly elected leadership and I was in semi-retirement. Now, after ten years, I see that with maturity of democracy among Tibetans in exile, the day has come to handover the political authority to the people. But this does not mean that I am resigning from being the Dalai Lama,” he said. “Since the inception of the Dalai Lama institution in the 15th century, it was a spiritual institution. It was only from the 5th Dalai Lama onwards that political authority was also assumed by the Dalai Lamas. Now, the Dalai Lama`s role should be purely spiritual, and I voluntarily, proudly and happily end this four-century old leadership,” he said. On Chinese government, His Holiness said that China is the most populated nation with a long rich history and culture. It has become a great economy also. Now, if the People’s Republic of China wants to play more constructive role at international level, trust and respect is very important. Trying to keep everything as State secret and doing away with press freedom is harmful to China in the long run. 1.3 billion Chinese people have the right to know the truth, they also have the ability to judge right from wrong. Distorting information is immoral. His Holiness appreciated Premier Wen Jiabao’s recent comments including most recently in Malaysia regarding political reform and democracy and said that he fully supports the Premier’s initiatives.-Report filed by Tsewang Gyalpo Arya, Office of Tibet, Japan