His Holiness Begins Germany Visit: Calls for Tibet’s Autonomy
Friday, 16 May 2008, 2:47 p.m.
 (fromright) Juergen Ruettgers, prime minister of North Rhine- Westphalia, Germany’s most populous state, met His Holiness the Dalai Lama on 15 May 2008 (AP) |
Dharamshala: His Holiness the
Dalai Lama called Thursday, 15 May, for more cultural autonomy in his
native Tibet during his German visit, but stressed that he did not want
to see the territory become independent from China.
His Holiness the Dalai Lama, the Tibetan spiritual and temporal
leader met with regional leaders at the start of his first visit to
Germany, reported Deutche Welle.
His Holiness said he was deeply affected by Monday’s
devastating earthquake that officials fear could have killed 50,000 in
the southwestern Chinese province of Sichuan.
“(The Chinese earthquake victims are) also human beings, (they
suffer) the same pain so as soon as we heard that and also saw pictures
… in Dharamsala, we really felt very, very sad,” Reuters quoted His
Holiness as saying at an impromptu news conference shortly after
landing in Frankfurt Thursday.
His Holiness the Dalai Lama was received at the airport by the state premier of Hesse, Roland Koch.
 HisHoliness the Dalai Lama (L) and President of the German lower house of parliament Bundestag, Norbert Lammert answer reporter’s questions during a news conference at a hotel in Bochum, 15 May 2008. REUTERS/Volker Hartmann/Pool (GERMANY) |
Frankfurt was the opening leg of a five-day tour of Germany which will
see His Holiness the Dalai Lama speak on human rights and meet with a
member of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s cabinet in Berlin.
After a breakfast meeting with Roland Koch, the conservative
premier of the state of Hesse, His Holiness traveled to Bochum where he
conferred with Juergen Ruettgers, prime minister of North Rhine-
Westphalia, Germany’s most populous state.
Ruettgers said after the talks that His Holiness the Dalai Lama
had briefed him on the meetings between his representatives and the
Chinese government held in the aftermath of the freedom demonstrations
in March that left an undetermined number of dead.
Condemning the suppression of the peaceful demonstration in
Tibet, His Holiness said: “The Chinese political authorities’ reaction,
as before, was suppression. So it is very sad.”
His Holiness the Dalai Lama will meet Wieczorek-Zeul and
members of the parliamentary foreign affairs committee are due to take
place on 19 May when His Holiness will also deliver a speech at
Berlin’s Brandenburg Gate.
— Courtesy: Report compiled from the Deutche Welle and Reuters
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