His Holiness the Dalai Lama Discusses Tibet with Chinese Students [Friday, 15 October 2010, 12:05 p.m.]

His Holiness the Dalai Lama speaks during a meeting with students, professors and scholars, including many Chinese students, in Palo Alto, California, 14 October 2010

Palo Alto, California:
The discussion was attended by over 130 students, professors and
scholars, of which majority were Chinese. They were all from Stanford
University, University of California, Berkeley, San Francisco State
University, and San Francisco Academy of Arts.In his address
His Holiness talked about the importance of individual creativity for
the development of a society and that individual freedom was needed for
this. He said the People’s Republic of China as the most populated
nation should take a more constructive and effective path saying that
the 1.3 billion people there had every right to know reality.His
Holiness said even before the Tiananmen crisis he had been trying to
reach out to Chinese people but was faced with difficulty. Following
the Tiananmen development, it was much easier to get responses from the
Chinese. He added that after the 2008 crisis in Tibet more and more
Chinese have started paying attention to the Tibetan issue. His
Holiness said that during the past two years he had been having regular
discussions with Chinese people.Talking about the Tibetan
issue, His Holiness said that it was common knowledge that he was not
seeking independence (and many Tibetans were critical of this position)
but the Chinese Government continued to label him as a splittist. He
said that the problems in Tibet were manmade problems and so logically
they can be resolved.His Holiness then explained the
development of the dialogue process with the Chinese leadership.  He
said in 1974 a decision had been taken not to seek Tibetan
independence. Then in early 1979 his elder brother, who acted as his
emissary, was informed by Deng Xiaoping that other than the issue of
independence everything else can be discussed and resolved. His
Holiness said that the two thinking went well together. He said in the
early 1980s there was real hope of progress when Hu Yaobang was there
but then he was displaced. In 2002 contact was re-established with the
Chinese leadership but there has been no genuine progress now.His
Holiness then answered questions from the people. In response to what
the people could do to help on the issue of Tibet he said they could
spread the real picture to everyone. His Holiness said that he always
admired the Chinese people as they were hard working. He also said as a
Tibetan Buddhist, he always paid salutations to the Chinese Buddhists
as they are senior but added that in terms of knowledge the junior was
doing quite well.He said the problem was due to
misunderstanding created by the Chinese Government and that the
solution that he was striving for was of mutual benefit.In
answer to another question, His Holiness said he divided China into
Four Eras. Under Mao Zedong era, ideology was prominent, under Deng
Xiaoping era, becoming rich was stressed, under Jiang Zemin era, the
Communist Party membership was expanded to include other sectors of the
Chinese society, and under Hu Jintao era, harmonious society was
stressed.  His Holiness said that for a harmonious society, individual
freedom, free flow of information, etc. were essential.  He said things
may be moving judging by recent comments of Premier Wen Jiabao and the
petition by Chinese elders.When asked how religion and politics
played their roles, His Holiness said that he believed that religion
and politics should be separate. He talked about the changes that have
taken place in Tibetan political system and that political leadership
was an elected one. However, he said that political leaders need to
have spiritual background.Fang Zheng, whose legs have been
amputated after he was run over by a tank during the Tiananmen
demonstrations, told His Holiness of his situation. He also referred to
the Nobel Peace Prize for Liu Xiaobo and said if there was an
opportunity for a meeting where did His Holiness think it would be. 
His Holiness said he felt saddened hearing about Fang’s situation. In
terms of a meeting with Liu he said that if there was a possibility
then it may be in Beijing.His Holiness then advised the young
Chinese students to take more responsibility to make this century a
better one for all of us. Pointing to an elderly Chinese professor, His
Holiness said they were all from the previous century but that the
young people had 90 years of this century to make a difference.Earlier
during the meeting, Ms. Tenzin Seldon, a Tibetan student at Stanford
University and one of the organizers of the dialogue, made introductory
remarks. She said, “His Holiness the Dalai Lama has worked tirelessly
to promote meaningful dialogue as the key to fostering the trust and
mutual respect we urgently need as we seek a unified solution in the
case of Tibet.  I hope today that, with His Holiness’ encouragement, we
can frankly exchange our thoughts, and seek some common ground as we
explore each other’s viewpoints.”She added, “Through
understanding and meaningful dialogues can we foster trust, as well as
build mutual respect, and transparency with one another. His Holiness,
the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan leadership in Exile have always believed
in the importance of dialogue to reach a solution to the Tibetan issue
and have encouraged that between Tibetan and Chinese youth. This
historic meeting was only possible because of His Holiness’s conviction
in this method.”She said that the participants in the
discussion include 28 Chinese Graduate students, 60 Chinese
undergraduate students, 20 Professors and scholars, 13 writers, poets,
and artists, and 14 Tibetan students.A representative of the Chinese students thanked His Holiness for coming to speak to them.His
Holiness concluded saying that such meetings were much appreciated as
he had been advising Tibetans to continue to reach out to Chinese and
to form groups with the aim to bring the two communities closer.