His Holiness the Dalai Lama Urges Pressure Over Tibet RepressionSaturday, 6 June 2009, 11:30 a.m.

His Holiness the Dalai Lama (R) greets Dutch Foreign minister Maxime    Verhagen/Photo Credit: AFP

Dharamshala: His
Holiness the Dalai Lama met the members of Dutch Parliament on Friday
and called on the international community to make an independent
assessment of the situation in Tibet and put pressure on China to end
the “oppression”, French news agency AFP reported.”Please, international community, judge whether there is a problem or not. Go there and investigate,” AFP quoted His Holiness the Dalai Lama as addressing members of the Dutch parliament on the final day of a three-day visit.”In
the case the majority of people genuinely are happy, then our
information is wrong … and we will have to apologise to the Chinese
government.”If, on the other hand, there is real resentment to
China’s … oppression, then tell the Chinese government they should
accept the reality and should start a realistic approach. Force is not
a solution.””My faith in the Chinese government is becoming
thinner and thinner and thinner, but to the Chinese people: we have
never been shaken in our faith,” His Holiness said.Tibet’s future, His Holiness stressed, lay within the People’s Republic of China but with cultural and religious autonomy.”We
are not seeking separation,” His Holiness said, dismissing Chinese
claims he was seeking the establishment of a greater, independent Tibet.His
Holiness stressed he was on a mission to promote religious harmony and
would not be drawn on Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende’s
decision not to receive him.”That is your business,” His
Holiness told parliamentarians. “I have no political agenda. I do not
want to create any inconvenience.”Beijing had warned Tuesday
that countries receiving His Holiness the Dalai Lama on his European
tour will “severely damage” relations with China.His Holiness
the Dalai Lama nevertheless met Dutch Foreign Minister Maxime Verhagen
on Friday morning, not at his ministry but as part of an “inter-faith
dialogue” in The Hague between the minister and leaders of religious
communities.