‘Open Chinese Society Will Help Better Understanding of Tibet Issue’[Monday, 22 February 2010, 4:49 p.m.]
Dharamshala: His Holiness the Dalai Lama said Saturday a more open China could help its people to better understand the issue of Tibet.”Censorship … is the source of the problem,” His Holiness the Dalai Lama said in an interview with Reuters in Beverly Hills.”The
Chinese people have no opportunity to know our issue,” said the His
Holiness the Dalai Lama, who advocates “meaningful autonomy” for Tibet
within China.”Once China becomes an open society — freedom of
speech, freedom of press, freedom of information — all this
unnecessary fear and doubt will reduce,” His Holiness said. “That’s the
real answer for this problem.””Americans can help in this
change,” His Holiness said, adding the lack of free information has
helped the Chinese government portray him as a demon.”Do I look like a demon?” His Holiness joked, holding his fingers beside his head to make horns.His
Holiness the Dalai Lama, who was to speak on behalf of Whole Child
International, an organisation that works for orphans around the world,
said Western search engines like Google were important such as the free
flow of information within China. He noted they had ceded to pressure
from the Communist government there to limit what users can see. Google
last month threatened to pull out of China if the government did not
agree to stop censoring its Chinese language service.
