Budapest: The Dalai Lama expressed
confidence he would one day return to Tibet, and called on
China`s leaders to liberalise to avoid alienating the
international community, on a visit to Hungary on Tuesday.
"I`m an optimist, I think I will return to Tibet with a
Chinese passport," the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader told
the Hungarian parliament in Budapest on the last day of his
four-day visit.
Describing China`s Tibet policies as "hardline and
rigid," the 75-year-old Dalai Lama nevertheless pressed that
he had "no ambitions for Tibet to break away from China."
Beijing accuses him of inciting unrest with a hidden
pro-independence agenda.
"The Chinese leaders sooner or later have to realise that
they must start some sort of political liberalisation, or
otherwise they will lose the world`s trust," the Dalai Lama
told Hungarian MPs.
He urged: "A solution must be found that is good for both
China and Tibet."
A decade of dialogue between representatives of the
Tibetan leader and China`s communist government has failed to
reach any substantive progress.
The Dalai Lama also noted in his speech, which he gave in
English: "if you are dissatisfied with your politicians you
must use freedom of speech to convey your opinion."
During his visit to Hungary -- his seventh in 28 years --
the Dalai Lama held lectures in front of over 20,000 people
and was made an honorary citizen of Budapest by Mayor Gabor
Demszky.
He also met with the 30-member Tibet Parliamentary Group
as well as the vice-president of the European Parliament
Laszlo Tokes.
The Dalai Lama already visited Hungary on six other
occasions, the first in 1982, four times in the 1990s and in
2000.
PTI
