Dalai Lama praises Rudd’s China stance
Sheridan, Greg. The Australian [Canberra, A.C.T] 13 June 2008: 3.
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Abstract
What the [Dalai Lama] liked was that Mr [Kevin Rudd] could make that criticism and remain good friends with China. “The AustralianGovernment took the right stand,” he said. “While keeping genuine friendship and good relations with China, it stands firm on matters of principle. In fact, there is an old Chinese saying that real friends can be very frank. If you just ignore your friend’s fault, you are not a good friend.”
The Dalai Lama also expressed appreciation for the Rudd Government’s repeated urging that Beijing engage in dialogue with theDalai Lama’s representatives, and resolve the problems in Tibet through political dialogue.
“Yes,” the Dalai Lama said, “various governments have been urging the Chinese Government that the best way to solve this problem is through talk. Hopefully, the talks will take place within the next month.”
Full Text
THERE is one Asian national leader who has absolutely no problem with Kevin Rudd’s preoccupation with China, nor the nature ofAustralian policy towards Beijing.
Paradoxically, that leader is His Holiness, the Dalai Lama, spiritual and in effect national leader of the six million Tibetans who live in China (in Tibet) and the many others who live outside.
I sat down for a long discussion with the Dalai Lama yesterday, his only one-on-one newspaper interview during this visit. He strongly endorsed the Rudd Government’s approach to China, specifically the Prime Minister’s performance in criticising China’s human rights behaviour in Tibet while he was in China.
What the Dalai Lama liked was that Mr Rudd could make that criticism and remain good friends with China. “The AustralianGovernment took the right stand,” he said. “While keeping genuine friendship and good relations with China, it stands firm on matters of principle. In fact, there is an old Chinese saying that real friends can be very frank. If you just ignore your friend’s fault, you are not a good friend.”
The Dalai Lama himself would like to pull off the Rudd double: being able to criticise Beijing while not becoming an enemy of theChinese Government.
The Dalai Lama also expressed appreciation for the Rudd Government’s repeated urging that Beijing engage in dialogue with theDalai Lama’s representatives, and resolve the problems in Tibet through political dialogue.
The official talks that the Chinese Government did finally resume after the riots and deaths in Tibet in March and the ferocious Chinese government crackdown that followed — in which the Dalai Lama says 200 Tibetans were killed — were scheduled to continue this week.
However, the Chinese Government has postponed them because of the earthquake in China.
Canberra has quietly added its voice to those urging the Chinese to resume the talks quickly.
“Yes,” the Dalai Lama said, “various governments have been urging the Chinese Government that the best way to solve this problem is through talk. Hopefully, the talks will take place within the next month.”
In a press conference yesterday, the Dalai Lama predicted there was unlikely to be violence in Tibet when the Olympic torch arrives in Lhasa next week, despite the recent crackdown on dissent in the Chinese province.
“We have fully supported the Olympic Games right from the beginning,” he said. “The torch is part of that. Over one billion Chinese brothers and sisters feel really proud of that. We should respect that. So, I don’t think there will be any trouble.”
He described China’s economic expansion as “communist capitalism” and praised Beijing’s greater openness in its handling of therecent earthquake.
Full interview in Inquirer tomorrow
Credit: Greg Sheridan, Additional reporting: John Stapleton