Dalai Lama favours good ties between India and China

Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama today said he favoured good relations between India and China to ensure peace in the region.

Addressing a press conference here, the Nobel peace laureate said it was important for the region that these two countries, who are powerful in their own right, came together.

The Dalai Lama said he did not want separation from China, but was in favour of greater autonomy for Tibet under the constitution of the Communist nation.

The 75-year-old Buddhist leader said that youth organisations in Tibet were in favour of secession from China, but he did not agree with them.

China must understand that censorship in normal times does not serve any purpose and must be done away with, the Dalai Lama said.

"I believe very firmly that there should be no censorship in China as the Chinese people were smart and intelligent enough to understand the truth when it was told to them."

The Buddhist monk declined to answer political questions related to China, saying he did not want to say anything which might anger Beijing. "I know China gets upset with me even when I say that I am the son of India."

Asked about the Chinese decision to set up bases near Pakistan or Bangladesh, he said such a question should be directed to the Defence Ministry.

The exiled spiritual leader said according to his information, in the recent past, there had been 800 articles in the Chinese press, agreeing with his stand on Tibet.

The Dalai Lama arrived here on a two-day visit to Madhya Pradesh and delivered a lecture at the State Assembly yesterday.