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Fear Drives China's Oppressive Rule In Tibet, Dalai Lama Says

Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama.
Diptendu Dutta
/
AFP/Getty Images
Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama.

China's leaders continue to impose oppressive policies on the people of Tibet out of fear, the Dalai Lama said earlier today on Morning Edition.

They fear what might happen if Tibetans were allowed to live freely and others under Chinese rule started to demand more respect for their rights. That has meant, he said, that "they ignore ... reality and they impose their rules. ... That's the problem."

"The sad events" of the past year — the self-immolations of about 30 Tibetans in protest of China's rule — are the result of "several decades" worth of such oppression, he added.

Still, the Buddhist spiritual leader says he remains optimistic. Eventually, he told NPR's Renee Montagne, things will change for the better. He gets some hope from Chinese leaders' comments in recent years about the need for political reform in China.

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Renee Montagne speaks to the Dalai Lama

Mark Memmott is NPR's supervising senior editor for Standards & Practices. In that role, he's a resource for NPR's journalists – helping them raise the right questions as they do their work and uphold the organization's standards.