The Tibet Post

The Hague: Tibet's spiritual leader, His Holiness the Dalai Lama, on the last day of his three day visit to the Netherlands, met with foreign minister Maxime Verhagen and members of Dutch Parliament in Hague yesterday morning.

Tibet's spiritual leader, His Holiness the Dalai Lama, urged the international community again on Friday to make an independent assessment of the situation in Tibet and put pressure on China to end the 'oppression'. "Please, international community, judge whether there is a problem or not. Go there and investigate," he told members of the Dutch parliament on the final day of a three-day visit.

"In the case the majority of people genuinely are happy, then our information is wrong ... and we will have to apologies to the Chinese government. "If, on the other hand, there is real resentment to China's ... oppression, then tell the Chinese government they should accept the reality and should start a realistic approach. Force is not a solution."

Exile Tibetan spiritual leader told MPs his faith in the Chinese government was growing "thinner" with all efforts at negotiation having failed. Tibet's future, he stressed, lay within the People's Republic of China but with cultural and religious autonomy. "We are not seeking separation," he said, dismissing Chinese claims he was seeking the establishment of a greater, independent Tibet.

The Tibetan spiritual leader said he was not offended by Balkenende's decision not to meet him. Martijn van Dam, a lawmaker for the Labour party (PvdA) reminded him that previous prime ministers Ruud Lubbers and Wim Kok had invited him when he visited the Netherlands. His Holiness the Dalai Lama responded by saying that he is visiting in his capacity as a spiritual leader and does not want to mingle in political affairs.

Chinese ambassador Zhang Jun wrote a warning letter to politicians: "It is against my wish to see that our good relationship would be hijacked by Dalai Lama and the image of the Dutch parliament tarnished by his visit." In an interview with NRC Handelsblad Zhang Jun said: "We know from visits by the Dalai Lama to other countries that there can be negative consequences."