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DHARAMSHALA, India : The Dalai Lama on Tuesday appealed for calm in Tibet and "good relations" with China, but offered to quit as head of the exile movement if violence in the region worsens.
The Nobel Peace laureate, 72, said Tibetans and Chinese needed to live "side by side," urged his countrymen not to resort to violence and reiterated he was not pushing for his remote Himalayan homeland to split from China.
"We must build good relations with the Chinese," the Tibetan Buddhist spiritual leader told reporters in Dharamshala in northern India. "We should not develop anti-Chinese feelings. We must live together side by side."
"Don't commit violence, it is not good. Violence is against human nature, violence is almost suicide. Even if 1,000 Tibetans sacrifice their lives, it will not help," he said, stressing that "independence is out of the question".
But he said he was not in a position to tell Tibetans living under Chinese rule to "do this or do not do that".
"This movement is beyond our control," he said of the unrest in Tibet, which saw protests escalate into rioting and prompted a major Chinese security clampdown.
"If things are getting out of control, then the option is to completely resign... resignation is the only option," he told reporters.
He also said Chinese officials were welcome to visit him and investigate their charges that his India-based exile movement was behind the anti-Chinese unrest that erupted in Tibet last week.
"Come here, please investigate the facts. The Chinese can come look at everything," he said.
China blamed Tibetan "mobs" for the deaths of 13 people in violent anti-Chinese rioting on Friday, while Tibetan exile groups have said around 100 people, possibly many more, were killed as China quashed the protests.
Earlier Tuesday, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said Beijing will only hold talks with the Dalai Lama if he gives up independence ambitions, and also blamed him for the unrest.
Tibet's spiritual leader has consistently denied Chinese charges that he is a separatist, and insists that he only wants a high degree of autonomy for Tibet under Chinese rule.
But his "Middle Way" policy - espousing non-violence and autonomy - has left him facing increasing criticism from younger, more radical exiled Tibetans.
"I admitted it failed to bring positive results inside Tibet," the Dalai Lama said of the policy, but said demands for complete independence were unrealistic.
"I ask them how to get independence. I have no answer," he said of the radical exiles. - AFP/ch
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