BEIJING – China’s top official for ethnic affairs indicated there will be no softening of the Communist Party’s struggle against the Dalai Lama by the country’s new leadership.
The Dalai Lama has deviated from Tibetan Buddhist tradition and remains intent on splitting Tibet from China, the party’s fourth-ranking official, Yu Zhengsheng, said Tuesday on a visit to a Tibetan area of the western province of Gansu.
Yu said the exiled Tibetan Buddhist leader’s proposal for a “middle way” of meaningful autonomy for all traditionally Tibetan areas is in opposition to China’s constitution and policies on self-governance by ethnic minorities.
“In order to safeguard national unity and the development and stability of Tibetan regions, we must open a clear and profound struggle against the Dalai clique,” Yu said, employing Beijing’s standard term for the Dalai Lama and his followers.
Tibetan Buddhists must draw a clear political line between themselves and the Dalai Lama, oppose all forms of separatism, and actions harmful to the party’s leadership and the socialist system, he said. The speech was reported on the central government’s official website.