The Dalai Lama warned on Friday of renewed "serious violence" in Tibet if talks between his representatives and Beijing break down. He added in an interview with AFP that a seventh round of long-running talks with Beijing are on course to take place on June 11.
The exiled Tibetan spiritual leader said it was unclear whether the Chinese government was simply maintaining dialogue in the run-up to the Olympics in August or whether Beijing would continue discussions after the Games.
"Demonstrations I think will happen, from our past experience. Serious demonstrations, not only demonstrations but also involving violence," he said, when asked if he fears further violence after deadly unrest in March. Previous flare-ups had resulted in "serious violence," he said. "Very sad, immense suffering. And also the Chinese side, a lot of casualties."
He warned in the interview that sporadic unrest would not die down unless China tackled Tibetan grievances "realistically". Explaining how tensions had spilled over in the 1950s and the 1980s before the March unrest, he said: "The generation changes but the resentment still remains, from grandfather to father, from father to children. "Now there are grandchildren. Unless the Chinese government tackle it realistically, this problem will otherwise remain."
He said the major question was whether Beijing would continue with talks after the Olympic Games in the Chinese capital from August 8-24. The last informal talks took place in the Chinese city of Shenzhen at the start of May. The Tibetan government-in-exile said those talks were intended as informal and were not on a par with six earlier rounds that started in late 2002 and broke off in 2007.
The Dalai Lama said Chinese President Hu Jintao had shown that he was taking the negotiations seriously, with world opinion and common sense suggesting the talks should continue. "The president himself expressed is serious, these meetings," he said. "Now are they serious up to the Olympics or (interested in) the real issue? That's not yet to know.
"So after this meeting and mainly after the Olympics, then we'll know." Reiterating his pacifist principles, the 72-year-old repeated his pledge to step down if Tibetan demonstrations got out of hand. "If violence becomes out of control, then there's no other choice except to resign," the 14th Dalai Lama said. "My choice is complete retirement. Resign."