Cordial India-China ties vital for Tibet: Dalai Lama

Bhopal, March 18 : Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama Thursday said good relations between India and China were important for a solution to the Tibetan problem.

"It is important that both these powerful nations - India and China - (should) come together for peace and prosperity in the region," the Dalai Lama leader told mediapersons here.

"Cordial relations between India and China are also important, so far as solving the Tibetan problem is concerned," he added.

The Dalai Lama said he believed in seeking a middle path on the Tibet problem by demanding autonomy rather than a free Tibet. "Youth organisations in Tibet were in favour of secession from China but I don't agree with them."

On the political situation in China vis-a-vis Tibet, he said things were changing and some Chinese hardliners were now seen to be more lenient on the Tibetan issue.

How long will his exile continue in India? "I don't know," the Dalai Lama said. He had been living in India for 51 years and was "proud to be called the son of India".