China lacks moral authority to be a superpower: Dalai Lama

On Thursday the Dalai Lama said that China lacks moral authority, including over the question of Tibet, to be a true superpower during a European tour that has angered Beijing.

The Tibetan spiritual leader said China deserves to be a superpower because of its huge population and economic and military strength. He than said that one important factor is moral authority and that is lacking. He said that China has a very poor record on human rights and religious freedom and freedom of expression and freedom of the press. The image of China in the field of moral authority is not good at all, he said. The Dalai Lama continued and said that the sensible are realizing that China should pay more attention when it comes to moral authority if they want to get more respect from the rest of the world. He also cited the problems of Tibet and separatist factions in Southwestern Chinese province of Xinjiang as an example of where moral authority should be displayed. He also said that he has confidence in the Chinese people but he doubts that the government wanted serious talks on Tibet's future. Earlier in the day the Dalai Lama spoke to the European Parliament during his second day in the Belgian capital and the crowd greeted him with a loud applause. Hans-Gert Poettering is the chamber's president and he assured that the parliament would continue to defend the rights of the Tibetan people to their cultural and religious identity. He than called on Chinese leaders to hold talks with representatives of the exiled Dalai Lama. The Dalai Lama will meet in Poland with French President Nicolas Sarkozy on Saturday. France holds the EU's rotating presidency. That meeting has angered Beijing and the Chinese government has taken unprecedented decision to call off an EU summit which was due to be held in France this week. Beijing does not like foreign leaders meeting with the Dalai Lama.. who it maintains is trying to win independence for his Himalayan homeland which has been under the control of the Chinese since 1951. The Dalai Lama insists he only wants meaningful autonomy for Tibet under Chinese rule and for other Nobel Peace Prize laureates were invited to Gdansk to celebrate the 25 years since Poland's Lech Walesa won the award. The Dalai Lama lives in exile in India and he has sought meaningful autonomy for Tibet since he fled his homeland following a failed uprising in 1959 against Chinese rule, nine years after China invaded the region.