'Tibet will be stable even if he passes away'

China Daily, March 8, 2011

The Dalai Lama's death will not affect the Tibet autonomous region's overall situation but will likely have some minor impacts, a high-ranking official said on Monday.

"As a religious character, the Dalai Lama does have some influence over his believers," Qiangba Puncog, head of the standing committee of the autonomous region's people's congress and former chairman of Tibet, said at the annual session of the National People's Congress in Beijing.

"But he has no power over Tibet's political issues. So the overall social situation will remain stable, and we are prepared to handle some minor turbulence after his death."

The 14th Dalai Lama fled to India and created the self-declared "Tibetan government-in-exile" after the central government foiled an armed rebellion he and supporters staged in 1959. The-76-year-old was blamed for fomenting the bloody riot on March 14, 2008, in the autonomous region's capital Lhasa that killed at least 18 people and injured 400.

"It's not that the anti-Chinese forces and the Dalai clique haven't thought of stirring up unrest in Tibet since the March 14 incident," Party chief of the autonomous region Zhang Qingli said.

"But the fact is that they haven't been able to do so because Tibetans know how precious peace is."

Zhang said the March 14 incident was the most personally upsetting experience he dealt with since he became Party chief nearly six years ago.

He also calls the Dalai Lama a "wolf in monk's robes" because he had done things beneath his status as a Living Buddha.

"I am extremely angry with the Dalai clique for kidnapping peace from us," Zhang said.

"I dare not say that Tibet will not see any incidents, big or small, ever again. But I dare say that the current situation in Tibet is generally stable, and the Tibetan people wish for stability and object to trouble-making."