Dalai Lama misleads world on Tibet: China

Lhasa, Sept 1: Calling the Dalai Lama "a small figure", China today dismissed him as an old Lama who wears Gucci shoes and likes to travel around the world to mislead the international community on Tibet.

"Since 1959, the Dalai has been in exile (in India). He is an old Lama, who wears Gucci shoes, likes to travel around the world and is interested in political affairs," Xie Ying, a top official of the Government Information Office, Tibet Autonomous Region of China, said.

China calls him a separatist and a terrorist, bent on killing innocent Han Chinese and "splitting the motherland".

The Dalai Lama has repeatedly denied seeking Tibet''s independence from China.

The Dalai is a "small figure" in the international community, Xie told a group of foreign journalists here in reply to a question, adding that the Tibetan spiritual leader has supporters who are backing him.

He "misleads many people around the world" about the Tibet Autonomous Region, she said about the 76-year-old leader, who has already retired from active political life s and is the ''symbolic head'' of the exiled Tibetan government.

She said that her government has made a lot of efforts to introduce Tibet to the outside world. "Our main task is to introduce the real Tibet to the outside world."

"Since the peaceful liberation of Tibet 60 years ago, the focus of the Chinese government has been on its development. Following the 1978 reforms, relations between China and the outside world have been getting closer and we have started introducing Tibet to the foreign countries," Xie, Deputy Director at the Government Information Office of the Tibet Autonomous Region of China, said.

PTI