Dalai Lama and his followers try to deceive the world with their seemingly innocent talk of "a genuine autonomy" for Tibet, but what they really want is independence for a large tract of land, Europe-China Association President Jean-Paul Desimpelaere told Xinhua in a recent interview.

Desimpelaere, a Belgian who studied the Tibetan history and culture extensively and made no less than five visits to Tibet proper, believes that the Dalai Lama's rhetoric is quite deceptive and people unfamiliar with the Tibet issue could fall into his trap.

"When you look closely at what the Dalai Lama means by "genuine autonomy," you find that it goes very far. He wants that the Chinese army withdraws completely from a region bigger than double the current Tibet (which is about a quarter of China's territory).This is what he calls the "Greater Tibet" or "my country," Desimpelaere said.

"You should know that the Dalai Lama has never reigned on this "Greater Tibet" territory, and that the Tibetans have never been a majority in the population there," Desimpelaere added.

Then the Dalai Lama wants to "expel the Chinese Han" -- in the millions -- from this region. He also wants a "constitution" for the region, based on Buddhism, Desimpelaere noted.

"All of these have nothing to do with 'autonomy within a country.' That is an outright separation of a big trunk of territory from China," the president said.

Recalling his visits to Tibet, Desimpelaere said that he believes Tibet is one of the regions in the world where religious practice flourishes.

"There is one religious establishment for every 1,500 people. I visited more than 100 Tibetan temples and witnessed many rituals and prayers. People do not need to hide their religious beliefs, and the streets are full of pilgrims to the major monasteries and monks are seen everywhere."

Tibet is an "autonomous region" of China, whose economy and finances are autonomous. Over the past two decades, the central government has invested a lot in the development of Tibet. It footed much of the bill for major projects of infrastructure, energy, telecommunications, education, and culture, Desimpelaere said.

After the March 14 riots in Lhasa, Desimpelaere spoke at a number of seminars in Belgium and told people about what he saw in Tibet.

(Xinhua News Agency April 14, 2008)