Tibet's spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, urged the international community Friday to make an independent assessment of the situation in the region and put pressure on China to end the "oppression".
"Please, international community, judge whether there is a problem or not. Go there and investigate," he told members of the Dutch parliament on the final day of a three-day visit.
"In the case the majority of people genuinely are happy, then our information is wrong ... and we will have to apologise to the Chinese government.
"If, on the other hand, there is real resentment to China's ... oppression, then tell the Chinese government they should accept the reality and should start a realistic approach. Force is not a solution."
The 73-year-old exiled Buddhist spiritual leader told MPs his faith in the Chinese government was growing "thinner" with all efforts at negotiation having failed.
Tibet's future, he stressed, lay within the People's Republic of China but with cultural and religious autonomy.
"We are not seeking separation," he said, dismissing Chinese claims he was seeking the establishment of a greater, independent Tibet.
The 14th Dalai Lama, winner of the 1989 Nobel peace prize, stressed he was on a mission to promote religious harmony and would not be drawn on Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende's decision not to receive him.
"That is your business," he told parliamentarians. "I have no political agenda. I do not want to create any inconvenience."
Beijing had warned Tuesday that countries receiving the Dalai Lama on his European tour will "severely damage" relations with China.
The Dalai Lama nevertheless met Dutch Foreign Minister Maxime Verhagen on Friday morning, not at his ministry but as part of an "inter-faith dialogue" in The Hague between the minister and leaders of religious communities.
Living in exile in India since 1959, the Dalai Lama was due to open a concert in Amsterdam, entitled "Night of Tibet", on Friday evening before departing for France.
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I can understand & appreciate the emphasis placed upon the Dalai Lama as a figure-head and completely respectable spokesperson for Tibet's cause, however, as a citizen of the world, fully aware of just how advanced the current state of environmental degradation is & equally the reality of needing new and far more 'radical' solutions to be applied if humanity is to hold onto its now almost invisibly slim and fading chance for survival, and therefore being interested to see Tibetans reclaim their sovereignty over their rightful homeland's territories, so that they may apply the political will to effect the significant kinds of sustainable development policy & implementation that I do believe will show the way to sustainability, with Bhutan, as perhaps the most advanced nation on earth being a good case in point of what one can reasonably expect of Tibetan stewardship... I do think that Tibetans now must re-assess the political process for how to advance their governmental structure & consider that it may be necessary to promote the full recognition of The Tibetan Government In Exile by the international community, including the implications of the fact that they govern in exile, so that through natural recognition of Tibet's rightful status as a nation, the international community can then take supportive steps to restore Tibetan sovereignty within their homeland.
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