Wednesday, March 10, 1999 Published at 12:47 GMT
Dalai Lama seeks Tibet talks
In Delhi Tibetan exiles burnt an effigy of China's President Jiang Zemin
"This distrust will not go away in a day. It will dissipate only through face-to-face meetings and sincere dialogues," he said.
Speaking to an audience that included Hollywood stars Goldie Hawn and Richard Gere, the Dalai Lama said the Chinese Government had hardened its attitude towards him recently and intensified repression in Tibet.
He said secret talks through unidentified intermediaries has broken down last year "without any obvious reason".
Political will lacking
"A lack of political will and courage on the part of the Chinese leadership has resulted in their failure to reciprocate my numerous overtures over the years," he said.
In the Indian capital, Delhi, a crowd of around 5,000 Tibetan protesters burned 40 Chinese flags, lit firecrackers and burned an effigy representing Chinese President Jiang Zemin.
The Dalai Lama and large numbers of his Buddhist followers fled across the Himalayas to India four decades ago after thousands of Tibetans were killed as Chinese troops moved to crush a rebellion against a decade of Chinese rule.
In an interview with the BBC to mark the occasion, the Dalai Lama said he did not regret his flight but that informal contact with the Chinese Government was not working properly.
Beijing meanwhile has used the 40th anniversary to renew its criticism of the Dalai Lama accusing him of being afraid to negotiate.
At a press conference earlier this week Tibet's governor said the Dalai Lama had not done a single good thing for the Tibetan people.
State media described the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader as a tool of anti-China forces, accusing him of sponsoring terrorism in the region and acting as an obstacle to the observance of Tibetan Buddhism.
"Tibetan society before the democratic reform was darker and more cruel than Europe's system of serfdom in the Middle Ages and can be said to have been one of the world's most serious violations of human rights," the newspaper said.
In the capital a major exhibition has opened showcasing what Beijing says is proof of China's right to rule the Himalayan region.
The exhibition points to official statistics, stating that since 1959, life expectancy in Tibet has nearly doubled, grain output has increased, and now over 80% of school-aged children attend classes.
It compares the figures with what it says was the backwardness and feudalism under the Dalai Lama's rule.