Dalai Lama calls Chinese protests on visit baseless (Roundup)

New Delhi - Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama said Sunday his visit to India's north-eastern Arunachal Pradesh, which China considers a disputed region, was non-political and China's charges against him were baseless. 'My visit to Tawang is non-political and aimed at promoting universal brotherhood and nothing else,' the Dalai Lama was quoted as saying by IANS news agency hours after he reached the monastery town of Tawang. China had repeatedly protested the Dalai Lama's plan to visit the region, which it considers to be southern Tibet. China views the Dalai Lama as a separatist, conspiring for Tibetan independence. The Tibetan leader has said that he wants greater autonomy for Tibet within China. 'It is quite usual for China to step up campaign against me wherever I go. It is totally baseless on the part of the Chinese Communist government to say that I am encouraging a separatist movement,' the Dalai Lama told reporters at the Tawang monastery after inaugurating a museum. The Arunachal Pradesh government invited the Dalai Lama to visit Tawang, which was the birthplace of the sixth Dalai Lama. It was also one of the first stops for the 14th and current Dalai Lama when he fled from Tibet in 1959 after the Chinese occupation of the region. 'The Chinese did not pursue us in 1959 but when I reached India, they started speaking against me,' the Dalai Lama said. China claims 90,000 square kilometres of territory in Arunachal Pradesh while India says it is an integral part of the country. India, in turn, accuses China of occupying 38,000 square kilometres in Jammu and Kashmir. In the face of China's protests over the Dalai Lama's visit, the Indian government had said the spiritual leader was free to travel where he wished in India as long as it was for religious purposes. The Dalai Lama and his government-in-exile, which is not recognized by any nation, are based at the northern Indian hill town of Dharamsala. Along with the Dalai Lama, an estimated 100,000 Tibetans live in India. 'Tibetan Buddhism and culture is passing through a very difficult period. But there is a hope of the religion and culture surviving in this free area, particularly in India. So there is lot of responsibility for people here and in south India to keep the flag flying,' the Dalai Lama told reporters in Tawang. Indian and Tibetan prayer flags fluttered, while banners and life-size posters of the Dalai Lama adorned the streets of the Tawang, located at 11,000 feet above sea level near India's border with China. Thousands of maroon-robed monks and local people clad in traditional costumes crowded the Dalai Lama's route from the helipad to the monastery. At the monastery, the Dalai Lama was greeted by Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Dorjee Khandu and more than 800 monks, including scores of child novitiates, who chanted hymns and rang giant gongs. The Dalai Lama is scheduled to hold a prayer session at a school playground near the monastery Monday to Wednesday. He is expected to visit the adjoining towns of Bomdilla and Dirang and state capital Itanagar on Thursday and Friday before returning to Dharamsala next Sunday.