Special Report: Focus on Tibet　

    TORONTO, March 20 (Xinhua) -- The Dalai Lama's so-called "middle way", which has the idea of "Greater Tibet" as one of its key contents, is not acceptable to the Chinese government, a living Buddha said here Friday.

    "The so-called 'middle way' rhetoric of the Dalai Lama sounds very attractive, but in fact it is problematic," Shingtsa Tenzinchodrak, a living Buddha told a press conference.

Shingtsa Tenzinchodrak (C), a living Buddha of Tibetan Buddhism and head of the delegation of the Tibetan deputies to China's National People's Congress, answers questions by reporters in Toronto March 20, 2009. The delegation arrived in Toronto on Friday after their six-day visit to the United States. (Xinhua/Yuan Man) Photo Gallery>>>

    The Dalai Lama has, in recent years, been telling the world he has stopped seeking "Tibet independence" and turned towards a "middle way". But the Chinese officials and scholars said the so-called "middle way" in fact still aims at "Tibet independence."

    Shingtsa Tenzinchodrak said one of the key contents of the "middle way" was to establish a so-called "Greater Tibet", which would cover not only the Tibet Autonomous Region but also all other Tibetan-inhabited areas in China.

    "In total, it would cover one fourth of China' entire territory," said Shingtsa Tenzinchodrak, head of a five-member delegation of Tibetan deputies of China's National People's Congress, which is in Canada for a visit.

    The idea of "Greater Tibet" has long been advocated by the Dalai Lama and his followers. In his March 10 speech, the Dalai Lama again talked about bringing all Tibetans under "a single autonomous administration."

    Shingtsa Tenzinchodrak, who has spent years studying Tibetan history, said the so-called "Greater Tibet" was not a historical fact and does not fit reality.

    The 59-year-old living Buddha said Tibetan-inhabited areas outside Tibet have never been under the administration of Tibet's local government in history.

Shingtsa Tenzinchodrak (R), a living Buddha of Tibetan Buddhism and head of the delegation of the Tibetan deputies to China's National People's Congress, answers questions by reporters in Toronto March 20, 2009. The delegation arrived in Toronto on Friday after their six-day visit to the United States. (Xinhua/Yuan Man) Photo Gallery>>>

    Before Tibet was peacefully liberated in 1951, the jurisdiction of the local Tibet government did not exceed the current area of the Tibet Autonomous Region, he said.

    "If one knew some Tibetan history, he or she would know how ridiculous the idea (of Greater Tibet) is," Shingtsa Tenzinchodrak said.

    In addition, Shingtsa Tenzinchodrak said the Dalai Lama has also asked the central government to withdraw troops and exclude other ethnic groups from the area of the "Greater Tibet."

    The Dalai Lama demanded, in his "five-point peace plan" in 1987and the "seven-point new suggestions" in 1988, the Chinese troops and military facilities be withdrawn from Tibet. He also demanded to stop the Han ethnic group from settling in Tibet, and that those who have already settled in move out.

    "If such conditions were met, will there still be sovereignty (for China)?" Shingtsa Tenzinchodrak said.

    The Qinghai-Tibet Plateau has been an area of ethnic convergence for centuries.

    Under the existing ethnic autonomous system in China, besides the provincial Tibet Autonomous Region, Tibetans have autonomous regions of city, county and township levels in neighboring provinces. They co-exist with autonomous regions of other ethnic groups and non-autonomous divisions.