Tibets voice of realism
April 12, 2013  16:45
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China needs Japan, Japan needs China,' the 14th Dalai Lama declared, with immovable conviction, as I listened to him in a sunlit conference room in Yokohama last November, a great Ferris wheel turning outside and a jungle of high-rising grey skyscrapers presiding over the blue bay.


"Every nation on this planet needs others. So a small disagreement or division of interests should not affect basic relations. Of course Chinese people must love their nation, their culture: that is good! But it's too extreme. It's almost as if they're suggesting that, across the planet, Chinese culture is the best. When we were in Tibet, we had some of that same kind of view: 'Tibet is the best!' That's wrong! Too much emotion involved. Too short-sighted.


Read more of what Pico Iyer has to say.
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