The Tibetan spiritual leader His Holiness the Dalai Lama in a recent interview to a Taiwanese news channel expressed his concern over the situation Hong Kong. His Holiness has called for peace and dialogue to resolve all issues and advised to stay away from violence. The financial hub of Asia has been through a tumultuous past three months.
In a recent interview with Taiwan’s Hakka Television at Himachal Pradesh in India, the Dalai Lama talked about the current situation in Hong Kong, where there have been violent protests in recent months against an extradition bill that would have allowed the local authorities to extradite Hong Kong criminal suspects to China for trial, as reported by Focus Taiwan News Agency.
“When Deng Xiaoping created ‘One Country Two Systems’ it was very practical, very good, but in recent weeks, a lot of disputes happened. I feel a little worried,” according to a translation of Hakka Television’s statement quoting the Dalai Lama.
“I think it’s best for every place to maintain peace. Peace is very important,” His Holiness the Dalai Lama said. “We can resolve any problem through dialogue, rather than negative actions in response to anger, which are useless. These disturbances caused by the disputes are very serious. What I can do is limited; I can only pray for them.”
More than 1.7 million anti-government protesters gathered in Hong Kong to rally peacefully against the Chinese government. Protests erupted in June following a now-withdrawn bill that would allow criminal suspects in Hong Kong to be extradited to mainland China. The unrest has been fueled by broader worries about the erosion of freedoms guaranteed under the “one country, two systems” formula put in place after Hong Kong’s return to Chinese rule in 1997, including an independent judiciary and right to protest, according to the report.
The police have responded with increasingly forceful methods, including using water canons, beating protesters with batons, and firing rubber or bean bag bullet guns at them, in addition to using tear gas.