Dalai Lama drops demand for independence

The Dalai Lama no longer advocates independence for Tibet, he says in an interview with CNN, here quoted in a dispatch by the German news agency DPA. He seems to react to an offer of premier Wen Jiabao for talks if the Dalai Lama would drop his demand for an independent Tibet.
Similar moves have been made in the past by the Dalai Lama and were not very much appreciated by his more radical followers. In the interview he makes enough remarks to please those followers and irritate the central government in Beijing, while meanwhile accepting Wen's demand.

"The past is past. When the People's Liberation Army came to Tibet, according to legal experts, Tibet was a de facto independent nation. Therefore, we consider it an occupied land. But that doesn't mean we are seeking independence," he said in the interview, which was published on the channel's website and is due to be broadcast later.

He also maintains that Tibet has been "ruled by terror".