SEATTLE - In a show of pro-Chinese support, several hundred demonstrators protested Monday outside the college basketball arena where the Dalai Lama spoke.
Thousands of people have flocked to see the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader since he arrived last week for a five-day conference on compassion, but Seattle's large Chinese community had remained largely silent until Monday.
Inside the arena, the Dalai Lama received an honorary degree from the University of Washington and spoke to students on using dialogue to solve problems. He thanked the UW for giving him a degree without any studying.
While his visit to the United States has been billed as nonpolitical, he is expected to meet with a senior U.S. official next week.
The State Department said Undersecretary of State Paula Dobriansky and the Dalai Lama will talk next Monday in Michigan. Dobriansky serves as special envoy for Tibet.
Recent demonstrations against five decades of Chinese rule are the largest and most sustained among Tibetans in almost two decades. The unrest has led to loud protests that have been following the Olympic torch's passage to Beijing.
The Dalai Lama addressed the Tibetan situation Sunday, telling reporters at a news conference that Tibet cannot make any more concessions to China. He renewed his calls for the Chinese government to withdraw troops from his homeland.
He denied Chinese claims that he has called for Tibet to be split from China and that he is behind recent turmoil, saying instead that he is committed to pursuing Tibet's right to autonomy.
Outside the arena on Monday, pro-Chinese demonstrators held signs criticizing what they called media bias, and protesting the violence from rioting Tibetan monks.
Signs called the Dalai Lama a liar and a "CIA-funded militant." Many waved large Chinese flags. It was, however, a peaceful demonstration.
"I think that people are misinformed. They have media discrimination," said Jiange Li, one of the demonstrators. "Tibet was freed _ 50 years ago."
The group chanted "We love Tibet," "Stop lying" and "Dalai, your smiles charm, your actions harm," as thousands of people filed into the arena. A small plane flew overhead mirroring the chants with a banner. Some demonstrators said they had organized the protest using Internet forums.
Seattle has a significant Chinese-born population, according to U.S. Census Bureau figures. However, it has also historically been a city friendly to the Tibetan cause. The Dalai Lama has visited Seattle a handful of times and has always been warmly welcomed.
The Dalai Lama fled to India after a failed uprising in 1959 in Tibet, but he remains the religious and cultural leader of many Tibetans. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1989.
Seattle was among the first U.S. cities to welcome Tibetan refugees, said Tashi Namgyal Khamsitsang, president of the Tibet Association of Washington. Nearly 300 Tibetans live in Seattle, with the biggest wave coming in the 1990s, he added.
For the Chinese community, the Dalai Lama's visit has shown a split in opinions on the Tibetan situation, said Assunta Ng, publisher of the Northwest Asian Weekly, a local Asian-American community newspaper.
The goal for Monday's demonstrators was to get people attending the Dalai Lama's speech to see their side: a Tibet where people have reaped benefits from China's economic boom, but a Tibet recently bloodied by the violent riots.
Student Alan Orthmann didn't buy it. "A lot of (them) are from China, they're coming from 50 years of propaganda," he said.
Inside the arena, the Dalai Lama was greeted by a standing ovation. UW President Mark Emmert called him the "pre-eminent spiritual leader of our time."
"You will make this century of peace," the Dalai Lama told the UW students inside the packed arena. "Today's world (is) heavily interdependent. Destruction of your neighbor or enemy is destruction of yourself."
In his address, the Dalai Lama repeated that dialogue is the only way to solve conflict, especially as he sees poverty and environmental problems increasing in the future. He hopes people will solve future problems through dialogue and mutual respect.
The Dalai Lama's schedule called for him to leave Seattle on Tuesday after a panel discussion of spirituality featuring South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu.
The Dalai Lama is scheduled to speak at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor on April 19 and 20, then at Colgate University in Hamilton, N.Y., on April 22.
A service of the Associated Press(AP)
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