A total of 1,543 netizens submitted 326 questions with a final 10 questions being selected. Chinese writer Wang Lixiong, who had organised an earlier online discussion on 21May, moderated the exchange.

Through their questions, most Chinese appear interested in understanding the 75-year-old exiled Buddhist leader and learning more about the situation in Tibet. Equally, in taking part in the exercise the Dalai Lama is saying that he is open to a dialogue with the Chinese, something that Beijing has tried to prevent in order to impose its own views on the Tibetan question.

Chinese authorities in fact continue to portray the Dalai Lama as a dangerous terrorist who wants Tibet’s secession. In fact, many of the questions put to him were about “Tibet’s autonomy”.

 “The term ‘autonomy by Tibetans’,” he said, “should refer to having Tibetans as the majority and other ethnic groups as the minority,” inside the Tibet Autonomous Region. “If the situation were in reverse, then the word ‘autonomy’ would be meaningless."

At present, by means of tax advantages and preferential employment, the Chinese government has attracted tens of thousands of ethnic Han Chinese to Tibet. This policy has turned indigenous Tibetans into a minority in their own homeland. Now, the problem has become one of respect for ethnic Tibetans and coexistence among the various ethnic groups.

With this in mind, the Dalai Lama said he hoped to “build up a big family that enables Chinese and Tibetans to coexist in a friendly fashion over thousands of years, as before”. Similarly, he wants to see all ethnic groups in China “coexist amicably with each other on the principle of equality.”

Besides accusing him of separatism, Chinese propaganda government has claimed that the Dalai wants the unification of all Tibetan communities, which are currently divided between Tibet itself and other Chinese border regions, into a single autonomous political entity.

The Buddhist leader rejected such charges, saying that the concept of the so-called ‘Greater Tibet’ is just Communist Party propaganda. Instead, “What we have been pursuing is that all Tibetans who use the same spoken and written language need equal rights to protect and develop their religious culture, as well as equal rights to economic development.”

During the exchange, the Dalai Lama also addressed the matter of his succession. Traditionally, Tibetan leadership is passed on through reincarnations from one leader to the next, each new one identified through a complex procedure.

However, the Chinese authorities have abducted the last incarnation of the Panchen Lama and put forward their own protégé. The Panchen Lama bears part of the responsibility for finding the incarnation of the Dalai Lama.

Beijing places a great deal of importance in its selection, whereas Tibetans in exile are preparing to adopt a democratic form of leadership.

Asked about his successor, the Dalai Lama has frequently provided an indirect answer, saying that for at least ten years major decisions were made by elected representatives of Tibetans in exile and that this could continue after his death.

Speaking on Radio Free Asia, writer Yu Jie said that the Dalai Lama’s online dialogue is very helpful in countering the false propaganda designed to undermine his image.

“The scale of the dialogue is not that big, just several thousand [participants]. However, I believe its influence and impact are getting bigger and bigger,” Yu said.

“One day it will defeat all distorted propaganda” about “the Dalai Lama and [. . .] Tibet”.