In mainland China, Twitter is blocked but every day tens of thousands of Chinese netizens skirt the government’s firewall and link up to the micro-blogging service.

This is the first time that the Dalai Lama was able to speak directly to ordinary Chinese citizens, bypassing the authorities who describe him as a dangerous terrorist, responsible for social unrest. Indeed, anything he says or does is censored.

“Unfortunately, in the past years, our relationship with the Chinese government has not achieved a substantial improvement,” the Dalai Lama said. “But I still feel quite confident of the Chinese people.”

He received 289 questions submitted voted on by netizens, which shows a desire to know and understand uncensored.

A question that came up frequently was about the succession issue. Beijing abducted the real Panchen Lama and wants to replace him with its own appointee. “I do not place much importance on the issue” of succession, the Dalai Lama said. “I will do whatever I can while I am alive. I do not have any other consideration or responsibility.” However, “It looks like the Chinese Communist Party seems to be more concerned about the institution of the Dalai Lama than I am.”

“It should be good if he turns out to be someone who embodies both the knowledge of the scriptures and the realization based on it, and upholds the teaching and practice of the Buddha’s doctrine,” he added.

In the end though, the Dalai Lama is critical of the Chinese government, which “seems to be adopting an approach of force to establish stability while we feel that stability should come from mental satisfaction and trust.”

On ethnic tensions between Han settlers in Tibet, who are taking on positions of power and increasingly marginalising Tibetans in their native land, he said, “If we are clear and establish equal relationship, all problems will be resolved.”

The Dalai Lama said he was confident that Beijing’s policy towards Tibet would change because “Some Party members who have worked in Tibet in the past and who are now retired, as also many Chinese scholars, have been saying that the present nationality policy is not appropriate and have suggested that it needs to be reviewed. Therefore, I believe that there will be a change and a decision in the not too distant future.”

Links to the transcript of the dialogue were passed around by Twitter users in their hundreds over the weekend with many positive comments and calls for an open and uncensored dialogue.

Some comments were nevertheless pro-Chinese government, criticising Twitter for supporting “the Dalai Lama's attempts to split the motherland.”

Wang, who organised the event, said he hoped that the Twitter dialogue would just be the beginning for the Dalai Lama and that this method of interaction could be used more and more.