Dalai Lama: Things are changing for Tibet
The 79-year-old made the comments to Dateline during an interview for SBS’s Dateline to commemorate Tibetan Democracy Day. “It is difficult, but things are changing,” he says on the subject of China, which invaded Tibet over 50 years ago and eventually forced the Dalai Lama to flee to India. “I always looked, last 60 years, like Chairman Mao's era, I consider an era of ideology. Then, Deng Xiaoping - they find economy more important than just ideology. So, Deng Xiaoping's era concentrated on the economic field.” “Now, in some ways, China becomes a capitalist country. Socialist country - socialist, just a name. So now, Xi Jinping era. There's not much choice, but to accept some liberalisation in political field.” Tibetan Democracy Day marks 54 years since the first elections for exiled Tibetans, but their continued frustrations have been most evident recently through a wave of protesters setting fire to themselves. “There is tremendous sadness about the restriction, about T