BEIJING - Chinese state media questioned the Dalai Lama's assertion he only wants greater autonomy for Tibet the same day China marked the 40th anniversary of the founding of the Tibet autonomous region. In a pointed commentary published last Thursday, hours after goose-stepping soldiers and singing Tibetans marched in a celebratory parade in Lhasa, Xinhua news agency criticised the

Dalai Lama for bringing foreign influence into "an internal affair". "It might not be respectful to doubt the wisdom of 'His Holiness' for not waking up to reality, but we have to wonder what on earth the Dalai Lama wants for the claim of 'greater autonomy'," the commentary said.

The Buddhist god-king fled to India after a failed uprising in 1959, nine years after China's People's Liberation Army marched into Tibet to establish Beijing's rule. He has since renounced independence and says he only wants more autonomy for Tibet, while China charges the spiritual leader with continuing to provoke separatism. Xinhua said the Dalai Lama's reaching out to foreign governments for support was proof he did not want to find a peaceful resolution to the Tibet question. "A person who is pure-hearted in seeking compromise certainly will not sling mud on the other part, while an attempt to win international interference in an internal affair is an obvious denial of the framework that Tibet is part of China," it said.

The commentary echoed China's standard defence of its rule, pointing to the freeing of "serfs and slaves once oppressed by the hierarchical regime" of the Dalai Lama and the improvement of living standards among Tibetans. "He must face the fact that Tibet, under the current autonomous mechanism, has witnessed changes which would be impossible under his rule," it said. Reuters