Dharamsala, India - Tibet faces a new wave of violence, warned Samdhong Rinpoche, prime minister of the Tibetan government-in-exile, who worried that Tibetans might be targeted by Chinese forces as the Asian giant seeks to deflect attention from the economic hardships the global economic turmoil is bringing upon its people.

Although the Tibetan government adheres to its "middle way" approach, which renounces independence in favour of greater autonomy within China, Rinpoche, also known as the "Precious One," admitted that the policy was unlikely to succeed with the Chinese leadership.

In an interview at his office in the northern Indian hill town of Dharamsala, Rinpoche summed up the past 50 years since the failed uprising in Tibet against Chinese rule as the darkest period in the 3,000-year history of the Tibetan people.

He also dwelled on how protests in March last year, the biggest anti-Chinese demonstrations in the Himalayan region in two decades, had put the Tibetan issue back on the international stage.

Asked whether the Tibetan movement would be able to muster international support given the pre-eminent position of China amid the global economic crisis, Rinpoche instead forecast "stiff resistance" by young Tibetans until meaningful autonomy and protection for Tibet's Buddhist culture were achieved.

He described the economic problems within China as enormous and said millions of people were not only losing their jobs but also returning from cities to their home villages where they had no basis of sustaining themselves.

"We are afraid that they [China] may do something in Tibet to divert mainland Chinese people's attention by saying the Tibetans are going to separate," he said. "They would say, 'We must be patriotic, not think about economic issues and do something about the Tibetans and the Uighurs.'"

"The economic problem will definitely cause some kind of social disturbance, which may lead to enormous bloodshed, unthinkable violence and the use of force in China, which will have repercussions on the international scene," the scholar-monk added.

China's talks with the Dalai Lama's envoys reconvened after Tibet-related protests during the Beijing Olympics last year had turned out to be mere "crisis management" and the "openness" has disappeared, said Rinpoche, who was dressed in dark burgundy robes and sat in a spartan office where a panoramic photograph of Tibet's Potala Palace, the traditional home of the Dalai Lama, hung.

In November, during the eighth round of talks, the Tibetan side presented a detailed memorandum that articulated the concept of genuine autonomy for Tibetans within China.

But Beijing rejected the memorandum as it has the middle way, terming it "disguised independence", Rinpoche said, adding that the document merely sought the implementation of provisions for the minority nationalities and autonomy laws stipulated under the Chinese constitution.

Despite China turning a deaf ear, Tibetan exiles attending a week-long Tibetan exile meeting in November put their faith in the Dalai Lama's three-decade-old middle way.

"We have a fresh public mandate; therefore, we are pursuing the policy with more confidence and vigorously, but it may not work with the present Chinese leadership," Rinpoche said. "They do not know what we mean by the middle path."

"But by and large, a vast majority of the Chinese people and the international community appreciates the pragmatic policy which will yield results when change comes inside China - when there is a new Chinese leadership or when the Chinese people have a say in governance," he said.

Although the talks with China have hit a dead-end, he maintained that the Tibetans are open to restarting the dialogue when the Chinese are willing to discuss the memorandum or have suggestions on it.

Against the backdrop of China's ongoing "strike hard" campaign in Tibetan areas in the run-up to this month's anniversaries in Tibet - the 50th anniversaries of the March 10, 1959, start to the uprising against Chinese rule and the March 17, 1959, flight of the Dalai Lama out of Tibet and the first anniversary of last year's protests - Rinpoche said concern abounded as repressive measures that included detentions and interrogations of thousands had led to widespread protests during which a monk immolated himself.

Beijing has decided to mark the anniversaries by declaring March 28 Serf Liberation Day to celebrate what it described as the end of feudalism in Tibet.

"The Chinese government claims to have modernized, educated and liberated the serfs or slaves from the feudal system," Rinpoche said. "If this is the case, they [the Tibetans] should be grateful, but instead, we see deep resentment and protests all over the Tibetan areas."

"They think they can keep power by using force, but it is a mistake," he added. "Sooner or later, they will repent if they do not address the grievances of the Tibetan people. The human spirit can never be suppressed by force." (dpa)