DHARMSALA, India - The Dalai Lama warned Tibetan exile leaders Sunday to be prudent in their plans or risk failure, after they said at a key conference they might push for independence for their homeland if China refuses to grant it autonomy soon.
The delegates ended their week-long conference Saturday saying they had decided against pushing independence for now, and that they would maintain the Dalai Lama's "middle way" -- his push for autonomy through measured compromise that falls short of calling for independence.
But they also said they would push for independence if China fails to respond positively to their initiatives.
"The next twenty years, if we are not careful, if we are not prudent in our plans there is a great danger," the Dalai Lama said in an address to the exiled Tibetans on Sunday. "It could lead to the danger of failure."
While the Buddhist spiritual leader did not specify what he meant, he appeared to be speaking about the larger Tibetan cause, which many exile leaders believe is at a crossroads.
The Dalai Lama was speaking to the more than 500 delegates from all over the world who had gathered to discuss the way forward for the Tibetan movement.
Dolma Gyari, deputy speaker of the Tibetan parliament-in-exile, told reporters after the meeting Saturday that delegates reaffirmed support for the Dalai Lama's approach -- but also said it is time to end talks with Beijing.
"Looking at the doings of China in recent times, we will not send the envoys for further contact," Dolma Gyari, deputy speaker of the Tibetan parliament-in-exile, told reporters after the meeting.
She said that "there was a majority for the middle way" and called for the exile government to press on with that approach.
But the leaders also vowed that if moderation doesn't produce results soon, they will call for independence -- a dramatic break with a decades-long conciliatory approach to Beijing.
"If China does not respond positively to our initiative, there is no other options left for us than to go for independence," Gyari said.
She did not mention a specific time frame, and took no questions.
The decisions by the 581 exile leaders who came to this week's meeting are only recommendations for the Tibetan parliament, which is to meet in March.
The Dalai Lama called the meeting in Dharmsala, the north Indian mountain town where has lived since fleeing Tibet following a failed rebellion in 1959.
He summoned the exile leaders after publicly expressing frustration over the failure of his approach to yield results with China's government, but he declined to discuss his preference for future strategy, saying he did not want to sway the debate.
China says Tibet has been Chinese territory for 700 years, though many Tibetans argue it was effectively independent most of that time.
Since Communist troops swept into Tibet in 1950, Chinese authorities have crushed any sign of Tibetan nationalist sentiment. An independence movement would be nearly impossible, at least in the foreseeable future, and China has long made clear it will not accept autonomy for Tibet.
