"The world's trend is towards openness and democracy, more freedom and rule of law and no matter how powerful the Chinese government might be, they cannot escape the world trend and they have to follow that trend," the elderly monk said here.
He was addressing participants at special three-day International Tibet Support Group meeting.
Hoping that the new leadership in China will realise that, he said, "As Deng Xiaoping had said, 'seeking truth from facts', so the fact is like that. They have to adopt a policy based on reality. Unrealistic policy will not solve the problems."
The Nobel Peace laureate said the situation is quite serious in Tibet.
"I am retired and whatever the elected Tibetan leadership says about Tibet is absolutely correct. Things are quite serious in Tibet. There is a problem and the problem is neither good for the Tibetans nor the Chinese. Use of force will never bring a satisfactory solution to the problem," he said.
Expressing concern over deteriorating ecology in Tibet, the spiritual leader said a lot of damage has been done to Tibet's environment through deforestation, exploitation of natural resources.
"One of my Indian friends said, due to Tibet's high altitude and dry climate, if Tibet's ecology is damaged, it will take much longer to recover," he said.