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Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama today hailed Chinese President Xi Jinping as "more realistic" and said he seems to have "more principles" than his predecessors.
He said there is no need of any conflict between India and China and "the only way is (to) remain peaceful on the basis of mutual trust."
"There are lot of changes. Since he (Xi Jinping) became President, judging him through his handling of problems, he is comparatively more realistic and with more principles," Dalai Lama told reporters on the sidelines of a two-day conclave of nine major religion representatives, organised by him.
The Chinese President has spoken about importance of Buddhism in Chinese culture which, the Dalai Lama said, shows that leaders of a common party have the ability to act according to reality.
"Communist leaders for the first time mentioned about importance of spiritualism. This is something new," the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader said, adding, that he had long been seeking to visit Tibet but was denied permission by China.
Jinping was in India on a three-day visit and left yesterday.
The Dalai Lama has been demanding more autonomy for Tibet, which is part of China, but so far China has been dismissive of his demands as well as status of a preeminent Tibetan leader.
Earlier in his speech, he said Indian Muslims can offer lessons in Sunni-Shia harmony as Shias, who are a minority sect in Islam, appear more safe in India than a Muslim country like Pakistan.
He stressed on the importance of inter-religious harmony as we are all human beings and said religious leaders need to rise above dogmas to reach out to everybody including atheists.
