Dalai Lama Gets Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo

The Dalai Lama accepted the Nobel Peace Prize on Sunday and said that despite Chinese rebuffs, he remains committed to nonviolence in seeking an end to China’s 40-year occupation of his Himalayan homeland, Tibet.

“I accept the prize with profound gratitude on behalf of the oppressed everywhere and for all those who struggle for freedom and work for world peace,” he said at a ceremony attended by King Olav V and government officials.

At a white-tie ceremony in Stockholm, King Carl XVI Gustav awarded gold medallions to nine laureates who won Nobels for literature, chemistry, physics, medicine and economic sciences.

The Dalai Lama said China’s rejection of his 1987 peace plan is forcing him to rethink his approach and that he may withdraw his proposal.

But, he added, “Our struggle must remain nonviolent and free of hatred.”

The Dalai Lama, 54, has called for Tibetan autonomy over domestic matters, with China retaining control over military and diplomatic affairs. Beijing has rejected the formula.

At a news conference, he said the Chinese have “become even more repressive” since the announcement in October that he was receiving the award. He said several Tibetans were sentenced to up to 19 years in prison last week, “possibly . . . to intimidate the population before today’s event.”

In what was seen as a protest, China’s ambassador to Norway, Li Baocheng, left the ceremony as the Dalai Lama arrived.

The Dalai Lama, dressed in the scarlet robes of a Buddhist monk, began his acceptance speech with a brief Buddhist chant and a few remarks in his own language before switching to English.

The Dalai Lama, who was chosen at age 5 as the reincarnation of Tibet’s god-king, fled into exile in India after a failed uprising in 1959. He is the 70th recipient since the first prizes were awarded in 1901 from the estate of Alfred Nobel, the Swedish inventor of dynamite.

Spanish writer Camilo Jose Cela received the prize for literature.

Americans J. Michael Bishop and Harold E. Varmus won for medicine; Americans Norman F. Ramsey and Hans G. Dehmelt and Wolfgang Paul of West Germany for physics; Americans Sidney Altman and Thomas R. Cech for chemistry, and Trygve Haavelmo of Norway for economics.