Brussels, Belguim - The Dalai Lama said on Wednesday he was still waiting for a response from China about whether he can visit the country, which has ruled his homeland Tibet since the 1950s.
In March, the Tibetan spiritual leader said he wanted to see Buddhist landmarks in China and the country's progress since he fled Tibet in 1959 after a failed uprising against Beijing's rule.
He was in Belgium to update European Union parliamentarians and Belgian ministers on secret negotiations between Tibet's government-in-exile, based in the Indian hill town of Dharamsala, and China.
Following a news conference, he was asked whether he had concrete plans for a trip.
"Not yet, because there are no clear indications from China," he told Reuters.
A Chinese official had said last month that a trip may be possible "as long as the Dalai Lama makes clear that he has completely abandoned Tibetan 'independence'".
But the Dalai Lama emphasised at the news conference that he sought to protect Tibetan culture, spirituality and environment.
"That is what I call the middle-way approach. Not independence. Not seeking separation," he told a hall packed with reporters.
Beijing considers the Dalai Lama a traitor. Analysts say it has been committed to the dialogue in part because of fears that if the septuagenarian dies in exile, it could spark unrest among Tibetans in China, many of whom regard him as a god-king.
Commenting on the most recent rounds of talks, one former vice chairman of the region said last Friday that changing the status quo of Tibet would violate the Chinese constitution.
He also said the Dalai Lama's envoys had raised the issue of the region's borders, a subject that China could not accept. But a spokesman for the government-in-exile said Beijing was overreacting.
At the news conference, the Dalai Lama, clad in orange and red robes, spoke positively of changing Chinese attitudes toward Tibetan culture, which he said incurred "immense destruction" after Chinese forces took over the region in 1950.
"But now the Chinese -- Chinese intelligentsia, businessmen, people and artists -- more and more numbers are showing genuine interest about Tibetan culture," he said after noting that more than 5,000 monasteries had been destroyed after the Chinese takeover.
"With many difficulties they come to India, attempt (to hear) my teachings."