Tibet to keep to its own path with or without the Dalai Lama: official

BEIJING, Feb. 2 (Xinhua) -- Tibet will keep to its own path with or without the Dalai Lama, said a Chinese central government official Tuesday.

The central government hoped the Dalai Lama, already 75, could settle his own affairs concerning his own prospect when he was still alive and would not pass away abroad, said Zhu Weiqun, executive vice minister of the United Front Work Department of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, at a press conference here.

He suggested that his followers should ponder what they should do when the Dalai Lama departed this life.