Dalai Lama has affirmed that he is not seeking independence for Tibet, but would prefer a “reunion” with China under mutually acceptable terms, reports AP.

“I prefer Tibet remain within the zone of China. Some kind of reunion,” he said.

He added that Chinese and Tibetans could live side-by-side, with China helping Tibetans economically and gaining from their knowledge.

The 83-year-old Dalai Lama has been living in exile in India since a failed 1959 uprising in Tibet.

China claims Tibet has been part of its territory for more than seven centuries.

Many Tibetans insist they were essentially independent for most of that time and have protested what they regard as China’s heavy-handed rule imposed after the People’s Liberation Army’s battled its way into the Himalayan region in 1950.