‘She should be more attractive’: Dalai Lama’s remark on the possibility of a female successor faces backlash

The Dalai Lama has accused US President Donald Trump of lacking "moral principle", in a wide-ranging BBC interview in which the Tibetan spiritual leader said that any female successor should be attractive.

In an interview with BBC News, the Nobel Peace Prize winner told the BBC News from his exile in Dharamsala in northern India that if his successor is a woman then she should be attractive.

"If female Dalai Lama comes, then she should be more attractive," he said. "If [a] female Dalai Lama, I think, [people would] prefer not [to] see her, that face."

The interviewer told Dalai Lama that his statement can bring a lot of attention and can be misconstrued, to which he said, "Yes, I think both. Real beauty is inner beauty. That is true. But we, human beings, [for us] appearance is also important."

Talking about Trump, he said: "One day he says something, another day he says something," the 83-year-old Buddhist monk said of the US president. "But I think (there is a) lack of moral principle." 

"When he became president he expressed 'America First'. That is wrong. America they should take the global responsibility," the Dalai Lama said, adding that Trump's emotions are "also a little bit... too complicated".

He also reiterated his views on immigration into Europe, saying that only a "limited number" of refugees should be allowed to stay.

"One day he says something, another day he says something," the 83-year-old Buddhist monk said of the US president. "But I think (there is a) lack of moral principle." 

"When he became president he expressed 'America First'. That is wrong. America they should take the global responsibility," the Dalai Lama said, adding that Trump's emotions are "also a little bit... too complicated".

"The European countries should take these refugees and give them education and training, and then aiming is returning to their own land," he said.

"But whole Europe eventually become Muslim country? Impossible. Or African country. Also impossible... Keep Europe for Europeans," he said.

The Dalai Lama has made India his home since fleeing Tibet in 1959, and has been a thorn in Beijing's side ever since.

China brands him a "wolf in a monk's robe" and accuses him of trying to split China.

He told the BBC however that he believes China "is changing", saying he has had contact "entirely privately" with retired Chinese officials and scholars who have connections with the Beijing government.

"I think the Chinese themselves is changing their attitude," he said, adding that President Xi Jinping had "not yet" asked for a meeting.

(With inputs from PTI)