KOLKATA: Tibet does not seek independence from China but wants greater development, Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama said here on Thursday.China and Tibet enjoyed a close relationship, though there were occasional “fights”, he said at an interactive session organised by the Indian Chamber of Commerce “The past is past. We will have to look into the future,” he said. He stressed that Tibetans wanted to stay with China.“We are not seeking independence... We want to stay with China. We want more development,” the spiritual leader of the Tibetan people said.The Dalai Lama said China must respect Tibetans’ culture and heritage.“Tibet has a different culture and a different script... The Chinese people love their own country. We love our own country,” he said.Holding that no Chinese “understands what had happened in the last few decades,” he said the country had changed over the years.“With China joining the world, it has changed 40% to 50% of what it was earlier,” he said.The Dalai Lama also referred to the ecological significance of the Tibetan Plateau and recalled that a Chinese ecologist had said its environmental impact was like that of the South Pole and the North Pole.“The ecologist called it Third Pole.” He also advocated a positive relationship between India and China. “China needs India, India needs China. They have to live side by side. And there is no other way except to live peacefully and cooperate with each other. They have to do it for mutual benefit.”