New Delhi, Sep 22 (IANS): Chinese President Xi Jinping's open admission of Tibet playing a key role in China's culture is reflective of the change in the country's attitude, Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama said here Monday.

"Recently, President Xi Jinping in Paris publicly expressed the position that Buddhists have a very important role (to play) in Chinese culture. He mentioned this during his recent visit to India too," he said.

"Preservation of Tibetan Buddhist knowledge is of immense value to Chinese culture. In the last 20-30 years, no Communist leader of China has shown respect to Tibetan culture. Thing are changing," said the Nobel peace laureate.

He was speaking on "One World, One Vision, One Future".

The Dalai Lama fled to India in 1959 and was granted political asylum in the country after a failed uprising in Tibet.

"They (China) must give us genuine freedom for preservation of our culture. In long run, this will be of immense help to Chinese Buddhists," he added.

He also pointed out that some intelligentsia in China has also supported the cause of Tibet which shows that "China is changing".

Besides, the Dalai Lama said a "middle path" approach was needed to resolve the problem between Tibet and China. "Political independence is something which we will have to think about seriously."