Ottawa: Tibet's exiled spiritual leader brushed off Chinese criticism of his trip to Canada, arguing today that the even the father of the Asian giant's Communist Party wrote that the party cannot survive without criticism.

Societies without criticism are like fish without water they cannot survive, the Dalai Lama said a day after his highly publicized meeting with Canada prime minister, an event that drew quick condemnation from Beijing as a "gross interference" in that country's domestic affairs.

The Dalai Lama said China's Communist Party is no different. He cited writings by the father of Chinese communism, Mao Zedong, who insisted on criticism from both inside and outside the ruling party.

"He always placed emphasis that the Communist Party needs criticism," the Dalai Lama said, as he entered a meeting a group of Canadian politicians. Using the fish-out-of-water metaphor, the spiritual leader said the "Communist Party cannot survive without criticism."

He called Mao's philosophy "very wise" but added that domestic criticism of the Chinese regime has been "wiped out."

Mao, in the mid-1950s, invited criticism of the Communist Party's policies even by non communist intellectuals with a famous saying from Chinese classical history: "Let a hundred flowers bloom, and a hundred schools of thought contend." But as criticism became more vocal, the government moved a year later to quash dissent, resulting in arrests and other punishments.

Source : PTI