Approximately 40 Tibetans, most of them monks at one time or another, have set themselves on fire over the last year and a half, to protest the inhuman treatment of Tibetans by the Chinese government, however ironic that may come across to you.
In response today, the Dalai Lama has said in so many words that he can neither be negative about the self-immolation by Tibetans in China to avoid insulting their families nor does he wish to give the Chinese government a political opportunity to leverage off of any comments that he might make, one way or the other. And so, the exiled spiritual leader remains neutral on a “very, very delicate political issue”.
Reading between the lines, it seems that he did comment – twice, without doing so.