Dharamsala, April 6 (IANS): Why did US President Barack Obama call the Dalai Lama a friend? It was because he is constantly smiling, said the Tibetan spiritual leader.

"My smile," the Dalai Lama, who is currently visiting Japan, told a reporter there on Sunday, who asked him: "Obama called you a friend; what's your secret?"

"And that I try to be honest and truthful," added the Nobel Peace Laureate.

About Xi Jinping, he mentioned that the Chinese president had said last year in Paris and New Delhi that Buddhism has an important contribution to make to Chinese culture.

Calling it a suprising statement from a leader whose party believes that religion is the opiate of the masses, the Dalai Lama said that it is related to what other Chinese intellectuals have told him that ethics in China is at its lowest point for 5,000 years. It is narrow-minded totalitarianism that is really like an opiate, he added.

He contended that the 1.2 billion Chinese people not only have a right to realistic information, but having found it, have the ability to judge right from wrong.

The Dalai Lama has lived in India since fleeing his homeland Tibet in 1959.