The Dalai Lama welcomed China's offer to meet his envoy for talks after weeks of protests over Tibet
- From: Chim <ChimS1@xxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 25 Apr 2008 06:35:12 -0700 (PDT)
Dalai Lama welcomes Chinese offer for talks
by Pratap Chakravarty
47 minutes ago
NEW DELHI (AFP) - The Dalai Lama on Friday welcomed China's offer to
meet his envoy for talks after weeks of protests over Tibet and his
spokesman repeated calls from the exiled spiritual leader for dialogue
with Beijing.
China's state-run Xinhua news agency reported that talks would take
place in the coming days which the Dalai Lama's spokesman immediately
described as "a step in the right direction."
"Only face-to-face meetings can lead to a resolution of the Tibetan
issue," said spokesman Tenzin Takla.
"His holiness, since March 10 when the (anti-Chinese) protests
started, had been making all efforts to reach out to China and the
Chinese government and he hopes the Tibetan issue can be resolved only
through dialogue," Takla said by telephone from Dharamshala, where the
Tibetan spiritual leader was due to return Saturday from the United
States.
China has come under sustained foreign pressure to hold talks with the
Dalai Lama since rioting erupted in the Tibetan capital Lhasa. Six
previous rounds of talks since 2002 have yielded little or no
progress.
Beijing, which will host the Olympics in August, had previously
resisted the pressure and accused the Nobel peace price winner of
instigating the violence -- an allegation he denies.
"It is hoped that through contact and consultation, the Dalai side
will take credible moves to stop activities aimed at splitting China,
stop plotting and inciting violence and stop disrupting and sabotaging
the Beijing Olympic Games so as to create conditions for talks," an
unnamed Chinese official told Xinhua.
Takla warned continued unrest in Tibet was not in China's interest.
"We hope the Chinese do realise there is a problem in Tibet as the
Tibetan people have a deep-rooted resentment against Chinese policies
and thereby it will be in their interest to come to a resolution of
the Tibetan issue which will contribute to the stability of the
People's Republic of China," he said.
Critics accuse Beijing of political and religious oppression in Tibet.
The Tibetan government-in-exile, headquartered in the northern Indian
hill town of Dharamshala, also welcomed the development.
"If (the Xinhua report is) accurate then this is something we welcome
as there is no alternative to dialogue to resolve the Tibetan issue,"
spokesman Thubten Samphel told AFP by telephone.
The 72-year-old Dalai Lama has lived in Dharamshala since fleeing
Tibet in 1959 after an abortive uprising against Chinese rule.
Indian officials also greeted the news warmly, but an analyst warned
it could be a Chinese ploy to deflect international criticism from the
crackdown in Lhasa.
"This is definitely a step forward...," a senior foreign ministry
official said, asking not to be named.
"These talks may not lead up to much but they can put China in a more
favourable light ahead of the (Beijing) Olympics" in August, he said.
Anand Ojha, a Sino-Indian political analyst at Delhi University,
warned the invitation may prove hollow.
"Who says China has blinked? It's Chinese chequers as this invitation
takes out the wind from the Tibetans' campaign of protests ahead of
the Olympics which was a becoming a matter of huge concern for China,"
he said.
An analyst at India's military-funded think-tank the Institute of
Defence Studies and Analysis urged both sides to pursue the talks
until a resolution was found to the Tibetan demand for greater
autonomy and religious freedom.
"The talks since 2002 have not been regular and this is the time for
both sides to meet regularly and pursue the main issues for long-term
solutions," said Sujit Dutta, head of the Institute's
.
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