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Dalai Lama envoys hold two days of talks with China

By Lobsang Wangyal | Tibet Sun

The two envoys of the Dalai Lama Lodi Gyari (R) and Kelsang Gyaltsen during a press conference on 5 July in Dharamshala. The two envoys had two days of talks with the Chinese leaders during the eighth round of talks.Tibet Sun/Lobsang Wangyal/India

The two envoys of the Dalai Lama held two days of talks with Chinese leaders in Beijing, according to an official of the Tibetan government-in-exile.

“The talks were for two days. It began yesterday morning and will end today evening,” an official in Prime Minister of the Tibetan government-in-exile Samdhong Rinpoche’s office told Tibet Sun.

The official said that the envoys will arrive in India on Thursday, 6 November.

The official confirmed that as in the earlier meetings the envoys held talks with the ministers of the United Front Work Department of the Communist Party of China, which deals with ethnic minorities and religious issues.

The Tibetan delegation have been in China since 30 October, and were earlier taken to Ningxia, a Muslim autonomous region, by the Chinese authorities to show how they handled minority issues, according to Thubten Samphel, the spokesperson of the Tibetan government-in-exile.

The Dalai Lama has expressed hopelessness regarding the talks, and called for a week-long meeting from 17 November of the leading Tibetan exiles to decide the future direction of their movement.

He has said repeatedly that he is seeking greater autonomy, not independence, for Tibet, but China accuse him as a separatist.

“Our biggest expectation from the talks is to have the Tibetan issue settled through dialogue. It is with this hope that the talks are being pursued,” Samphel said.

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