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China urges Dalai Lama to 'cherish' new talks

By Marianne Barriaux | AFP

Tibetan Buddhist Nuns shout anti-Chinese slogans during a protest in New Delhi in late December. China has urged the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, on Tuesday to “cherish” the opportunity of fresh talks with Beijing on the political status of the Himalayan region as the spiritual leader’s envoys arrived for discussions in the Chinese capital.File photo/AFP/Raveendran/India

China urged the Dalai Lama on Tuesday to “cherish” the opportunity of fresh talks with Beijing on the political status of Tibet as the spiritual leader’s envoys arrived for the discussions.

Representatives of China’s government and the exiled Tibetan Buddhist leader prepared to meet for their ninth round of talks over the remote Himalayan region after a hiatus of more than a year.

“At the request of the Dalai Lama, the relevant agencies of the central government arranged for the private representatives of the Dalai Lama to visit China and have consultations,” foreign ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu said.

“We hope the Dalai Lama will cherish this opportunity and respond positively to the requests of the central government,” he added, declining to answer further questions on the matter.

The talks will be the first since November 2008, when the Tibetans handed over a memorandum insisting their demands for autonomy in the mountainous Buddhist enclave were in line with China’s constitution.

Beijing said at the time it would not compromise on its position that Tibet is an integral part of China, but said it would keep open the door for future discussions despite “serious divergences” between the two sides.

China has released no other information on the talks, including their location. They are typically held in great secrecy.

The US government expressed its strong backing for the on-off negotiations.

“The United States strongly supports dialogue between China and the Dalai Lama’s representatives to address longstanding differences,” State Department spokesman Philip Crowley said in a statement.

“The administration hopes this meeting will produce positive results and provide a foundation for future discussions to resolve outstanding issues.”

The Dalai Lama’s spokesman, Tenzin Taklha, said Monday that the talks to be attended by envoys Lodi G Gyari and Kelsang Gyaltsen were part of an “important process of trying to find a mutually agreed solution”.

Taklha said the envoys would return to Dharamshala, the Indian hill town where the Dalai Lama has lived for five decades and where many Tibetan exiles are based, in early February.

China had said last year it would consider reviving the dialogue, which began in 2002, but has often repeated demands that the Tibetan leader renounce “separatist” activities—which he denies supporting.

The Dalai Lama has sought “meaningful autonomy” for Tibet since he fled his homeland following a failed uprising in 1959 against Chinese rule, nine years after Chinese troops invaded the region.

China says the Dalai Lama actually wants full independence.

Earlier this month, China named as its new Tibet governor a military veteran who vowed to ensure stability in the region, where deadly anti-China violence erupted nearly two years ago, prompting a major security clampdown by Beijing.

Then last week, President Hu Jintao said “leapfrog development” and lasting regional stability were key to ensuring the development of China as a whole, promising to bring Tibet’s per capita income closer to the national level.

On Monday, Britain welcomed the resumption of the talks.

“I urge both sides to enter these talks in good faith and to make progress towards meaningful autonomy for Tibet,” said junior foreign minister Ivan Lewis, who in September made the first trip to Tibet by a British minister.

Copyright © 2010 AFP

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