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United States, Britain welcomes Tibet-China new talks

AFP

Chinese paramilitary policemen patrol near the Potala palace in Lhasa in June 2008. Envoys of Tibet’s exiled spiritual leader the Dalai Lama have arrived in China after a lengthy hiatus to resume talks on the political status of the troubled Himalayan region, officials said Tuesday.File photo/AFP/Teh Eng Koon/China

Envoys of Tibet’s exiled spiritual leader the Dalai Lama have arrived in China after a lengthy hiatus to resume talks on the political status of the troubled Himalayan region, officials said Tuesday.

The US government, announcing the envoys’ arrival for the ninth round of talks, 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.”

Representatives of China’s government and the Tibetan Buddhist leader, who lives in northern India, could not be reached for immediate comment as envoys Lodi G. Gyari and Kelsang Gyaltsen prepared to meet Chinese officials.

The Dalai Lama’s spokesman, Tenzin Taklha, said Monday that the talks were part of an “important process of trying to find a mutually agreed solution”.

“The agenda of His Holiness the Dalai Lama is the same: that the problem has to be solved only through dialogue,” the spokesman said.

The negotiations will the first since November 2008, when Beijing insisted it would not compromise on its position that Tibet is an integral part of China.

But at the time, China said it would keep open the door for future discussions despite the “serious divergences” that remained.

Last week, China put forth a new plan aimed at boosting economic development and stability in the region, where deadly anti-China violence erupted nearly two years ago, prompting a major security clampdown by Beijing.

Taklha said the exact venue for the meeting in China had not been confirmed.

He 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 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.

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

Britain welcomed Monday 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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