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In Shift, China Offers to Meet With Dalai Lama Envoys
By Jim Yardley
The New York Times
Saturday 26 April 2008
Beijing - China appeared to bend to international pressure on Friday
as the government announced it would meet with envoys of the Dalai Lama, an
unexpected shift that comes as violent Tibetan demonstrations in western China
have threatened to cast a pall over the Beijing Olympics in August.
China's announcement, made through the country's official news
agency, provided few details about the shape or substance of the talks but said
the new discussions would commence "in the coming days." The breakthrough
comes as Chinese officials have pivoted this week and moved to tamp down the
domestic nationalist anger unleashed by the Tibetan crisis and by the protests
at the international Olympic torch relay.
"In view of the requests repeatedly made by the Dalai side for resuming
talks, the relevant department of the central government will have contact and
consultation with Dalai's private representative in the coming days,"
said an unidentified Chinese official, according to Xinhua, the official news
agency.
The Dalai Lama, the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader, was returning to India
from the United States on Friday. He has repeatedly called for renewed talks
with Chinese officials and last month sent a letter to China's president,
Hu Jintao. Earlier this month, he hinted in Seattle that a back-channel discussion
was already under way. On Friday, his spokesman, Tenzin Taklha, said: "Since
His Holiness is committed to dialogue, we would welcome this."
The spokesman added that the Dalai Lama had not yet received any official communication
from China. "We also have to look at when the offer does officially arrive,"
he said from Dharamshala, India, the seat of the Tibetan government-in-exile.
"We have to look at conditions they are talking about."
For weeks, Chinese officials have castigated the Dalai Lama in harsh language
and blamed him for orchestrating the violent Tibetan protests that erupted March
14 in Lhasa and then spread across other Tibetan regions of western China. The
Dalai Lama has denied any involvement in the demonstrations and denounced the
violence, if also criticizing China for its crackdown against protesters.
China's tough stance came as international leaders, including President
Bush, have described the Dalai Lama as a man of peace and called on China to
resume a dialogue with his envoys that began in 2002 but then broke off last
summer after six rounds of talks. Those talks, focused on the future status
of Tibet and whether the Dalai Lama will be allowed to return to China, never
made significant progress.
The timing of China's announcement suggests that party leaders hope to
defuse the international criticism that has steadily mounted since the Tibetan
protests began. In Europe, criticism is particularly strong as several government
leaders have announced they will not attend the opening ceremony of the Olympic
Games. Anti-China protesters caused violent disruptions to the Olympic torch
relay in London and Paris, forcing relay organizers to change the route in other
cities out of security concerns. China supporters have responded by flooding
to the relay route.
"I believe the important question is whether China is doing this as a
public relations maneuver to respond to international pressure before the Olympic
Games," said Wang Lixiong, a scholar in Beijing who has criticized government
policy in Tibet. "They want the Dalai Lama to help them relieve pressure
before the Olympics. But is it a sincere move, or just a public relations move?"
Shi Yinhong, a professor of international relations at People's University
in Beijing, said the Chinese government does not want the talks to be "interpreted
as a concession under duress." He predicted that any discussions would
be unlikely to bring meaningful breakthroughs.
"I doubt that both sides will change their fundamental positions,"
Mr. Shi said. "If there is dialogue, this is dialogue for the sake of
dialogue. Maybe both sides only want to impress the Western audience."
China has long condemned the Dalai Lama as a "splittist" who is
pursuing Tibetan independence, even as the Dala Lama long ago disavowed Tibetan
independence and has instead called for "genuine autonomy" within
China. Chinese spokesmen often say the government would be willing to resume
dialogue with the Tibetan spiritual leader but only if he shows "sincerity"
in renouncing separatism and on other issues.
"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," the unidentified Chinese
official said in Friday's official announcement.
Tenzin Taklha, the Tibetan spokesman, denounced these conditions as "basically
baseless," noting that the Dalai Lama has not sought independence since
1974 and supported holding the Olympics in Beijing, even after the violence
erupted last month. "We have no preconditions," he said. "We're
not saying these are conditions to talk. It's a cause of concern for us
to see repression is still continuing inside Tibet."
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Somini Sengupta contributed reporting from New Delhi and Jake Hooker
contributed reporting from Beijing. Huang Yuanxi contributed research from Beijing.
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