78. Dalai Lama envoys land in China for secretive talks

Reuters - February 15, 2006 By Lindsay Beck

BEIJING Wed Feb 15, 2006 (Reuters) - Envoys of Tibet's spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, arrived in China on Wednesday for secretive talks on allowing more autonomy for the Buddhist region, Tibet's government-in-exile said. It was the fifth round of talks since contacts between China and the Dalai Lama's representatives resumed in 2002, but there have so far been no concrete results of a process the Chinese government does not even openly acknowledge exists. "Our ultimate hope is to resolve the issue of Tibet on the basis of negotiated settlement with the Chinese leadership so that Tibet people will have the freedom to preserve what is important to us, which is our cultural identity," Thubten Samphel, spokesman for the government-in-exile, said. The Dalai Lama fled Lhasa in 1959 after a failed uprising against Chinese rule, nine years after Communist troops invaded the remote, mountainous region. Although Beijing considers him a traitor, many Tibetans still remain loyal to the figure they regard as a god-king. % Thubten Samphel said that at the previous round of talks with the Chinese in Switzerland last year there was "very intensive, frank discussion". "This gives us hope that these contacts will deepen and eventually lead to peaceful settlement of the issue of Tibet," he said by telephone from Dharamsala, the Indian hill station where the Dalai Lama is based. RALLYING POINT China's United Front Work Department, which has represented the Chinese side in past rounds, declined to comment. But analysts say China is committed to the dialogue in part because it fears that if the Dalai Lama, who is now 70, dies in exile, it could create a rallying point for Tibetans unhappy with Chinese rule and leave a destabilizing leadership vacuum. That could also strengthen support among Tibetans for full independence, especially among youth frustrated with the Dalai Lama's "middle way" approach that advocates autonomy for Tibet as a part of China. Those pressures are keeping the dialogue afloat, despite of its glacial pace, analysts say. "The Tibetan side have been keen that they're not going to come back unless they're convinced this is moving forward as a process," said one Western diplomat. But the diplomat also cautioned that a resolution to the bitter dispute was likely to be a long way off. In what some saw as a confidence-building measure ahead of the dialogue, thousands of Buddhist pilgrims from Tibet and China attended a prayer meeting in India last month alongside the Dalai Lama. Groups of ethnic Tibetans in western China have since burned skins of endangered animals, following statements made by the Dalai Lama at the ceremony emphasizing wildlife protection and calling on Tibetans not to wear illegal furs and skins. "It's a testament to the continued influence of the Dalai Lama," said Kate Saunders of the International Campaign for Tibet, who attended the prayer meeting. The Dalai Lama also spoke publicly at the ceremony about the dialogue with China. "For many Tibetans it was the first time they had heard about it," Saunders said. "There were thousands listening in complete silence." Dalai's envoys in China for 5th round of secret talks on Tibet PTI, India - February 15, 2006 China and envoys of the Dalai Lama are set to begin a new round of secret talks on the vexed Tibet issue, including more autonomy to the remote Himalayan region and the return of the exiled Buddhist leader to his homeland. The Dalai Lama's envoys Lodi Gyaltsen Gyari and Kelsang Gyaltsen arrived in China today for the fifth round of talks on the Tibet issue, Tibet's government-in-exile said in a press statement, describing the previous meetings as "candid and serious". It said The Dalai Lama's envoys received their final instructions from the Tibetan spiritual leader yesterday in Bodh Gaya, where he is on a visit. "His Holiness is pleased that the present round of talks, which began in 2002, is the longest process of continued interaction that we have had with the leadership in Beijing." "For the last four meetings, the envoys have had very candid and serious discussion with their counterparts in the Chinese leadership," the statement said. The Chinese Foreign Ministry also admitted the presence of the Dalai Lama's envoys in the country, but downplayed the visit saying it was in their "private capacities" to have a "clear understanding" on Beijing's policies on the vexed Tibet issue. "The Chinese government cares for the future of overseas Tibetan compatriots. Since the 1980s, 70,000 overseas Tibetan compatriots returned to China for visit," its spokesman Liu Jianchao said. "Over recent years, Lodi Gyari and other people have returned to the motherland of China many times to visit their relatives and friends during which they witnessed the development and changes of the motherland and in their hometown and had a clear understanding of the relevant policy of the central government," Liu told PTI. "Recently, Chinese competent authorities again approved their visit to the motherland in their private capacities," the spokesman said, indicating that Beijing is still not ready to publicly acknowledge the existence of the secretive talks on Tibet's future. The in-camera talks between senior officials from the United Front Work Department and the Dalai Lama's envoys are expected to cover sensitive issues like more autonomy for the Himalayan region and the return of the exiled Buddhist leader to his homeland, analysts said. Direct talks between the Dalai Lama and Beijing were abruptly cut off in 1993 and were renewed only in 2002. The fourth round and the first-ever talks between the Dalai Lama's envoys and Chinese officials outside the country were held in the Swiss capital Berne in July last year. So far there has been no visible result accruing from the in-camera talks other than the fact that the Dalai Lama's envoys had the chance to meet with their family members in Tibet and get first-hand information on China's economic progress. China often describes the 1989 Nobel Peace Prize winner as a "separatist" engaged in "splitting" Tibet from rest of the motherland.