Report: China to hold talks with Dalai Lama envoys

[October 29, 2008]  BEIJING (AP) -- China will hold a new round of talks with representatives of the Dalai Lama, state media reported Wednesday, days after the exiled spiritual leader said he had given up on persuading Beijing to allow greater autonomy for Tibet.

The Xinhua News Agency said the meeting would be held "in the near future" but did not give a specific date.

Discussions will take place despite anti-government riots this spring in the Tibetan capital of Lhasa and "some serious disruptions and sabotages to the Beijing Olympic Games by a handful of 'Tibet independence' secessionists," the report said, citing an unnamed Chinese government official. It did not elaborate.

The Dalai Lama and his government should "treasure this opportunity and make a positive response to the requirements set forth by the central authorities," the official said.

The last round of discussions -- the seventh since 2002 -- ended in an impasse in July, with China demanding that the 73-year-old Nobel peace prize winner prove he does not support Tibetan independence and disruption of the Olympics in August.

The self-proclaimed Tibetan government-in-exile, in Dharmsala in northern India, said the Dalai Lama had been "tireless" in expressing his commitment to nonviolence and had gone out of his way to publicly announce his support for the games, which were a tremendous source of national pride for Beijing.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry said Wednesday it had no details on the talks. Spokeswoman Jiang Yu on Tuesday urged the Dalai Lama to "better understand the situation, demonstrate sincerity and do something good for the Tibetan people in his lifetime."

Telephones rang unanswered at the United Front Work Department, the central government department in charge of previous meetings.

In Dharmsala, Tibetan government-in-exile spokesman Thupten Samphel said he had no immediate comment.

Wednesday's announcement came a day after Tibetan officials in India said the Dalai Lama had called a special meeting of Tibetan exile communities and political organizations next month to discuss the future amid foundering talks with China.

The five-day gathering, scheduled for mid-November, could mark a significant shift in the Tibetan strategy for confronting Beijing, which has governed the Himalayan region since communist troops occupied it in the 1950s.

The Dalai Lama, who fled to India amid a failed uprising in 1959, has followed a "middle way" approach with China, which means he wants some form of autonomy that would allow Tibetans to freely practice their culture, language and religion.

But over the weekend, he said at a public function in Dharmsala that he had "been sincerely pursuing the middle way approach in dealing with China for a long time now but there hasn't been any positive response from the Chinese side."

"As far as I'm concerned, I have given up," he said in an unusually blunt statement.

In March, peaceful demonstrations against Chinese rule in Lhasa exploded into violence. Beijing says 22 people were killed in the riots, in which hundreds of shops were torched and Chinese civilians attacked.

China then launched a massive crackdown in Tibet and a broad swath of Tibetan areas in the country's west regions. Tibetan exile groups said at least 140 people died. More than 1,000 people were detained, although human rights groups say the number could be higher.

[Associated Press; By AUDRA ANG]

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