REPRESENTATIVES of the Dalai Lama were arriving in Hong Kong yesterday, ahead of the first meetings with Chinese officials since violent anti-government protests erupted in Tibet.
Prime minister Samdhong Rimpoche of the Tibetan government-in-exile based in Dharmsala, India, said talks would begin today in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen, a neighbour of Hong Kong.
The Dalai Lama's representatives, Lodi Gyari and Kelsa
ng Gyaltsen, would convey "deep concerns" over China's handling of the situation in Tibet since protests broke out in March and would put forward "suggestions to bring peace to the region", the Tibetan government-in-exile said. It called the meetings "informal talks with representatives of the Chinese leadership".
China has faced mounting calls to negotiate with the Dalai Lama, and some experts believe Beijing agreed to meet to ease pressure ahead of the Olympics, which start in August.
The Tibet talks were not mentioned yesterday in China's state-run media, but two articles continued to accuse the Dalai Lama and his supporters of organising riots with the aim of breaking the far western Himalayan region of Tibet away from Chinese rule.
"The hope of realising Tibetan independence by the Dalai clique has become dimmer and dimmer. When their hopes shattered, the Dalai clique launched bloody violence. This was their last act of madness," the Tibet Daily said.
The Dalai Lama, who fled Tibet amid a failed uprising in 1959, says he is seeking meaningful autonomy for Tibet rather than independence from Chinese rule. He has decried "cultural genocide" in his homeland, which has a unique Buddhist tradition distinct from the rest of China.
The Dalai Lama is deeply revered by Tibetans. Men in that position have traditionally been regarded as both the spiritual and political leader of Tibetan Buddhists. Thubten Samphal, spokesman for the Tibetan government-in-exile, has said the Dalai Lama's envoys will meet with the head of China's United Front Work Department during their visit.
The department is designed to deal with influential people in groups outside China's Communist Party and sway them into taking the party's side. It is directly under the Communist Party's central committee and often deals with issues related to Tibet and Taiwan.
The United Front Work Department hosted earlier talks between the two sides. China and representatives of the Dalai Lama's government-in-exile held six rounds of inconclusive talks that foundered in 2006.
Since the last talks, the department has gained a new boss, Du Qinglin, a former minister of agriculture who more recently ran Sichuan province, where there is a large Tibetan population.
China says 22 people died in violence in Tibet's capital of Lhasa in March, while overseas Tibet supporters say many times that number have been killed in protests and the security crackdown across Tibetan regions of western China.
The full article contains 475 words and appears in Scotland On Sunday newspaper.
