Dalai Lama reopen links with Beijing

Buddhist protesters shout during a demonstration in front of the Foreign Ministry building in central Moscow September 10, 2002. Demonstrators gathered to protest against Russia’s decision not to allow the Dalai Lama, spiritual leader of the world’s Buddhists, to visit the country for fear of offending long-standing ally China.

BEIJING – Two envoys from the Dalai Lama are in Beijing to reopen official contacts with the Chinese government for the first time since 1993, a spokesman for Tibet’s exiled spiritual leader said on Tuesday. The visit by special envoy Lodi Gyaltsen Gyari and envoy Kelsang Gyaltsen, who arrived in Beijing on Monday last week, reflected a softening in China’s policy towards the Dalai Lama since a major Tibet policy review last year. The two sides were expected to discuss holding further talks, possibly covering a visit to China by the Dalai Lama, but were unlikely to resolve the main obstacle — Beijing’s demand that he recognise that Tibet and Taiwan are part of China, they said.

The envoys and two assistants would also travel to the Tibetan capital, Lhasa, said Tenzin Taklha, deputy secretary to the Dalai Lama.

„His Holiness is very pleased the team is able to make such a visit,“ he told Reuters from the north Indian town of Dharamsala, where the Dalai Lama has run his government in exile since fleeing Tibet in 1959 after an uprising against Chinese rule. „He has always been trying to start some sort of dialogue with the Chinese government,“ said Taklha. „He is not seeking independence. He is seeking the middle way, which is genuine autonomy.“

China, which imposed Communist rule on Tibet in 1950, established direct contacts with the Dalai Lama in 1979 but broke off official dialogue in 1993. Beijing has demanded the Dalai Lama abandon what it calls his desire for independence and separatist activities and recognise Tibet and Taiwan are part of China before political dialogue can begin. The Dalai Lama has said for several years he is seeking greater autonomy, not independence, but has made no comment on China’s other demands. He has accused Beijing of conducting widespread human rights abuses and swamping his homeland with ethnic Chinese in a bid to destroy Tibetan culture.

China has been under pressure from several Western governments, principally the United States, to reopen dialogue with the Dalai Lama.

The Dalai Lama, 67, who won the 1989 Nobel Peace prize for his non-violent campaign against Chinese rule, is revered by Tibetans inside and outside the Himalayan region despite repeated Chinese campaigns to stamp out their loyalty to him. (Reuters)