Dalai's envoys, China to resume crucial talks on Tibet issue

Beijing/Dharamshala, Oct 30 (PTI) China and envoys of the Dalai Lama are to hold a crucial new round of secret talks in Beijing from Friday on the vexed Tibet issue but prospects of any breakthrough appeared bleak with both sides unwilling to relent from their stated positions.

The talks, the eighth round since 2002 and the first
after Beijing successfully hosted the Olympics in August, come
amid concerns about the 73-year-old Dalai Lama's deteriorating
health and the dwindling possibility of a mutually acceptable
settlement to the Tibet issue.

The negotiations will take place ahead of a six-day
conclave of Tibetans in Macleodganj from November 17 to review
the situation in Tibet in the light of recent statements from
Beijing.

Two envoys of the Dalai Lama left for Beijing Thursday
amid fresh acrimony between the two sides after the exiled
Tibetan spiritual leader said he has "given up" on the
dialogue process and that Tibetans should rethink their
strategy.

The special representatives -- Kasur Lodi Gyaltsen and
Kelsang Gyaltsen -- the Dalai Lama's envoys in Washington and
Switzerland respectively, are expected to hold talks with the
ruling Communist Party's United Front Work Department, which
deals with ethnic minorities and religious issues.

Tenzin Takhla, secretary and spokesman of the Dalai Lama
in Dharamshala, told P.T.I. that the talks will take place in
Beijing tomorrow but the duration will depend on "positive"
outcome of the deliberations.

While the Dalai Lama has been pressing for "greater
autonomy" in Tibet under Chinese rule, Beijing has questioned
his motives and even describes him as a 'separatist'.

China insists that if the Dalai Lama wants to hold talks
with it, he should recognise that Tibet is an inseparable part
of China.

This will be the third round of talks this year after
anti-China protests erupted in Tibet and other parts of the
world ahead of the Beijing Olympics in August.

The Tibetan envoys, who had been representing the 1989
Nobel Peace Prize laureate since the start of the talks
between the two sides in 2002, had their final briefing from
Prime Minister of the Tibetan government-in-exile Samdhong
Rinpoche on the stance to be taken.

The two sides have had seven rounds of talks with
Chinese officials on Tibet's future as well as on the possible
return of the Dalai Lama to his homeland, from where he fled
to India in 1959 after a failed uprising against Beijing's
rule.

The previous rounds of talks have not yet produced any
positive outcome to the vexed Tibet issue as well as on the
Dalai Lama's possible return to his Himalayan homeland.

The Dalai Lama had last week said that he has "given
up" on efforts to convince China to allow greater autonomy for
Tibet under its rule and called a special meeting of Tibetans
to discuss ways to resolve the vexed issue.

Tibetan exiles are apparently frustrated with the lack of
progress in talks with China.

Interestingly, it is only the third occasion after 1951
and 1959 that such a conclave of Tibetans has been planned,
Tibetan officials said, adding alternative options would be
discussed to take forward Tibetans' struggle in view of China
was not showing any "positive" inclination to the Dalai Lama's
middle-way approach. PTI AKJ