China rejects Dalai Lama's latest plea for 'genuine autonomy'

Beijing, Nov 10 (PTI) Taking a hardline stance a week
ahead of a key Tibetan exiles' conclave, China Monday rejected
the Dalai Lama's latest plea for "genuine autonomy" for Tibet
and ruled out any territorial "concession" even as it blamed
him for failure of the just-concluded round of negotiations.

"Our contacts and talks failed to make progress and they
(the Dalai Lama's envoys) should assume full responsibility
for it," Zhu Weiqun, a vice minister of the United Front Work
Department of the ruling Communist Party of China (C.P.C.),
said.

The unification of the motherland, territorial integrity
and national dignity are the greatest interests of the Chinese
people, Zhu told a news conference.

"We will never make a concession," he asserted, a week
before a historic conclave of exiled Tibetans (November 17-22)
in Dharamsala, the seat of the Tibetan government-in-exile.
The meeting, called by the Dalai Lama is expected to decide on
the future of Tibet and floundering negotiations with Beijing.

Great importance is being attached to the meeting as this
is the third occasion after 1951 and 1959 that such a conclave
of Tibetans will be held.

But Zhu said the 73-year-old Nobel Peace Prize laureate's
demand for "genuine autonomy" for his Himalayan homeland
amounted to seeking independence in all but name.

The official said the November 5-6 talks, the eighth
round of negotiations with the Dalai Lama's "private
representatives" -- Lodi Gyari and Kelsang Gyaltsen were --
"frank and sincere," but serious differences remained.

Zhu said Lodi Gyari presented a "Memorandum for All
Tibetans to Enjoy Genuine Autonomy" to the Chinese side,
declaring that the "Tibet government-in-exile is
representative of Tibetans and their interests".

The Dalai Lama's side intentionally used many "obscure
words" in the Memorandum, indicating that he and his followers
have not given up their consistent opinions to split with
China, Zhu was quoted as saying by the official Xinhua news
agency.

The Dalai Lama suggested recently that his "middle way"
for Tibet which was short of formal independence was failing.
The futile talks between the two sides since 2002 have angered
the Tibetan exiles who are seeking independence for Tibet
contrary to the Dalai Lama's idea of "genuine autonomy" under
Chinese sovereignty.

However, the Chinese official was firm to rule out
yielding to the Dalai Lama's plea for "genuine autonomy."

Zhu said the so-called "genuine autonomy" and other
requests mentioned in the Memorandum intended to set the
Chinese central leadership against the regional ethnic
autonomy system so as to "deny, restrict and weaken" Beijing's
authority in Tibet.

He said the latest round of negotiations focused only on
how the Dalai Lama should completely give up his ideas and
actions to split with China and how he should strive to win
the "understanding" of the Central leadership.

He said the Memorandum's title and contents referred to a
"Greater Tibetan-inhabited Area" and "high degree of
autonomy".

"They are exactly the same as 'half independence' and
'independence in a disguised form', which are not tolerated in
the Constitution," Zhu said.

"The so-called 'Greater Tibet' did not exist in history,
nor does it have an actual ground," Zhu said, pointing out
that the Chinese leadership, as early as in the 1980s had told
a delegation of the Dalai Lama that it was impossible to
change Tibet into a country, to carry out a "high degree of
autonomy" or to create a larger Tibet autonomous region.

At the same time, the official said central authorities
maintained the door for the Dalai Lama's return to a patriotic
stance had always been open and would remain open in future.

"However, the door for 'Tibet independence', 'half
independence' and 'independence in a disguised form' had never
been open, nor would it be open in the future," he said.

The Dalai Lama fled Tibet following a failed 1959
uprising against Chinese rule in his Himalayan homeland.

Fresh violence erupted in the Tibetan capital Lhasa on
March 14 this year against Chinese rule, and spread to other
areas of western China.

China has accused the 73-year-old Dalai Lama, who seeks
"genuine autonomy" for Tibet, of instigating anti-Beijing
riots in Tibet and other areas, a charge he has rejected. PTI
A.K.J.