China, Dalai Lama envoys in Beijing for talks
It was the fifth round of talks since contacts between China and the Dalai Lama's representatives resumed in 2002. "Our ultimate hope is to resolve peacefully this issue", spokesman for the government-in-exile said.
Beijing (AsiaNews/Agencies) - Envoys of Tibet's spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, arrived in China on Wednesday for secretive talks on allowing more autonomy for the Buddhist region, Tibet's government-in-exile said.
It was the fifth round of talks since contacts between China and the Dalai Lama's representatives resumed in 2002, but there has so far been no concrete results of a process the Chinese government does not even publicly acknowledge exists.
"Our ultimate hope is to resolve the issue of Tibet on the basis of negotiated settlement with the Chinese leadership so that Tibet people will have the freedom to preserve what is important to us, which is our cultural identity," Thubten Samphel, spokesman for the government-in-exile, said.
The Dalai Lama fled Lhasa in 1959 after a failed uprising against Chinese rule, nine years after Communist troops invaded the remote, mountainous region.
Although Beijing considers him a traitor, many Tibetans still remain loyal to the figure they regard as a god-king.
Thubten Samphel said that at the previous round of talks with the Chinese in Switzerland last year there was "very intensive, frank discussion".
"This gives us hope that these contacts will deepen and eventually lead to peaceful settlement of the issue of Tibet," he said by telephone from Dharamsala, the Indian hill station where the Dalai Lama is based.
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16/03/2006
