Monday, May 5, 2008, Rabi-ul-Sani 28, 1429    

China, Dalai Lama envoys agree to keep talking

Shenzhen (China)—China and the Dalai Lama’s envoys agreed to keep the door open on dialogue after holding talks here Sunday, state media said, although no breakthrough in ending the Tibet crisis was reported.

The closed-door meeting was the first between the two sides in over a year and came after global leaders pressured China to reopen dialogue amid seven weeks of deadly unrest in Tibet that has marred the nation’s Olympic build-up.

“Chinese central government officials and the private representatives of the 14th Dalai Lama agreed to hold another round of contact and consultation at an appropriate time,” China’s official Xinhua news agency reported late Sunday.

However, the Chinese officials in the talks held firm on China’s previously stated conditions for dialogue to succeed, positions that the Tibetan spiritual leader has already rejected.

Xinhua did not report any major agreement between the two sides during their one day of talks on Sunday.

Tibetan officials had said the top priority for the Dalai Lama’s envoys at the talks was to end the current wave of repression in Tibet.

Ahead of the meeting, Chinese President Hu Jintao voiced hope that progress would be made in the talks.

“I hope some positive results will be achieved in the meeting,” Hu told Japanese reporters in Beijing ahead of his visit to Tokyo this week.

“Our policy toward the Dalai Lama is clear and consistent, and the door for dialogue remains open.” However, Hu also cautioned that China, which belatedly offered on April 25 to hold the talks following appeals by US President George W. Bush and other leaders, would not take the words of the Dalai Lama’s envoys at face value.