New Delhi
2 May 2008
A week after the Chinese Government announced it was ready for
dialogue, two envoys of the Dalai Lama are on their way to China for talks on resolving
the unrest in Tibet and for making progress towards a mutually satisfactory solution to
the Tibetan issue.
A statement issued on Monday by Chhime R Chhoekyapa, secretary to the Dalai Lama,
said the Dalai Lama's special envoy Lodi Gyaltsen Gyari and envoy Kelsang Gyaltsen
will arrive in China on May 3 for informal talks with representatives of the Chinese
leadership."
"During their brief visit, the envoys will take up the urgent issue of the current crisis in
Tibetan areas. They will convey the Dalai Lama's deep concern about the Chinese
authorities's handling of the situation and provide suggestions to bring peace to the
region," Chhoekyapa said.
"Since the Chinese leadership has indicated publicly as well as in briefings given to
foreign governments, its position on the continuation of the dialogue, the envoys will
raise the issue of moving forward on the process for a mutually satisfactory solution to
the Tibetan issue," the statement added.
The dialogue will be the first since the March 14 uprising in Lhasa and elsewhere in
Tibet. The Chinese crackdown on Tibetan protesters has claimed at least 203 lives,
according to the Dharamsala-based Tibetan Government-in-Exile. The Chinese
Government puts the figure much lower.
It will also be the first since an envoy of the Dalai Lama held talks with Chinese
leadership, in July 2007. Anti-China protests began in Tibet and neigbouring Chinese
provinces March 10 this year. The crackdown by China has so far resulted in the deaths
of at least 203 Tibetans, according to the Tibetan-government-in-exile here.
A source familiar with New Delhi's engagement of Beijing said the talks were "expected"
as China would not want the unrest in Tibet to get out of hand, ahead of the Olympic
Games it will host in August this year. On April 25, Beijing made it known it would meet
an envoy of the Dalai Lama.
China and representatives of the Dalai Lama have held six rounds of talks so far.
A former foreign secretary, Mr Lalit Mansingh, said India still maintains an interest in
Tibet, with which she shares a border, besides historical, cultural and religious ties.
According to him, India and China are party to an agreement on Tibet remaining an
autonomous region.
"We can still maintain our agreement with China was that Tibet will be autonomous and
all we are urging is that you respect the cultural autonomy of Tibetans, which is what the
Dalai Lama is asking for. China should respect the autonomy that it itself acknowledged
in their agreement with us," he told this newspaper.
Minister of External Affairs Pranab Mukherjee has told Parliament the "Agreement
between the Republic of India and the People's Republic of China on Trade and
Intercourse between Tibet Region of China and India" lapsed in 1962. The agreement
was signed on April 29, 1954.
This newspaper had reported a former Indian diplomat, Mr Ranjit Gupta, as saying there
is no document that binds India to accept Tibet as a part of China. "All subsequent
pronouncements on Tibet as being a part of China were contained in 'joint statements',
which have no legal sanctity," Mr Gupta had said.
The United States has asled China to conduct "real" and "substantive" talks with the
Dalai Lama's envoys. "It's important that there be a renewed dialogue, and that dialogue
must be substantive so we can address, in a real way, the deep and legitimate concerns
of the Tibetan people," US President George Bush has said.
For his part, the Dalai Lama has called for "serious talks" to reduce resentment in Tibet,
otherwise holding discussions just to show to the world would be meaningless. "It
depends on what kind of talk. If they are serious talks they are most welcome. Just mere
seeing face to face is not (enough)," he said.
China has told the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader that, for the planned talks to succeed,
he must end the protests in his homeland that erupted in March after demonstrations
against five decades of Beijing's rule. China has accused the Dalai Lama of fomenting
the unrest and of doing so in an effort to sabotage the Beijing Olympics in August, while
insisting he seeks Tibetan independence.
No comments:
Post a Comment