Published January 13, 2015
Envoys of the Dalai Lama left Monday after a day of talks with Chinese officials that ended in an agreement to meet again, an apparent sign of progress in easing tensions raised by violent anti-government riots in Tibet.
Prime Minister Samdhong Rinpoche of the India-based Tibetan government-in-exile said that he didn't expect definitive results from the meeting that ended Sunday but was happy for dialogue to continue.
"Both sides have agreed to continue the dialogue process," he said, adding that details on future meetings will come later.
"Like we said before, we're not expecting much outcome from these talks but this is a slow process and we are happy to continue the dialogue," he told reporters in Dharmsala, India.
Chinese state television and Xinhua News Agency also said a second round of talks had been agreed on.
CCTV said on its noon news broadcast that the two Tibetan envoys had to report back to the Dalai Lama in India and that both sides "agreed to meet again at a suitable time."
Xinhua said, however, that the Chinese officials told the Dalai Lama's envoys at their meeting Sunday that the protests had spawned new obstacles to communication.
International critics have accused China of heavy-handed tactics in quelling the anti-government riots and protests in Tibet and Tibetan areas of western China. Some experts believe Beijing agreed to meet with the envoys to defuse that criticism ahead of the Beijing Olympics in August.
The talks were held in the booming city of Shenzhen, near Hong Kong, but neither side commented to a large group of foreign reporters waiting outside a palm tree-lined statehouse venue.
Xinhua said the Chinese officials "answered patiently" questions raised by the Dalai Lama's envoys.
But Xinhua added that the Chinese officials told the envoys the violent protests in March "had given rise to new obstacles for resuming contacts and consultations with the Dalai side."
But even as the talks took place, China kept up its verbal attacks on the Dalai Lama, whom Beijing has blamed for fomenting the unrest. The Dalai Lama has repeatedly denied the accusation.
"The central government hoped that to create conditions for the next round of contact and consultation, the Dalai side would take credible moves to stop activities aimed at splitting China, stop plotting and inciting violence and stop disrupting and sabotaging the Beijing Olympic Games," Xinhua said on Monday.
State media gave no other details of the talks, but in previous rounds that broke down in 2006, officials from the Dalai Lama's side brought up such issues as redrawing Tibet's boundaries to include Tibetans living in other areas. There has also been talk of confidence-building measures such as having the Dalai Lama visit China.
China also put its choice for the reincarnation of the Panchen Lama, Tibetan Buddhism's second-highest figure, on state television Monday to praise the ruling Communist Party.
"I deeply pray for the successful holding of the Olympics. Under the leadership of the great Chinese Communist Party, Tibet will definitely get more prosperous, and lives of Tibetan people will become nicer and happier," Gyaltsen Norbu said.
Gyaltsen Norbu is not widely accepted by Tibetans as the Panchen Lama. In May 1995, the Dalai Lama chose 6-year-old Gendun Choekyi Nyima as the 11th Panchen Lama. The boy and his family disappeared soon after and have not been heard from since. Human rights groups say the boy has been under house arrest since, a claim China denies although officials refuse to say where he is.
China says 22 people died in violence in Tibet's capital of Lhasa in March, while overseas Tibet supporters say many times that number died in protests and a subsequent crackdown.
The Dalai Lama, who fled Tibet during a failed uprising in 1959, says he is seeking meaningful autonomy for Tibet rather than independence from Chinese rule.
https://www.foxnews.com/story/china-agrees-to-second-round-of-talks-with-dalai-lamas-envoys