China seeking ‘positive outcome’ from Tibet talks

SHENZHEN, China - China’s president said he was hoping for “positive results” from talks with envoys of the Dalai Lama, which opened on Sunday, but state media kept up a barrage of attacks on Tibet’s exiled spiritual leader.
“(I) hope contacts this time will yield positive results,” China’s state news agency Xinhua quoted Hu Jintao as saying.
The fence-mending talks between Chinese officials and the two aides of the Dalai Lama, the first since an eruption of Tibetan protests and deadly riots in March, began behind closed doors in the city of Shenzhen, near Hong Kong.
The unrest, the most serious challenge to Chinese rule in the mountainous region for nearly two decades, prompted anti-China protests around the world that disrupted the international leg of the Olympic torch relay and led to calls for Western leaders to boycott August’s Beijing Games.
“When determining a person’s position, we must not only listen to what he says but also watch his deeds,” Hu told a group of Japanese reporters in Beijing ahead of his Japan visit.
“The door to dialogue has always been open. We sincerely hope the Dalai side can show through action that they have genuinely stopped separatist activities, stopped plots to incite violence and stopped to sabotage the Beijing Olympics,” Hu said.
These would “create conditions for the next round of dialogue”, Hu added.
Security was tight outside the Shenzhen state guest house where the talks were believed to have been held, and reporters were not allowed into the compound.
“The meeting took place this morning. It will continue tomorrow and possibly the day after ... We are expecting them back on the 7th or 8th (of May),” Tenzin Taklha, a senior aide to the Dalai Lama, told Reuters on Sunday.
“We hope the Chinese are serious about the talks and we are hopeful that the Chinese are willing to look into the problems in Tibet.”
Xinhua identified the Chinese negotiators as Zhu Weiqun and Sitar, both vice-ministers of the Communist Party’s United Front Work and responsible for winning over religious leaders and ethnic minorities.
Lodi Gyari and Kelsang Gyaltsen, the Dalai Lama’s representatives in Washington and Switzerland respectively, arrived in China on Saturday.
A commentary in the Tibet Daily, mouthpiece of the Tibet regional government, accused the Dalai Lama of being a “loyal tool of international anti-Chinese forces” and attempting to split Tibet from China.
EXPECTATIONS LOW
Some analysts said the repeated condemnations in the run-up to the talks suggested that China was in no mood to compromise following the riots in Tibet, which stoked Western criticism of its rule there.
The India-based Tibetan government-in-exile has said it ”can’t have great expectations” from the talks.
There have been six rounds of dialogue between China and the Dalai Lama’s envoys since 2002, with no breakthrough.
China proposed the latest talks last month after Western governments urged it to open new dialogue with the Dalai Lama, who says he wants a high level of autonomy, not independence, for the predominantly Buddhist Himalayan homeland he fled in 1959.
The Dalai Lama also says that he objects to violence and supports the Beijing Olympics. China says he is insincere.
China says the rioting in Tibet’s capital, Lhasa, in March killed 18 “innocent civilians” and a police officer. It has not specified how many, if any, protesters have died but says troops used maximum restraint and avoided using lethal weapons.
Exiled groups say many more Tibetans have died in a crackdown on rioters. The government-in-exile estimated last week that 203 Tibetans might have died in the unrest since March 10.