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Dalai Lama followers responsible for talks breakdown: China

by Sanjay Jha | November 11, 2008 at 03:11 am

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Latest round of talks between representatives of Tibetan leaders the Dalai Lama and Chinese officials failed without any progress. The Chinese officials blamed Tibetans for the breakdown.

The Dalai Lama, who fled to India amid a failed uprising in 1959, has followed a "middle way" approach with China, which means he wants some form of autonomy that would allow Tibetans to freely practice their culture, language and religion.

But over the weekend, he said at a public function in Dharmsala that he had "been sincerely pursuing the middle way approach in dealing with China for a long time now but there hasn't been any positive response from the Chinese side."

Relations have been particularly tense this year. In March, peaceful demonstrations against Chinese rule in Lhasa exploded into violence. Beijing says 22 people were killed in the riots, in which hundreds of shops were torched and Chinese civilians attacked.

China then launched a massive crackdown in Tibet and a broad swath of Tibetan areas in the country's west regions. Tibetan exile groups said at least 140 people died. More than 1,000 people were detained, although human rights groups say the number could be higher.

China on Monday said the Dalai Lama's followers had broken the promises made by them last June, which is the reason for the breakdown of the latest round of talks between them and the Chinese government. This is the first time the Chinese government has admitted that the talks had broken down last week.

It comes in the wake of a statement by Dalai Lama that he has lost hope in the success of talks with the Chinese government.

A senior Chinese official also challenged the claim of Dalai Lama's representatives that his government in exile in Dharmashala was representative of the Tibetan people living in China. The official did not specifically mention India as the location of the government in exile, however.

Dalai Lama's representatives promised not to support activities aimed at disturbing the Beijing Olympic Games; disassociate themselves from plots that incite violent criminal activities; curb the violent terrorist activities of the pro-secession "Tibetan Youth Congress"; and refuse to endorse any argument and activity seeking "Tibetan independence" and splitting the region from the country, the official said.

The last round of dialogue — the seventh since 2002 — ended in an impasse in July, with China demanding that the Dalai Lama prove he does not support Tibetan independence and disruption of the Olympics in August. The future round of talks seems to have gone to limbo as neither party have set any future date for the meeting.

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