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China offers fresh talks to envoys of Dalai Lama

Beijing: China on Sunday announced it would hold a new round of talks with envoys of the Dalai Lama in early July, ahead of U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice’s meetings with the top leadership here.

It will be the second time that the two sides will meet after Tibet was rocked in March by riots.

The first round of talks was held on May 4 in Shenzen. The talks remained inconclusive and both sides had agreed to meet again though no fixed date was given.

“We hope that the Dalai Lama would treasure this opportunity and give a positive response to the requirements of the central authorities,” a government spokesman said, while announcing the second round of talks for which no specific date or venue was mentioned.

“Our door is always open for dialogue with the Dalai Lama,” the unnamed spokesman, who said the talks were at the request of the Tibetan leader, was quoted as saying by the Xinhua news agency.

China has repeatedly accused the Dalai Lama, 72, of having orchestrated the violent riots in Tibet and elsewhere that marred the Beijing Olympic torch relay, but the self-exiled spiritual leader has denied the charge.

The announcement came as Ms. Rice, the first high ranking U.S. official to visit China after the Tibet riots, visited the country’s quake-hit areas. She is scheduled meet President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao on Monday.

The Chinese spokesman said Beijing had kept a “constant and clear policy towards the Dalai Lama.”

The second round of dialogue between the Chinese government representatives and envoys of the Dalai Lama did not materialise following the May 12 earthquake that struck southwest China’s Sichuan province, killing nearly 70,000 people.

Prior to the first round of talks, China had insisted that the Dalai Lama must take “credible steps” to stop activities aimed at splitting the country and cease attempts to “sabotage” the Olympics to create conditions for the dialogue. The Dalai Lama has maintained that he only wanted autonomy for Tibet and supported the Olympics.

China said the violence in the Tibetan capital Lhasa claimed 20 lives while the Tibetan groups put the toll many times higher.

During the first round of talks, Beijing said the riots were against the “will of the people” and it was “completely correct” for the local government to take action in accordance with the law to maintain social stability and safeguard the country’s legal system. — PTI

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