Talks between China and emissaries of the Dalai Lama on the issue of autonomy for Tibet have kindled hopes the thorny problem could be settled within the ageing monk’s lifetime, Tibet’s prime minister-in-exile said.
The four rounds of discussions so far — including one in Bern, Switzerland, last week — have just been talks about talks, but there was hope full negotiations could begin soon, the prime minister of the Tibetan government in exile, Samdhong Rinpoche, told AFP.
“It is only now the Chinese leadership is realising the Dalai Lama is not the problem but the key to the resolution of our problems,” Rinpoche said in Dharamsala, where the saffron-robed monk set up base after fleeing Tibet in 1959 following an abortive anti-China uprising in his homeland.
Rinpoche’s government-in-exile and the 46-member Tibetan parliament are also headquartered in this northern Indian hilltop town, as are tens of thousands of Tibetan refugees who have trickled in from the mountainous India-China borders over the years.
“The Dalai Lama now enters 71 years, but he can live a very long life,” Rinpoche said ahead of the Tibetan spiritual leader’s 70th birthday on Wednesday. “He still has (at least) 20 years, and during his lifetime the problem will find some solution.”
Direct ties between the Nobel peace laureate and China collapsed in 1993 but resumed nine years later when the two sides met in Beijing for tentative discussions on a possible return of Tibetan exiles as well as the question of autonomy for Tibet, in line with a pledge Beijing offered a year after it invaded the region in 1950.
The four rounds of discussions, Rinpoche said, had added momentum to Tibetan hopes for autonomy in their homeland.
“The first contact was the ‘Hello’ round, and the second was half-tourism-half-talks, but in the third meeting a lot of time was devoted and discussions were allowed, which helped to reduce the fear in the Chinese mind,” the 67-year-old Tibetan premier said.
“The fourth round that took place in Switzerland was in response to those questions which were raised in the third round of talks in Beijing.”
Five Tibetan representatives met Chinese officials at China’s embassy in the Swiss capital Bern on June 28 and 29, according to the Dalai Lama’s office.
“These were not negotiations but a dialogue on perceptions to find common ground, and since the exchange of views so far had been quite elaborate it is our hope that negotiations with the Chinese (will) begin any time,” said the exiled premier.
“We are not really talking about basic points but discussing (about) what points to talk so that the fundamental issues emerge in the discussions,” he said.
Rinpoche ruled out bringing in external mediators to broker peace between China and the Tibetan government-in-exile the way Norway is attempting to end a bloody separatist war in Sri Lanka.
“We don’t think it is necessary as brokers are needed when disputes are international and since we accept China’s sovereignty then the dispute is internal and will have to be resolved between ourselves,” he said.
The Dalai Lama, who was awarded the 1989 Nobel Peace Prize for his dedication to Tibet’s non-violent liberation, has given up his original demands for his homeland’s independence and instead talks of “meaningful autonomy” to preserve Tibet’s culture language and environment.
Rinpoche said that even should the Dalai Lama die before a settlement were achieved, the fight for autonomy would continue.
“The Dalai Lama’s absence will definitely be a serious blow, cause a setback if the problem is not resolved in his lifetime but it will not be the end of our struggle,” said the monk-premier, who has taught Buddhist philosophy in the northern Indian town of Varanasi for 30 years.
“He has spent 46 years in exile and has fully democratised the administration so there’ll be no problems,” Rinpoche said.
