By Phurbu Thinley
Dharamsala, Feb 1 – Envoys of His Holiness the Dalai Lama returned to the Indian capital early Monday after talks with the representatives of the Chinese leadership, a spokesman for the Tibetan leader has said.
The Tibetan envoys arrived back in New Delhi after meetings with Chinese government representatives in the central state of Hunan and Beijing, the Dalai Lama’s secretary Chhime R. Chhoekyapa said.
He said Envoys Lodi G. Gyari and Kelsang Gyaltsen are expected to fly to the north Indian hill town of Dharmsala later in the day to brief the Tibetan prime minister-in-exile Samdhong Rinpoche on the details of their meetings.
Chhoekyapa has declined to provide any details of the talks.
The Chinese government has reportedly scheduled a press briefing for Tuesday.
The envoys of the Dalai Lama left for China last week to reopen talks after a break of 15 months. They were accompanied by senior assistants Tenzin P. Atisha, Bhuchung K. Tsering, both members of Tibetan Task Force on Negotiations, and Jigmey Passang from the Secretariat of the Tibetan Task Force.
While the Chinese state media remained largely silent on the resumption of the talks, Chinese government urged the Dalai Lama to “cherish” the opportunity of fresh talks with Beijing on the political status of Tibet as his envoys arrived for the discussions on Tuesday last week.
“At the request of the Dalai Lama, the relevant agencies of the central government arranged for the private representatives of the Dalai Lama to visit China and have consultations,” foreign ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu was quoted as saying by media reports.
“We hope the Dalai Lama will cherish this opportunity and respond positively to the requests of the central government,” he said, reportedly declining to make further clarifications on the matter.
Several countries, meanwhile, welcomed the resumption of talks and expressed hope that it would produce positive results in resolving the issue of Tibet in the long run.
The talks collapsed after the eighth round of talks in Nov 2008 ended without any progress.
The talks were stalled after a “Memorandum on Genuine Autonomy for the Tibetan People” submitted by the Tibetan side at the eighth round of talks met with Beijing’s derision with the Chinese side calling it a demand for ‘half-independence’ and ‘disguised independence’ or ‘covert independence’.”
Tibetan side, however, maintains that the articles of the proposed memorandum were prepared in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution of the PRC and its laws on National Regional Autonomy, and claims China has rejected the proposal without providing any “legal and rational explanations”.
