A special envoy for Tibet’s exiled spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, has arrived in China for talks – the third such visit in three years.
The renewed contact between the two sides has been welcomed by the United States.
A US State Department spokesman says the US hopes it will lead to substantive dialogue after tentative behind-the-scenes contacts in recent months.
However, the Chinese embassy in the American capital, Washington, has played down the visit of envoy Lodi Gyari, saying it is a private visit to see relatives.
India has hosted the Dalai Lama since he fled Tibet in 1959 amid a failed uprising against Chinese rule in Tibet.
China has repeatedly demanded that the Dalai Lama stop what it sees as separatist activities, and that he state publicly that he recognises that both Tibet and Taiwan are inalienable parts of China.
