Dalai Lama expects talks with China to resume next month

Dharamsala, May 13: Tibetan spiritual leader, The Dalai Lama, has said that he expects formal talks between his envoys and their Chinese counterparts to resume next month.

"Now, the time has come for the Chinese government to conduct a thorough realistic review. They have poured in billions. But they have failed to bring satisfaction to Tibetan life. They have to find out what's wrong," The New York Times quoted him, as saying.

Asked repeatedly whether he expected China to negotiate in good faith, or engage in talks simply in an effort to deflect mounting international criticism before the Beijing Olympics, the Dalai Lama demurred. "Too early to say," he said.

The Dalai Lama is scheduled to fly to Germany this week and then Britain, where he is to meet Prime Minister Gordon Brown at Lambeth Palace and convince him to shore up international support for the Tibetan cause for greater autonomy.

The Dalai Lama, for his part, has conceded that reaching out to foreign government officials can be "complicated" because it riles the government in Beijing.

He expressed no particular optimism for what the next talks with China could produce, as 30 years of on-and-off negotiations with Beijing have yielded nothing - but he said dialogue opened up at least a "possibility" of a breakthrough.

The Dalai Lama has in the past admitted to feeling helpless to stop the troubles inside Tibet, and yet, with the Olympics around the corner, never has his movement had this kind of opportunity to extract real change.


Copyright Asian News International