BEIJING – China says communication lines with the Dalai Lama are open after visits by envoys of Tibet’s exiled Buddhist spiritual leader, another sign of a thaw in relations that have been deadlocked for a decade.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Kong Quan said on Thursday the Tibetans — whom he did not call envoys — had returned several times since last year for visits that would help them to understand better “changes that have occurred in the country”.
“This method proves that there is contact between the central government and the Dalai Lama. The lines of communications are open,” he said after a four-member team returned to India from a two-week visit to China.
“We hope this will help the Dalai Lama himself to correctly and comprehensively understand the situation in China and make a correct choice,” he said after the second visit by the Dalai Lama’s representatives since September.
But he added: “The central government’s policy toward the Dalai Lama is consistent, clear and unchanged.”
The Dalai Lama, who fled Tibet in 1959 and runs a government in exile in the north Indian town of Dharamsala, seeks greater autonomy for Tibet, but not independence. But Beijing says he really wants independence.
Beijing suspended official dialogue with the Dalai Lama in 1993 and maintained only sporadic unofficial contacts until last year’s visit.
Analysts say the re-establishment of contacts between China and the Dalai Lama’s representatives, led by special envoy Lodi Gyaltsen Gyari, reflects a slight softening in Beijing’s position as it tests the waters for some kind of political solution.
