BEIJING – Two envoys of Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama have arrived in Beijing, seeking to build on contacts made during a similar visit in September, Tibetan rights groups said Monday.
Special envoy Lodi Gyaltsen Gyari and envoy Kelsang Gyaltsen, as well as two senior assistants, will also visit Shanghai during what is expected to be a two to three week trip.
“This second visit represents an extremely important opportunity to build upon the relationships and contacts established on the last visit,” Thubten Samphel, head of the Tibetan government in exile’s Department of Information and International Relations, was quoted as saying by Tibetan rights groups.
“It is particularly an opportunity to find out the thinking of the two new Chinese leaders (President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabo) on Tibet.
“The fact that the visit is taking place regardless of the problem of SARS in China indicates the importance to the Chinese authorities of solving the issue of Tibet.”
The envoys first visited Beijing last year to reopen links between China and the Dalai Lama, which had been estranged since 1993.
The Dalai Lama, who is seeking Tibetan autonomy within China rather than independence, wants to see dialogue opened with Beijing.
Last week he declined an invitation to visit Taiwan to avoid damaging relations with China.
Samphel said the itinerary of the visit would be decided with Chinese leaders over the next few days, the Australia Tibet Council reported on its website.
The Dalai Lama and his followers fled Tibet in 1959 after a failed uprising against Chinese rule and set up base in Dharamsala, a hill station in the northern Indian state of Himachal Pradesh.
China, which has occupied Tibet since 1951, has been accused of trying to wipe out its Buddhist-based culture through political and religious repression and a flood of ethnic Chinese immigration.
