The United States has welcomed a visit to Beijing by a delegation of Tibet’s government in exile, saying it hopes the mission will promote a dialogue on the Himalayan territory’s political future. It’s only the second time in a decade that a delegation from the Dalai Lama is in China to discuss Beijing’s continuing rule of Tibet.
Transcript:
TAYLOR: For ordinary Chinese, it’s as if the Dalai Lama’s four-member delegation that arrived in Beijing yesterday doesn’t exist. It simply hasn’t been reported in Communist China’s State-run media. But their arrival follows a similar visit by the same men in September last year, the first formal communication since 1993 when China stopped such meetings.
Just who the delegates will meet during their two to three week trip is unknown. Thubten Samphel, an international relations spokesman with the Tibetan Government in exile, says it will be decided in Beijing.
THUBTEN SAMPHEL: The purpose of their visit is to expand the contacts they have made last year in September.
TAYLOR: Tibetans wishing for change are heartened that such a meeting can be held while China wages its “people’s war” against the deadly SARS outbreak.
THUBTEN SAMPHEL: From our perspective we feel in a way it indicates the importance the Chinese leaders attach to solving the issue of Tibet.
TAYLOR: It was more than 50 years ago that troops enforced China’s historical claim over Tibet.
China has been accused of trying to wipe out Tibet’s Buddhist-based culture through political and religious repression and a flood of ethnic Chinese immigration, something China’s leaders fiercely deny.
Mr Samphel says the Dalai Lama clearly stated more than a decade ago he would settle for China retaining control of Tibet’s Defence and Foreign Affairs, if domestic issues were in the hands of an elected Tibetan Government.
But China has not moved, and Mr Samphel says the renewed negotiations remain at a very early stage.
THUBTEN SAMPHEL: I think as far as Tibet is concerned there has been, I think, a consensus among the Chinese leaders. So one leader’s idea of how the issue of Tibet, I don’t think, it may have an impact, but it may not change the consensus they have arrived.
TAYLOR: The most immediate indication that there is even the prospect of a change in Communist China’s rule will be if the Tibetan delegates’ visit is made public to the Chinese people.
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